My parents never let me climb trees as a kid, not after they found me hanging from one. I still have no idea where that noose came from or how I managed to get caught up in it. As far as my parents are concerned, someone else was planning to use it and I ended up falling into the damn thing.
At least, that's what they always told me. When mum got sick they started telling me a lot more about my childhood, all the things I'd forgotten and all the little incidents that added up to a lifetime spent around the dying or dead without me even realising it.
They said a little girl used to follow me everywhere, that she floated when she thought nobody was looking and she'd always try to persuade me to climb into the trees with her. The first time I did was when I met the noose and it didn't get much better from there.
She would talk me into trying rat poison to see if it tasted as sweet as it looked or lying in the middle of the road to learn how to float like her. I don't remember any of this but my parents are still terrified of her and what she'll do when they die.
Even though she vanished when I turned fifteen I still catch glimpses of her little face.
She's been creeping closer for years.
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