On the first day of my summer vacation, I found myself really bored. My friends were out of town, and nothing seemed fun anymore. I decided to take a walk through the woods, which were near my house. The walk was short, but there was something comforting about the silence and the trees.
While roaming the woods, I spotted an old oak tree that seemed alien to me. I started going closer to the tree, and it’s subtle features became visible. It had a very thick trunk and large branches that looked like they stretched towards the sky. What gave it a strange look was the small wooden door that was placed at the bottom of the tree.
At the very beginning, when I saw the door, I thought it was a prank. It looked like someone was trying to build a fort, but as I looked closer, I started to see that reality was different. The door quite literally looked centuries old, and looked as if it hadn’t budged an inch. There was a doorknob, along with a frame that looked big enough for an average-sized person to pass through.
My heartbeat accelerated from what I was getting myself into. This was a sight I could not resist. I turned to see if anyone was looking and turned the doorknob. The door opened to my surprise. I felt like I just crossed the line into another universe.
Soft blinking light seemed to emerge from the middle of the tree in a hollow way. The air had an earthly scent, reminding anyone of old wood and damp soil. The darkness also held a narrow staircase made of wooden planks that seemed to spiral downwards. “Secret staircase in an old oak tree?!” I had to check this out.
With every single one of my steps slowly taken, stretches of silence got louder as every step creaked under my weight. By this point, it did feel like I was descending further into a hidden cave. Finally, after a short period of time, I reached the bottom. My surroundings were a lot larger than expected. “This is my new small room!” Right in the center sat a stone pedestal with a golden key on it. It’s the same type of gold and mysterious key people often reference in old adventure books.
I had no clue what the key unlocked, but I was certain I needed to take it. It looked like the kind of object that could result in something useful, something of significance. However, just as I was ready to collect the key, I heard some movement behind me. I turned around with my heart racing, only to find nothing around me. Just the unsettling calm of the woodland area.
Resting in the tree, I realized no one had noticed my presence. Grabbing the key, I started moving up the set of stairs. The woods concealed the unusual mystery of the oak tree, something I needed to know.
Quickly wanting to return home, I stored the key in my pocket. Though I had no knowledge of what it unlocked, I was confident I would know someday. The mystery surrounding the oak tree was not concluded, but in fact it had just begun.
