That night, when everything was quite they snuck out of bed at about twelve thirty. Due to the fact that both of them were quite small they didn’t have to worry about making too much noise when it came to leaving the house. Jake had some chocolate bars and drink in his rucksack, in case they got hungry and John had a torch. They were both wearing large barber coats to keep them warm.
At last they got out of John’s house and started to walk down the winding path that lead to the town of Hallow. They lived in quite a secluded part of the countryside so it was a good half an hour walk just to get to the first houses of Hallow. It was a cold night but it didn’t matter because of the coats they were both wearing. There weren’t any people to be seen. They saw one or two cars that passed by, but no one seemed to notice them.
About forty five minuets after leaving the house they reached the marsh. It looked like a sea on the ground, with great rolling hills. The slight breeze made the grass wave as water does. They both decided to eat their chocolate bars and drink their drinks and then carry on with their journey. They were planning to head towards the lonely tree. This was the only tree in the whole of the marsh and it was an unmistakable land mark as it towered above everything else in the whole of the marsh. From where they were you could just see the top half of the lonely tree and beyond that the marsh bogs and then the great wide open sea. “John,” Jake said, “How much longer do you reckon it will take?” “Don’t know, maybe about twenty minutes.” He replied. “I thought you said that these here coats would make us warm cos they got insulation or something like that.” “Well they are meant to keep us warm but it seems to be really cold tonight,” Exclaimed John.
As they trudged along towards the tree there was a strange mist that seemed to swell up from the sea. The lonely tree was really close now. That is where they planned to leave their rucksack so it would not way them down.
“Here we are Jake,” stated John. “You up for climbing the tree?” “Don’t know, you’re a much better climber than me, and taller, remember that big oak, I could never get up to the first branch and you just jump up to the second branch,” Complained Jake. “Well, look if I can get up first I’ll reach down and give you a lift up, how about that.” “Yeah okay but you got to promise to give me a lift up or I’m gonna go back,” Jake whined. “okay, here I go!” John was an excellent climber, first he found a grove in the base of the tree whilst holding onto the lowest branch and when he thought that he had a good enough hold he pulled himself up. It took him a good ten minuets to get into the right sort of position to get Jake up. It involved being able to dangle so that he could give him support. When he thought he was in the right sort of position he hooked his legs over a branch and let himself fall upside down to help Jake get to the first branch. But when he looked down Jake wasn’t their, ‘Jake where are you, it’s not funny,’ shouted John. John unhooked himself from the branch and let himself down. He walked around the tree shouting, ‘Jake’ but he couldn’t find him anywhere. When he looked across the marsh he noticed that a thick mist had built up, it seemed to be surrounding the tree. ‘Jake, come back, it’s really dangerous in the mist. Right, it’s really not funny anymore, I’m going back.’ When John turned around he noticed that the rucksack had gone as well. That was the last straw, ‘Right that’s it Jake, I’m of, make sure you bring the rucksack when you come back to the house.’
Jake was wondering around the mist, he had been standing under the tree watching John climb and then suddenly he was lost in the marsh. He was well and truly lost now. The mist was really thick and their was a chill wind blowing down his spine. It seemed as if the mist was coming into Jake, swelling up around him. He heard and owl cry above the mist but only barely. It seemed as if the mist was creating some sort of sound barrier. By now John was half way up the road to his house. Far too far away to hear a scream.
