(A/N ^^^ a picture my sister took when watching a video. She paused it at the perfect time. Now it is the official face of the monster when they ate Wren's father)

Wren sat silently in the grass next to Evergreen. She had finally stopped crying after the burial of her father. The Elders, the people who where the most respected people and came up with new rules that must be approved by the leader, had attended the burial and chanted the farewell song. Wren had been crying too much to even sing along with them.

Wren was an orphan now.

"Hey, um, is there something I can do to help?" Sorrel said, approaching the girls who sat under the Evergreen tree.

"No," Evergreen replied for Wren.

Sorrel went to go sit down with them. Soon after Sorrels friend, Raven, came to sit on the grass with the girls as well.

Wren shook her head again, she needed t stop crying, she was fine. She blinked multiple times, then stood up. She needed to lighten the mood, distract herself. She needed to do something that distracted her mind, and learn to accept the passing of her father. It wouldn't be that hard, she had dealt with the passing of a friend once before. 

"Sorrel, are you trying to be my friend?" Wren asked.

"This is all very completely random," Raven said after a moment of silence.

"I- um yeah?" Sorrel said.

"Evergreen, start the new friend trials," Wren said.

"Alright!" Evergreen said, happy that Wren seemed happy.

Evergreen grabbed a single pine needle from the tree overhead, and held it outstretched towards the boys.

"Do something," Wren challenged them.

"Do what?" Raven asked, coming closer towards the pine needle.

"Anything," Wren said.

Sorrel reached hesitantly forward and grabbed the pine needle. Then suddenly Wren smacked Sorrel as hard as she could in the hand, he dropped the needle and Everest picked it back up.

"What was that for?" Sorrel gasped in pain.

Raven looked almost scared, but approached the needle anyway and plucked it from Evergreens fingers. Her too got smacked. The boys stared at the girls in confusion. There was a moment of silence, probably a couple minutes, before Sorrel tried to grab the needle again.

This time Raven had his back, he blocked Wrens smack.

"Run for your life Sorrel!" Raven shouted as Wren tackled him.

Sorrel sprinted with the pine needle as fast as he could down the hill. Evergreen chased after him.

*~*

"You passed," Evergreen said, the boys sat together at the base of the Evergreen tree, out of breath. Evergreen held the pine needle in her hand.

"W-what?" Raven asked.

"We shall never tell you how to pass the new friend trials. You just have to pass it without instruction," Wren said.

"So us stealing a pine needle and getting totally beat up makes us your new friends?" Sorrel questioned.

"YUP," Evergreen said, smiling and tossing the pine needle at them.

Wren went to go sit with Evergreen in the grass while the boys looked at them in confusion, still trying to catch their breath.

"I love the friendship trials," Evergreen laughed.

"Brings back so many good memories," Wren said, the setting sun casting a red glow across the friends faces.

The boys sat close by us, looking out at the forest from our perch. The sun was brilliant, but the effect it gave as it hovered just above the tops of the forest trees made the forest glow with an eerie red light. It made Wren think of her fathers blood on the floor....

"So, what do friends like us do?" Raven asked.

Wren ripped some grass out of the ground and sprinkled it in Ravens pitch black hair.

"Hey!" Raven complained.

Sorrel ripped some grass out of the ground and put it on Wrens long brown hair. Evergreen laughed and stood up, grabbing some grass and approached Sorrel. She tried to put the grass in his red-brown hair, but he dodged away. Quickly the new friends where playing a new game.

Wren realized this life may not be that bad. Death happened, and everyone had to recover. She had to show strength, to power her friends on. To power herself on. so one day, she could take on the monster.

*~*

"Today we'll learn about how to hide from everything," The teacher said.

Wren yawned. Its not like Wren was going to listen, she was going to go out in the world and beat the monster. Wren quietly wrote a note to Evergreen.

Wanna prank the boys later? >:)

Wren passed it over to her friend and Evergreen opened the note. After Evergreen read it, she started to write her own note. Evergreen passed the note quickly over to Wren. Wren smiled as she opened it up.

Heck yeah. Meet at our spot after school to talk about it? 

Wren passed a note back to Evergreen, it said 'sure'. Wren needed to get her mind off things. She needed to prank people and be herself for a while, and slowly let her brain accept the fact about what just happened to her family. At least she still had Evergreen, and might as well add Sorrel and Raven to the list of friends.

And at least she had hope. If Wren lost hope, she would probably be dead right now. Gone off into the woods to get taken, because there was nothing worth this life. Except for Evergreen. She would be devastated. 

Wren took another note from Evergreen and read it.

Wahahaha!!! They are DOOMED!

What an amazing friend. After school ended, Wren and Evergreen met up behind the building to discuss a plan. 

"Right. So what kind of prank we talking? Are we starting a prank war? Or just something small?" Evergreen asked.

"I think we should use our evergreen tree for the prank. Made something fall on them?" Wren suggested.

"We could fix like... flour and water and then throw it at them from the tree. They would think a bird pooped on them," Evergreen laughed.

"Lets do it!" Wren said.

The girls rushed off too Evergreens house. Wren had been living at Evergreens place ever sinse her father passed. Wren liked to imagine that her father had sacrificed himself, making him a hero, because the monster takes one person every time it comes by, and Wrens father was taken, meaning nobody else could have been taken that night.

It helped calm Wren, knowing that her father did something amazing. She knew of course he did not actually sacrifice himself, but the idea of it made her happier, because he died a noble death. Although, there was a mystery to her fathers death. He had a small cellar right in his shop, quick and easy to hide in. So how was he the one taken?

Wren and Evergreen flew of the steps to Evergreens house. Her house was identical to everyone else's, except for the decorations inside. Evergreen had a whole lot of... stuff. Every available counter space, shelving, window sill and sometimes the floor was covered in objects like toys, jars, flowers, books and glass objects.

Evergreen and Wren ran towards the small kitchen, sprinting over the cellar door. Evergreen rushed towards a large cabinet, and Wren crouches down towards a small cupboard. They take out flour and a large pitcher of water. They smirked as they poured flour into a small jar, then drizzled water over it. Evergreen shook up the jar while Wren put away the water and flour.

"Perfect, you get the boys and I'll climb the tree," Evergreen said.

"Off you go!" Wren said.

The girls ran outside the door. Wren ran towards Sorrels house, while Evergreen sprinted at top speed with her jar towards the evergreen tree atop the hill. Wren made it to Sorrels house quickly, and knocked on the door. 

"Just a moment," A woman's voice came from inside the house.

Wren waited for a minute, before the door opened.

"Looking for something?" Sorrels mother, Basil, asked.

"Yes, I'm looking for Sorrel," Wren said, fidgeting with her dress.

"SORREL!" Basil yelled into the house.

"COMING!" Sorrel shouted from somewhere inside the building.

Basil and Wren chit chatted for a bit until Sorrel came down the stairs.

"Oh hi Wren," he said, walking up to the door.

"Hey, emergency friend meeting at the tree," Wren said. "Wheres Raven at?"

"Hes here actually," Sorrel said. "CROW GET DOWN HERE!"

"FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME CROW IS AN OFFENSIVE NICKNAME FOR ME!" Ravens annoyed voice shouted from the house.

A moment later I saw him run down towards us.

"Hi Crow, emergency meeting at the tree," Wren said, smirking.

"Look what you've done," Raven complained. "Whatever, lets go."

Meanwhile Evergreen was high up in the tree, with her jar of flour and water. She settled down on a big thick sturdy branch, and opened up the jar. She spotted Wren, Sorrel and Raven running up the hill quickly, and smirked.

Evergreen made a bird call, the one Wren and Evergreen used to communicate sometimes. The bird call meant anything, 'I'm here', 'I'm ready' and more. It depended on the context. Wren heard the call, and returned the same noise. Evergreen held the jar out in front of her, ready to tip it over onto her friends heads.

"Sit here to wait for Evergreen," Wren instructed them.

The boys walked up to the tree and sat on the grass, leaning their backs on the tree bark. Evergreen slowly tipped the jar, and the liquid poured out.

"AAAAAAAAAAH," Sorrel screamed, jumping to his feet.

Raven just sat there, blinking as the liquid seeped through his hair. Sorrel jumped around while Wren laughed her head off.

Then the gong echoed through the village.

The friends paused for a moment, listening, and then the gong came again.

"EVERGREEN!" Wren shouted as Evergreen tried to climb down the tree quickly.

"THERE'S NO TIME TO GO BACK! GET IN THE TREE!" Raven shouted, reaching up for a low hanging tree branch.

Sorrel and Wren ran towards the tree, although Evergreen kept climbing down towards her friends. 

A loud footstep rattled the ground, and Evergreen almost when flying out of the tree. Her friends continued up the tree, when suddenly Sorrels foot slipped. Raven lunged for him, right before he went hurtling towards the ground, Raven pushed him back up. Sorrel sat for a moment, closing his eyes to re-focus, then continued up the tree.

Soon they reached where Evergreen was, and they helped each other up the rest of the way. Once they where well above half of the tree, they stopped to take a breath. They all held thick branches of the trunk of the tree for support, as the footsteps boomed across the field.

"Why is the monster coming so frequently? It used to be like twice a month!" Wren whispered, her eyes wide open as she stared at the field.

"It got a taste for human, and remembered how good it was," Raven whispered.

"Or its running out of other food, or had children and needs more food, or ate the entire other village and needs more," Evergreen said.

Wren shivered as she remembered her fathers death. The blood still haunted her. Sorrel was focused on trying to spot where the creature was. Raven was blinking a lot, probably still trying to get the flour and water out of his eyes. Evergreen was probably trying to think of the most probably solution to why the monster was here everyday now.

The entire tree rattled and Raven almost lost his balance. That's when they spotted the beast.