Explain It Like I'm Tree

Cursed

Arthur crossed the space between him and the boy in a heartbeat, swatting the flimsy swing aside and splintering the board. The boy never moved. Arthur's body raised great, gnarled fists over the boy's head as Arthur caught up with the tree's intention.

NO! NOT AGAIN!

The fists unfolded partway down, turning into branch-like hands that knocked the boy prone and pinned him against the ground.

The child had to die. He came back to this place. He practically invited the curse!

There has to be another way! Lewis' face flashed through Arthur's mind, frightened and confused and falling. Don't do this! Don't make me do this! You're no demon—listen to me!

"Arthur!" Vivi's voice broke through, followed by a familiar growl. The sound of her voice was like salt on a wound. For a moment, the boy vanished from their consciousness altogether. Arthur and the family tree shared an old injury and it was aflame, scraped raw in two directions.

Mystery cleared the fence and landed close by. Vivi straddled his back and clung to his mane with one hand, clutching a shining baseball bat in the other. Now Mystery crouched, circling toward Arthur. Arthur turned and slammed his fists into the earth near Mystery's paws, forming two craters. Mystery splayed his legs out for balance as the ground shook.

"Release Arthur, old one," Mystery snarled. "We do not wish to harm you, but you have taken what is ours. Your offense is great. Release him!"

Arthur's mouth opened up and the body-rattling screech left his mouth again. This time, it was also his. He pointed one shaking arm up at Mystery's rider, giving words to the incoherent rage. "You. Do. Not. Listen."

Vivi's expression contorted. She slid down to the ground and gripped her bat tight. "First, let Arthur go. I can't listen to you while you're threatening two—"

"YOU. NEVER. LISTEN."

Vivi looked like she'd been clubbed in the face with her own bat. Mystery's eyes narrowed as he asked, slowly, "Arthur?"

"WHY? DON'T? YOU? EVER? LISTEN? TO ME?" They screamed together, swinging the accusatory finger from Vivi back to the child.

As he turned, Arthur saw the snake that coiled around the child had lifted its head up to to the child's ear. It pressed lovingly against his cheek, whispering to him, its black little needle-legs sinking deep into the child's neck.

"RIGHT! NOW!" Arthur howled. "Right! Now! It speaks. To you. It says. This is it! This is your death. It is grand. Like. The stories. That. Everyone in your family. Left you. It is more magical. Than any. Stories before. Legend! You will be. Buried in the ground. With them. You will be. Remembered. By all."

The boy lying on the ground was deathly white.

Vivi's voice cracked as she asked, "Christopher, did you just hear something? Besides him?"

Christopher didn't stand up and his eyes never left Arthur. He shook his head quickly, but his mouth opened and closed. Arthur's eyes narrowed. They could wait just a little longer. They, unlike everyone around them, could listen.

"I... you... you know what I'm thinking," Christopher squeaked out.

"These. Are not. Thoughts. They are whispers. Masquerading. As your own. Mind." Arthur pressed his hand down on the boy's chest once again. "You. Returned. You should. Never. Have. Come back. The curse. It is on you. It feeds. Anew. Because you. Came. Back."

DON'T KILL HIM!

Arthur's mouth twisted around the tree's response. "HOW ELSE? Every! Generation! They brought the past. With them. A whole house. Across the. Great water. I saw it. Sink. A chance to. Leave it behind! Instead she. The only woman who. Lived to. Turn gray. She invited it. To the new home. Fed it. Believed in it! Worshipped it!"