Hangman's Tree

[Marcescens]

Handman's Tree. Not usually the nicest of places. People have claimed to seen ghosts of victims long ago, wandering about aimlessly. It was also said that the bodies were buried underneath the tree itself, somewhere along the massive roots. Mostly everyone just leaves it alone.
The tree is old and twisted, knarly and knobby with uneasy footing at some places from where the roots poke and loop out of the ground. Right now, being spring time, the long grass had shrivelled and dried up leaving long thing yellowy strands. The tree itself is dead, not a leaf on it or the ground around it.
The hangman's branch twists parellell to the ground high up enough and strong enough to have hung a strong, full grown man with lots of room to spare by his feet. Sometimes when you sit on the branch you can see where the ropes were looped around and left small rings.
The other branches twist off and all seem to spiral up to the top in differnet clumbs. Perfect for climbing and finding small holes in the trunk in which one many sit there and hide.

*~-=-~*

Kimarie left the safety of the side walk and wandered across the dry grass of the park. Hangman's Tree was found right at the back end of the park right before the forest started. She smiled. This whole back of the park was like a second home to her, no it was home to her. She knew the tree's secrets, its hiding places, but unfortunatly ... no dead bodies found...yet.

"We're almost there!" Grinning, she lead App further into the park, right across the grass.

[Moss]

**App follows Kimarie, slowly, but grinning all the way. Part of him, the part that keeps asking him take long steps, isn't sure he's ready for this- after all, how long has it been since he last saw a ghost? and if her does, will he be able to hide it from his new friend? but another part, the one that keeps him grinning, is glad to be away from school, and glad to be finding something new, and interesting.
jogging up to catch up to Kimarie again, he smiles.**
Oh good! I can't wait

[Marcescens]

She smiles brightly. The familiar tree and grass lines were all to well placed in her mind. She knew almost every inch of this land by heart, yet it still remained so much of a mystery to her. That's basicly why she loved it so much. Not only was it the perfect place to hide and think, but there was always something new to find out all the time.

Now was her first time bringing someone with her, and it was hard not to show her excitement. People freaked at the thought of ghosts or the Hangman's Tree, so to find someone that would skip school to go was like the perfect friend.

She slowed her pace slightly so App could catch up, and she grins at him.

"Here we are!" She says waving a hand as she pushes past a small line of bushes to see the hangman's tree twist in front of her. She stood there and just stared at it. The sight bringing a smile to her lips.

[Moss]

**App stops suddenly, taking in the majestic tree. His eyes and smile widen slowly, in admiration.** Well, this is quite a tree.... **He whispers. A very nice place indeed. No ghosts- yet. The whole ground gives him that prickly feeling though, the one that usually accompanies some sort of weird presence. Not saying more, he takes a few slow steps, to lay a hand on it's trunk.** Wow.... **He whispers again, in awe at the entire place and it's secrets.**

[Marcescens]

Kimarie lets App lead the way right to the tree, quite impressed that he isn't creeped yet.

"This town has a lot of history apparently, but this has got to be the best part of it." She quickly found her usual way of getting up, a looped root that sticks up like an 'O' out of the ground. Stepping on it, she hoists herself up to a small branch, then to another as she works her way across to the long branch.

"They say that a lot of people were hung on this branch..." She says with a smile as she finally manages to work her way over to it. Sitting down, she scoots herself further down and sits about just over a third of the way away from the trunk.
"There are even marks in the tree where their ropes have been." She says with a glance at App. She gives a small shiver.
"Creepy, yet for some reason really cool. So I suppose it's cool in an odd sort of way." She scratches the back of her neck before drawing circles on the bark with her finger.

[Moss]

Cool... **App sighs absently, having climbed up to join Kimarie on her branch. Part of him longs to feel the bark that she's pointing out, that's been scarred by the death of those people, but he holds back. This place is already giving him a strong ghostly prickly feeling- he's not going to push it. Looking at Kimarie, her tips his head to the side. She didn't really seem like the kind of person who would enjoy hanging out in the place where people had ended their lives- she looked like such a happy person.** So... what brought you here? I mean, how did you discover this place? **He chances, honestly curious.**

[Marcescens]

Kimarie swings her feet back and forth gently, and concentrates on her toes. She shruggs.

"I was angry, I suppose. Kinda fed up with being stuck at home. School wasn't really helping, and I was just tired, of a lot of stuff..." She scratches the back of her neck and half smiles, keeping her eyes on her toes. "So I heard about this place in class, and all the kids were telling ghost stories. I wanted to know where the Hangman's Tree was, so I looked it up and just... came. I guess I was a little creeped out at first, but it's not so bad when you get passed the thought that there were lots of people that died here..."
She glances at App, knowing that this probably was the most stragest person he had ever met ever. She sighed.

"It turns out that this is my most favourite place. I tend to draw here alot, it just seems peaceful."

[Moss]

That's cool....
**App begins, rather startled at meeting someone weirder then himself. But he's really surprised by the ghosts thing. Feeling a little guilty for wanting to hear more about the ghosts then Kimarie herself, he probes a bit more.**
What kind of ghosts stories? Do you think they're true?
**He tips his head a little, taking in his surroundings carefully. He had the ability to see ghosts, and now he was trying so hard to tell if there was any truth in the kid's stories. It was exciting after all. It'd been around a hundred years since he'd last seen one. Seabrook didn't seem like a particularly haunted town, but, who could tell?**

[Marcescens]

Kimarie's eyes narrowed slightly, a half smile beginning to creep to a full out smile.

She glanced over at App, then shrugged. "I dunno if they're real or not yet. I haven't exactly seen any ghosts, I bet when I see one I will!"

She looked at her swinging feet, then fingered the bark on the branch. "There's so many stories from around here. You can ask allmost all the property owners and they'll talk for hours about ghosts, and how they believe they've seen apperances. No one really knows if they're real or not because all the 'ghosts' are different. Different people, different settings, different voices or noises."

Kimarie couldn't help but feel slightly surprised that someone wanted to hear about ghosts. She thought it was pretty cool, kinda creep at the same time. But a creepy cool. Others, and most to be honest, didn't want to hear another word.

"It's not only ghosts too, some people have claimed to be chased by giant wolves in the forests, or monsters. You know the old Nevermore house? People were saying they wanted to tear it down because it was so old, and...." she pauses for effect, "...frightening, that that's where they thought people were making the stories up from... if they were making them up. So these people went to go check it out for zoning and what not, and they discovoured that a huge portion of the backyard was a cemetary! What a creep! Who'd have a graveyard as a backyard!"

[Moss]

**App's eyes widen in excitement. Better and better every minute! He rubs his hands on the tree, falling back into thought. He definitely wouldn't regret coming to this place. The last few town's he'd been at this century had nothing particularly special. Well, they'd had the stuff of the time- the parties of the 20s, the dust of the 30s, the hippies of the 60's, but nothing like ghosts. Nope nope nope. This place was special. Looking back up to Kimarie, his face cracks into a mischievous smile.**
Maybe we should go look around there sometime...
**suddenly realizing that he must seem like some creep, he takes the smile off his face, biting his lip, and passing his hand over the smooth bark again.**
I mean, uh... if you feel like it... or whatever...

[Marcescens]

Kimarie snapped her head to look at App; her face a look of complete surprise. The Nevermore House?! Was he serious?! Her mind had a flash of slight fear. That places was really creepy, but she had always wanted to see it. There were so many stories, some really really bad ones. But if it was like the tree... maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Her curiousty was spiked like a cat. There was no backing out of this one. Even if she said no, she'd be there anyway.

"Definitely. The Nevermore Mansion... ooh boy what a creepy place!"

[Moss]

**App freeze for a second, as her face clearly displays fear, or wary-ness, anyways. He didn't mean to freak her out. and he doesn't want to loose his friend. Which, part of his mind tells him that, as so many novels have taught him, if you have everlasting life, you shouldn't chill with mortals because it'll only hurt you in the long run, when they die. But right now, all he's looking for is momentary satisfaction, which means a friend. So, he's going to chill with her all he wants. if he gets depressed when she dies then so be it, too bad for him. Rather selfishly, he doesn't bother thinking about what it might do to her- to have to see a potential friend leave, without reason or explanation. This thought doesn't come into play though, so he smiles when she smiles again.**
Great! When do you want to go see then?

[Marcescens]

Kimarie half smiles. Her mom would definitely disagree with the whole idea. She hated even thinking of her daughter running about with ghosts and stories shoved in her head. Maybe because the Mansion was a 'dangerous place' and the possibility of getting hurt was high. That's what Kimarie loved about it.

"No clue! Maybe in the morning, or late in the evening. Sometime not during the day... my mom would freak."

[Moss]

How about this afternoon?
**App really doesn't want to sound like a freak, but he really really wants to see this place.
I'll meet on the porch at.... .um.... well, what time would be good for you?
**After all, if he was dragging her into this, the least he could do was let her choose the time, right?**

[Marcescens]

Kimarie tilts forward on nthe branch a little bit, her eyes closed in thought. There wa sno way of backing out of this now. Deep down inside, she was nervous. Passing the street made her nervous, and just the name gives frightening images.

She looked back up at App, with a meschiveious half smile. "How about right after dinner... no use being scared on an empty stomach." She smiles. "That work for you?"