"Go to the land where nature roams free."

"You will save me, Mellie Willis."

"FREE ME FROM MY PRISON!" the trees screamed as one. A seventeen-year-old girl covered her ears as she passed them on her way home from school. Mellie had been hearing these voices from every tree for as long as she could remember, and they hadn't stopped whispering nonsense and pleading with her to free them. The most she could do was plant trees and encourage others to do the same, but it was only making the trees louder and more persistent.

So Mellie kept the nonsense-spouting trees to herself because it seemed that no one else could hear them.

Once, when she was little, she asked her parents about it. The trees had been gentler back then, lending her a place to hide from bullies and comforting her. Her parents had said that the voices were just the wind rustling through the leaves, and she had believed them. Now, she wasn't so sure.

The voices weren't whispers of the wind or the leaves rustling. They were actual voices that told her to do stuff and promised her impossible things.

Freeing the trees? They're crazy, Mellie thought, they can't be freed if they're already free. They grow wild.

And, yet, the voices never stopped.

"You shall travel in a group of three."

"SAVE ME!"

"When you have doubt, remember your promise."

"Save me, Mellie."

"FREE ME!" the trees yelled. "SAVE ME!"

Mellie ignored them and continued to walk home. She pulled out her keys and climbed up the stairs to the door. She unlocked the door, stepped in and closed the door behind her, silently thanking the walls for being soundproof.

"Mom!" she called, taking off her shoes and backpack. "Dad! I'm home!" No one answered her. She walked through the house, her socks providing some protection against the hardwood flooring. She stepped into the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers, looking for something to eat after her long day of school.

"Anybody there?" she called. Still, nobody answered her. Mellie was starting to get some creepy vibes when her phone rang.

BRRRING! BRRRING! BRRRING!

Mellie nearly jumped out of her skin from the abrupt, loud noise coming from her pocket. She gathered herself and answered the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, honey."

"Hey, Mom."

"Your father and I will be a bit late coming home, so you might want to take out the frozen pizza," her mother told her. "But-"

"No parties, I know," Mellie finished. "I have homework, so I'll be working on that."

"Good," she said. "Alright, bye!"

"Bye." Mellie hung up and sighed. Her parents loved her very much, she knew, but they were out of the house so much that Mellie rarely got to see them. She counted down her checklist. It was nearly the end of May, and Mellie had to study for her exams. She was headed to York University in the fall, and she wanted to keep her grades up until the end. She also had an English assignment due the next week, and she hadn't started yet. So she dragged her feet upstairs to grab her laptop and begin working. Mellie made her way across the hallway to her room. She opened the door and looked around the tiny bedroom. Her sheets were still dishevelled from when she got out of bed that morning, and her curtains were drawn taut in front of the small window to block out the tree in her front lawn. Mellie walked over to where her laptop was charging on her desk and unplugged it. She fished a pencil out of the messy drawers beside her desk, grabbed the laptop and headed back down the stairs. She sat down on a couch and began her work.

Barely an hour later, Mellie heard knocking on the door. She looked up from her work, wondering who it could be. She set the laptop down on the coffee table and went to the door. She unlocked the door and opened the door a tiny crack to see who was there.

"Um, hello." A boy about the same age as Mellie greeted her. Another boy stood behind him, silent. "Is Mellie Willis home?"

Mellie quickly shut the door and breathed deeply. She then realized what she had done and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Sorry," she apologized as she opened the door again.

"Don't be," he said. Mellie got a closer look at the boy, with his auburn hair and brown eyes. "I shouldn't have been so forward. You're Mellie Willis, right?" Mellie nodded her head. He had an accent that Mellie just couldn't place her finger on where it was from.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Kiernan Wessex, but most people refer to me as Kier." he bowed slightly, and Mellie held in a giggle. Keep it together, she mentally chided herself. "And this over here is Paxton Hill, or as I like to call him, the Silent and Dead Man." He gestured to the other boy with blond hair and dark eyes.

"Why were you asking about me?" she asked and motioned them to come in. They stepped over the threshold. Mellie closed the door and turned to face them.

Kiernan lowered his voice dramatically, and said, "Because you're like me." Mellie rolled her eyes. So did Paxton Hill.

"Like you how, exactly?"

"Well, what can you hear?" he said. Mellie's breath was caught in her throat and she lifted her hands to her mouth. He couldn't mean...

"The trees," Mellie whispered, barely loud enough for them to hear.

"Ah," he huffed, "You'll have to speak up. The wind can only carry so many sounds to my ears."

"Pardon?" she said, hoping that she'd heard him wrong. "The wind is an inanimate thing."

"See, now you've offended them," he said. "They have nothing nice to say about you now. Aureole, go wash your mouth, that is inappropriate." he scolded the air.

"Like they have nothing nice to say to you," Paxton muttered, just loud enough for them to hear.

"Mr. Hill, what a blow. Honestly, and to think I was going to give you one of Mama's cookies," Kiernan feigned hurt.

"What a shame," Paxton said flatly. "I was looking forward to it."

"Wait, you can hear the wind?" Mellie asked.

"Well, who else did you think I was talking to?"

"Your ego," Paxton answered.

"Oh, shush. No one asked you," Kiernan retorted.

"Guys, please stop fighting and explain what's going on," Mellie interjected.

"Right, everyone can hear something, correct?" Kiernan asked. Mellie nodded. "Well, some people can hear not only other people, but the forces of nature, and other things." He glanced over at Paxton. "Like the dead."

"You can hear the dead?" Mellie asked Paxton, alarmed.

"Yeah, I can," he said and raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"No, no," she brushed it off. "I was just— surprised, is all. Trees, while I hear them, are living. The dead are– well– dead."

"Kiernan hears the wind," he pointed out. "Believe me, it's not the strangest thing out there."

"Of course it isn't," Kiernan said, jumping back into the conversation. "I have a friend that can hear little stones on the road. Imagine what that would be like: 'Don't step on me, step on him!' 'How dare you, little stone-becile!' " he chuckled at his pun. "He has a stone driveway, so you can imagine how annoying that would be."

"Is there a point to this?" Mellie asked.

"No, but all the best things have no point," he said.

"Actually–" Paxton started but was quickly cut off by Mellie.

"Can I please just ask a question?"

"Does it have a point?" Kiernan asked.

"Yes," she said, glaring. Then she asked her question:

"Do trees usually speak prophecies?"