SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page

A tiny bit of light hung in the dark sky. Eve stared at the moon’s thin shape, its curve a light mark on the black night. A tingle crawled up her back. The world had gone wrong. Eve shook her head, but the feeling stayed. She stood up from her porch steps, bare feet on cold grass. The moon pulled at her, like a hook in her belly. She walked down the street, the crescent her guide. Neighbors’ houses went past, their lights off. No dogs barking, no cars rumbling. Just the night breathing in and out. Eve felt a cold sweat on her neck as she got near the park’s trees. The pulling got strong, like a hand in her insides. She went into the woods. Branches scratched her face and arms. Twigs broke under her feet. The moon glowed, a bright cut in the sky. Eve came into a clearing. At its middle stood a big old oak. Its branches made a dark net high above. The pull got hard. Eve made a face and bent over. A dim light shone at the oak’s base. She went up. The light showed the tree’s thick roots. They dug into the ground like old bones. Eve looked close. Not roots. They moved like thick wet stuff. She blinked and looked back. The roots were bone. Long white stems curled from the oak’s trunk, in the grass. Human parts with no skin, their soft parts gone. Eve felt sick. She gagged and fell on her knees. The moon shone down, like a judge. The ground shook. The bony stems moved. Eve stood still as they moved to wrap around her. The oak split with a loud crack. A thick dark goo ran out. It formed a shape that grew to stand over Eve. Two rough holes burned in the black form, on Eve. Big squishy stems came to trap her. Eve ran and yelled. She crashed through the woods in fear. The bony stems reached out to grab her. One cut her leg. Eve fell but kept on running. The woods stopped. Eve came out on the street and ran down the middle. She looked back. Nothing was there. Only dark shrouded the tree line. Eve stopped, her chest heaving. She felt a pain in her side, her legs shook. She saw her cut leg. Blood still came out. With weak hands Eve took a bit of bone from the wound.