In the Hedges

Scarlett stared at the back of Mr. Warner's shiny bald head and began to think of ways to escape the infernal prison that she was caged in. She planned to raise her hand, go to the bathroom, and never return. No one would realize she was gone until the bell rang. At that point, she would be ready to be sent home from the nurse's office for a sick stomach. Scarlett raised her hand and waited for Mr.Warner to call on her. The bald teacher turned around and picked on a boy whose name she could not remember. The boy looked sick as he raised his hand in the air.

"Mr. Warner! I think I'm going to throw up!" he blurted out.

Mr. Warner nodded and the boy sprinted nervously out of the room. The lesson continued and Scarlett decided to sit through the rest of the period. While sitting down, anxiety and boredom hit her. She tapped her foot, tapped her pencil on the desk, and bit her lip. Restlessness built inside of her like a raging fire and her eyes began to wander around. She looked at the ceiling for the first time in her three months at Jefferson Elementary School and counted all of the lights. Her eyes locked onto the curtains, and she made constellations in the polka-dot print pattern.

In the corner of her eye, there was an outburst of movement outside of the window. Something big and furry moved in the hedges and stopped outside of the huge french window that Scarlett sat beside. The only distinctive characteristic was its size; larger than a dog and smaller than a deer. Most 11 year old girls would react in fear, but Scarlet was curious as to what kind of creature it was and why it was sitting outside the window on a snowy winter day. She quietly opened the window and stretched her arm out to touch the fur of the mysterious creature. She reached in a bit farther only to fall out of her seat onto the mysterious creature's furry body.

"Ouch!" it screamed in a husky voice."Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off!"

Surprised and frightened that the creature could speak, Scarlett dug her fingers into its soft fur as the creature ran at breakneck speed. It darted through the hedge maze and towards a vine covered brick wall. Scarlett held her breath as the creature ran right through the wall and into the surrounding forest. Scarlett looked back and saw that the wall was still standing tall, without a scratch. As the creature ran faster she began to lose her grip. Instead of grabbing more fur, she grabbed the creature's legs and it fell face first right into a mound of snow. It groaned and Scarlet stepped off the creature.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or make you fall like that!" Scarlet said every word wholeheartedly as she helped pull the creature out of the snow.

The creature shook the snow off of his fur and revealed his appearance to Scarlett. He had chestnut brown fur and two small round ears sitting at the top of his head. His large wide eyes were like two pieces of charcoal waiting to be ignited. He had an odd looking pig nose and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The creature waited for Scarlett to run away screaming, but instead she was busy marveling at the beauty around them.

They had entered a winter wonderland. The trees arched and made a tunnel around pathway of smooth ice. Icicles dangled from tree branches, and snow covered every other inch of ground. Ahead was an extraordinarily large tree. Its roots were three times as large as Scarlett, and the trunk was as tall and wide as a ten story building. Vines wrapped around the tree and went all the way up to the top. There was a doorway carved into the tree and lanterns on either side of it.

"Litle girl! -You -You scared the living daylights out of me and caused me to go mad!" he said angrily.

"I didn't mean to!I swear I am absolutely sorry!" Scarlett apologized once more, wholeheartedly.

"Okay, you seem sorry," the creature said nonchalantly "I forgive you."

He leaned into Scarlett and smiled revealing his sharp hooked teeth "You are the first human that did not run away in terror. Are you not afraid?"

Scarlett smiled back at the terrifying creature, revealing her missing tooth. "Though you are a terrifying creature I could never run away without getting to know you first," she responded sweetly.

"I am not a creature," he said. "I am Imp"

Imp smiled and held out his hand. "What is your name little girl?"

Rather than formally greeting Imp, Scarlett ran towards his paradise and screamed "My name is Scarlett!" as she entered the large tree's doorway.

The first floor was a room with snow sculptures lining the walls, and trailing up the spiral stairs that seemed to go up for eternity. The railings were made of intertwined tree branches and each step had a depiction of a tree engraved into it. Each story had another room, and Scarlett felt an urge to visit every single one. Imp followed after Scarlett and lead her to an ice slide at the very top of the tree. Though the cold air stung Scarlett's lungs, she slid down the slide, and landed into a pile of snow.

"Be careful Scarlett!" Imp shouted.

Scarlett took note of that and shivered as she went back inside to join Imp. The wooden stairs seemed to go on forever. After each step Scarlett got more exhausted and began to cough and wheeze as she reached the top. She reached the top and a cool ball of snow hit her directly in the face. Scarlett ran into a room and reached out of one of the windows in the trunk to grab a handful of snow on a nearby branch. She balled it in her hands and threw the perfect ball of snow at Imp. They ran down the stairs laughing and played for hours. No matter how many times Scarlett sneezed or coughed they still let the games rage on and on.

The game had gotten serious and strategies had started to form. Two snow forts were intricately built on either side of the tree. It grew silent as they both prepared snowball and hid from each other. Imp had been the first to break the silence as he threw a hard ball of snow directly at Scarlett's face. She fell into the snow and remained there motionless.

"I won! I Imp the great have beaten Scarlett!" Imp chanted and proudly paraded around both forts.

Though he had finally won, he could not enjoy his gloating until he heard Scarlett whine or complain. Realizing the silence, Imp ran towards Scarlett's fort and saw her laying on the ground viciously, sneezing, and coughing.

"Scarlett, it's time to go inside." Imp said every word with care and concern as he carried her little body inside the tree.

The winter's sting caught up to Scarlett and fully engulfed her with sickness. Imp's furry did not give her warmth, and Imp's tree could not shield the cool air. Even though he covered her with all the quilts he owned, kept her in a corner near a lantern, and blocked all the windows with wood, nothing could keep Scarlett warm. Imp paced back and forth worried as Scarlett slept on the hard floor covered by a mountain of quilts. The sun went down and then rose up again, and there was still no solution to Scarlett's chill and sickness.

The next morning Scarlett was bored and expected a day of fun as she waited for Imp to wake up. Imp opened one eye and sighed at the sight of the excited grin on Scarlett's face. He knew that the only way for Scarlett to feel better was if she went back to the place she belonged. There was no way she would go on her own, so Imp thought of a plan that would send her home willingly.

"Today will be a fun day, Scarlett" he grabbed Scarlett's hands and walked her toward the window to look down at their snow forts. "The fun will come when you stop coughing. Until then we will sit here and wait."

Scarlett pouted her lip and silently agreed to Imp's deal. She tapped her foot, hummed songs, and braided her auburn hair while waiting for her cold to go away. The shivers never left her body, and a longing to go home suddenly hit her. Being in this paradise, this fun-filled wonderland, was not as comfortable as home or Mr. Warner's boring math class. Scarlett stood up and coughed a couple times before she could let any words leave her mouth.

"Imp, I'm ready to go home."

Every word hurt his heart, because he knew he would miss his new friend. Imp allowed Scarlett to hop on his back and ran out of the tree, into the forest, through the vine covered brick wall, and into the hedges. Imp revealed his terrifying smile one more time, and left Scarlett outside the window of her classroom. Though either one of them said any words of farewell, Scarlett felt Imp's goodbye when he looked back at her before running back through the brick wall. The window was still open, and Scarlett crawled back into her classroom and listened to Mr. Warner as he taught them Roman Numerals. Though Imp was still on her mind, he was a thought for later, and now was a time to focus.