Over the course of several minutes, the rest of the boy slid down the throat of the tree. The sun began to set, and the sky blazed orange and golden and red. The branches of the tree stretched out over the closely cropped grass of the yard. The End 22/end

"Did it never occur to you," the tree said, in a tone which, if the boy had been of a mind to pay attention to such things, would have seemed slightly impatient and exasperated, "that I have just been fattening you up?" 21/

His mouth stretched open to scream, but he found branches encircling his chest, constricting his breath, allowing not a peep to come from him. When the boy's thighs passed through the opening, the tree spoke again. 20/

The branches holding the boy moved, slowly pushing him towards the maw beneath his feet, which opened further. The boy's feet slid into the opening. 19/

"Far more years than you have been alive. I have let you rest in my shade, climb my trunk and play in my branches and eat my apples." 18/

"Yes, I have been here for many years." said the voice which did not sound like a voice. It had no air of humanity about it, no feeling of emotion or soul. 17/

A deep sound rumbled from the maw below the boy's feet. The sound carried inhuman but unmistakable words. 16/

As he watched, the opening slowly stretched wider. It was a hole, a black void, a yawning emptiness into the center of the tree. 15/

He pushed against the trunk with his feet, but something was different. Something was missing. There was a space where his feet had formerly rested. He lifted his head with difficulty and found an opening in the bark of the tree, only a few inches across. 14/

He twisted his body to the left and right, but the more he moved, the more tightly the branches gripped him. 13/