Somehow, I’d wandered here again. The dusty desert air was so distinct, so familiar, so warm. I couldn’t keep myself from gulping in a big breath of it. It almost felt, revitalizing. I considered the peculiarity of that as I puffed up little clouds of sand with each slow step I took. My mouth widened into a grin, and it forced me to notice that dry salt coating my skin and now reaching the tip of my tongue.

I loved it here. It seemed like there must be nowhere else in the world so open, so covered in swirling plants and tufts. When I was young, I pictured wide open spaces being fields of green. But now I knew how wrong I’d been; they were yellow and pale. Wide open spaces were the ones that drew your gaze to the skies, to every sparkly speck that covered the night.

A howling started me into a jump instantly. “Okay,” I self-soothed, “it’s okay, just keep steady.” I’d been here before, I knew what to do, and I knew above all else I could make no sudden movements. I scanned what I could in the moon’s light, but I spotted no beast. In fact, the longer I tried to make anything out, the less I was able to notice. Was there any other living creature around me?

Another howl jolted my bones. This one was louder, it had to be closer. I grabbed my wrist and squeezed it tightly, trying to keep myself from chattering. “You’re okay, just go slow.” I swallowed, forcing some kind of confidence. Ever so gradually, making no gesture above my knees, I turn around to face the opposite direction.

And here it was again. That terrible, horrible, redder than blood tree filled my vision. I felt a knot in my throat.

Another howl grew, but it started to morph. Something more treacherous, more like a growl. I knew it was coming from the tree itself. I had never seen such a red. And even as I remained still, the tree grew and grew, until nothing else was in my line of sight but its nasty, dripping branches, its awful twisting vines.

Now it was time to run away. But the moment I tried to pick my foot up, it was as if my shoe had been super glued to the dirt ground beneath me. “No, no, not again…” I shook, refusing it, but a shriek was now erupting from the tree. It knew me. This red knew me, and darkness began to pool around its roots, growing and growing. It knows me, and its pool was about to devour me! It knew what I had done! “Please!” I begged.

The shriek ceased, and all was silent. But now, a low, mechanical, female voice beckoned from the tree. “Run.”

I screamed, and my eyes darted open. I was covered in sweat, and sitting straight up in my bed. Man did I hate that dream.