Page 193 of Naughty Nelle

“Just tell me where to go.” I can sense he’s no longer standing next to me. His voice sounds distant.

“Take ten giant steps ahead of you and then ten to the right. I think you’ll find your perfect tree.”

I’m anxious. “Hook, weren’t you supposed to hold my hand and lead me to the tree?”

“Babe, that’s a different game,” he chuckles.

I admit I really wasn’t paying attention while Grimm was explaining the rules. The good news is that I don’t have to hold the asshole’s hand—his hooked one or good one. Cautiously, I take one step after another. As I veer to the right, I hear a howl and then…

I’m thirteen again, somewhere in the middle of a dark forest, hunting for magical leaves that my mother uses to beautify her complexion. She’s been seeing a King and doesn’t want him to think she’s a day over twenty-nine. As I reach for a leafy clump, a voice startles me. “This is no place for a beautiful young girl to be by herself.” I whirl around. Facing me is a burly bearded man whose eyes are the color of evergreens. In his hand is the biggest knife I’ve ever seen—it’s at least two-feet long. He stomps toward me. My heart races. He’s coming after me! I bolt. As I run for my life, gnarled branches tear my dress and claw my skin. Vines wrap around my limbs, and thorns bite into me. The trees have become monsters, trying to gobble me up alive. And the heavy crunching steps of the knife-wielding man are close behind me. Fear propels my legs to run faster and to fight the burning sensation filling my lungs. At last freedom. And then home. Breathless, I swing open the front door, never so happy to see my mother. Her eyes narrow into slithers of glass. “Where are my leaves?” she hisses. I open my mouth to tell her about the man, but—whack!—a groan leaks out instead. She’s smacked me with my tin. My cheek stinging, I grab it and flee…

“You’re almost there.”

Hook’s voice whisks me back to reality. It sounds like he’s moved closer to me, but in my disoriented state, I can’t tell exactly where he is.

“Only two more giant steps.”

Eager for this game to end, I take them.

“Now, wrap your arms around the trunk and press your lips against the bark.”

I hug the tree. Its rough bark scrapes my face, leaving it raw and prickly; its sap burns my lips. I’ve had enough. But the tree wants more. It wraps its limbs around me, pressing my body against its hard trunk. So tight, I can’t break loose. The more I resist, the more it sucks the life out of me. Oh my God! This tree is a monster.

A shocked voice screams out. Elz.

“Jane! How could you do this to me! I thought you were my friend!”

With all my muscle-power, I wrench myself from the monster. Right in front of me is an erect Hook, wearing a proud smirk on his slimy lips. The pig! I should have known!

“Elz, it’s not what you think!” Oh, God! What have I done?

“I may need glasses, but I have eyes,” she cries.

“Yo, Ho, Ho.” Hook laughs snidely.

Game over! I slap him hard across the face. “I’d rather hug a one-eyed ogre than you!”

Stunned, he rubs the bright red welt I’ve left on his cheek.

Elz runs off into the woods, leaving her twig-of-a-sister behind.

“Don’t leave me, you traitor!” shrieks Sasperilla. Still wearing her blindfold, she slams into a tree.

“I think I broke my nose!” she wails. “Somebody help me!”

As I flee from Hook, I’m shaking like a leaf.

---