"Drink it," James said, handing me a mug with hot chocolate and cream in it.

"Thanks," I said, taking the mug.

We were in a nice, little cafe, in a small village very near the meadow. The meadow  that contained the tree. The tree where people were-

"You are shaking again," James said in concern.

"I'm fine," I said, taking a small sip out of the mug. The hot liquid burned down my throat.

"So, are you ready to talk about what happened?" James asked. He must of seen the fear that passed through my face cause he hurried to say, "if you are not ready, then please don't."

"No, no. You deserve to know."

"Okay, thank you."

"Hm, I don't know how to begin."

"How about when you started that small verse about coming to the tree."

"Yeah. So I came up with that verse and tune the other day, after I saw the tree for the first time. Yesterday, I was playing it on my guitar, when all of a sudden I felt this pull towards going back to it, the tree, I mean." I paused to take another sip of the hot chocolate.

"So today," I continued, "I decided to go back to it. Of course, you know hat happened afterwards, so I will skip to when we saw the mockingbirds. The glance I gave them made me quite happy, and I felt so comfortable that I instinctively started humming the tune, then sang the words. Suddenly-" I took a shaky breath.

James reached across the table to pat my shaking hand. "Is ok, you don't have to go on. I can see is causing you pain to talk about it."

I gave him a small smile. "No, I want you to understand what happened."

He returned the smile. "Ok, but please stop if you need to."

I nodded. "Ok, so after singing that small verse, I saw blackness. It was very strange. My vision kept alternating between you and the meadow, and complete darkness. Then, whenever I saw darkness, I could hear this man singing. Could you hear me repeat what he sang?"

"No, all I could hear was you humming a tune that was very alike the one you were humming at the beginning, before you-" he hesitated, probably unsure about how to end the sentence.

"Before I had the weird vision thing?"

"Yeah, but not in those exact words."

"Ok. Anyway, I heard a man singing this words to me-"

A waitress passed our table, so I stopped. This would seem very weird here.

Apparently, James was thinking the same thing. "Hey, are you done with your drink? Should we leave?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

We got up and left. Outside, James said, "you said you played the tune on your guitar right? I think we should head back to yours so that you can play the tune, if that's ok with you?"

"Yeah, sure."

****

"Mum? Tyler?" I shouted, coming into my house, "anyone home?"

I turned to James. "Will you wait in the living room while I go upstairs for my guitar?" I said, gesturing towards it.

"Sure."

I practically ran upstairs to grab my guitar. I paused for a minute in front of the mirror in my bedroom. How strange that this morning I was just a regular, shy girl who could not utter two words to her crush? In a matter of a few hours I had drastically changed.

I rushed downstairs, into the living room. James was sitting in the small sofa, so I sat in the big one across from it.

"Ok, I will try my best to put it all together."

I began strumming. Am to Dm to Am to E...

Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?
They strung up a man
They say who murdered three
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we'd met at midnight
In the hanging tree

I shivered at the last bit and turned to James. "That was it."

He had a calculating look in his face. "So you felt a pull towards the tree, then when you got there, you hear these words." He wasn't asking, he was stating.

"So what does it mean," I said, my voice breaking at the end. I felt a bit embarrassed, but overall I was scared. Ok, and little bit curious.

James looked at me and crossed over the room to kneel in front of me.

"Alison, or may I call you Ali?"

I nodded.

"Ali, I know you are scared but I promise you that we will find an answer to this."

Tears formed on the corner of my eyes. "We? You will help me? Aren't you scared of me? The mad girl with the blackout things?"

James took my hands and looked me directly in the eyes. "You are not mad. This must be happening for a reason, and we will find out what that is. I promise."

The tears rolled down my cheeks, but he did not pull away. His sentence ringed in my head like bells.

I promise.