The Ominous Tree

With a slightly contorted face, Jean was dazed for a while. He had just discovered something strange. As opposed to the previous encounter, this time around, he didn't sense the feeling that the ominous tree was dissipating a while ago.

His sanity remained put, as he kept his eyes fixed on the tree.

'What could have been the main cause of this? Is she the one responsible for what just happened?'

Jean thought to himself as he stared at Natalie with a confused look.

At this point, he thought that there were some chances that Natalie could have been the one behind the disappearance of the strange feeling, that the tree was dissipating a while ago. But since he wasn't sure with his guesses, he chose to remain mute.

At that moment, Natalie cleared her throat and shifted her gaze to the top of the tree.

"This tree is very unique and it is lovely. It plays a key role in boosting the beauty of this place."

Natalie said without looking, as she gently caressed the rough surface of the bark of the tree.

With a stiff smile, Jean cautiously leaned on the bark of the tree. He then spared Natalie a sideway glance.

During this moment, his heart was thumbing wildly in his chest. He had only leaned on the tree in order to prove to Natalie that he wasn't perturbed, but deep down, he was cursing his actions.

What actually gave him the confidence of doing so, was the fact that Natalie was touching the tree and nothing was happening to her.

"I'm in support of your statement, mom. But on the contrary, from my own observation, I can tell that the tree is the source of virtually all the litter in this compound, and it is going to be tiresome to keep the compound clean all the time. But that will depend on how long your contract would last."

Natalie blinked a couple times and glared at Jean.

"Keeping the compound clean would be tiresome only if you would be the one doing the cleaning."

With that, Natalie sneered and continued…

 "As if you even assist me with the cleaning chores. On the matter of my contract, that's not an issue as am passionate with my profession. Therefore, any time any day, I am ready to move, so as long as I would stick to my profession."

These statements confirmed to Jean how passionate Natalie was with her profession. This might have been the main reason, to why she had taken the risk of distancing herself from her home in the village.

In simple terms, Natalie had just drawn a line on things that Jean shouldn't dare to mess with sometime in the future. Jean on the other side, wasn't a doofus never to understand this. He engraved this deeper in his brain.

"Mom in which other ways can this tree be of importance to people like us?"

With widened eyes, Natalie shifted a little.

"What do you mean people like us?"

"I was referring to me and you."

"Oh! If that is the case, then you don't need to worry as you will come to understand what I mean as we stay here."

Jean shifted uncomfortably with a confused expression clearly written on his face.

'I don't like this.'

For quite some time, Jean has been constantly perturbed by how Natalie has been so indirect with some of her statements. The reason behind her weird conduct, not known to Jean.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Jean sighed.

"Mom, who could have planted this gigantic tree?"

Glancing at Jean while one of her hands resting on the bark of the tree, Natalie snorted.

"I might not be sure, but I think it must have been someone who really appreciated nature."

Jean nodded in agreement.

"How can this tree affect its surroundings especially people around it?"

Jean asked with the aim of getting a hint to why the tree imposed some strange feeling on him a while ago.

With a distance look surfacing her face, Natalie lingered for a moment.

"…People around it you say…?"

"Yes, mom."

Now with her gaze fixed on the top of the tree, Natalie snorted.

"That is so simple. The tree contributes to the fresh air that the people around inhale, just like us at this time. It can also provide us with extra shade apart from what our house can provide, especially during hot summer days like this. It can offer a lot, some of which I can't mention."

With a suppressed overwrought, Jean uncomfortably shifted his gaze away from Natalie.

'Why can't you just give me the answer I intent to get from you? Okay, let me see how you are going to evade this.'

Glancing at Natalie who was still studying the tree curiously, Jean leaned forward.

"Mom, what if somebody told you that the person that planted this tree, did it on purpose? Because, if you check around this compound, there is No profound feature other than the tree. And who knows, maybe the tree holds a hidden secret that's why it was left standing for a long period of time."

Natalie shuddered, and lingered for a moment with a dazed expression on her face. She then glanced at Jean and shifted.

"…'On purpose'…You are smart to deduce that, son. The purpose for planting tree could have been an obvious one; To enhance the beauty of this place, or provide shade during hot summer periods as I stated earlier."

Now a contorted expression turning into an amused stare, Natalie leaned forward as she removed her hand from the bark of the tree.

"The tree is indeed old, and its features explain it all. But you saying that the tree holds a hidden secret, is completely out of the equation. Which hidden secret could a normal tree like this hold. This can only be true in a dream or imagination"

Natalie added.

These statements shattered Jean's hopes of clearing his doubts about the ominous tree. He had hoped for a hint from the answers that Natalie was to provide about the tree if not for the answer itself. But to his disappointment, Natalie's response to his speculations snubbed his efforts.

'Maybe she is right. I might be imagining my own things.'

Whether Jean was right or wrong with what he had previously deduced about the ominous tree in the compound, was not clear for now. Based on the answers that Natalie provided, there could be some higher chances that he was imagining things as compared to him being right with his speculations.

Sighing dejectedly, Jean sighed and took a few steps away from the tree.

"I think we should commence with our tour by exploiting other parts of the compound."

With a relatively swift shrug, Natalie moved towards Jean and said in an even tone.

"Let's finish up with this right side before we proceed to the left and then to the rest of the compound."

Lunging forward to catch up with Natalie who was just overtaking him, Jean nodded.

A few moments later, at the edge of the right flank, just a few meters from the tree, Jean and Natalie stood with their gazes fixed on something that laid a few meters if not centimeters away from their feet.

"What could this be, mom?" Jean asked.

Placing one of her hands on the rusty steel lid Natalie snorted.

"It is a well. This is where we shall be fetching some of our water for usage"

Natalie explained as she gave Jean a teethed smile.

"It is just like in the village, the only difference is that, as opposed to the village wells this one is covered"

Jean said with a smirk.

"Yeah! That's true and it's so keen of you to realize this. Although the well can provide us with enough water for our domestic use, we still have water in the house"

Natalie said with a nod.

Jean gaped for a while before responding out of curiosity.

"Mom, from the way you are explaining things to me, it is now becoming clear to me that you have ever been here. Perhaps you can tell me who the initial owner of this place was. Don't even dare to tell me that it is you, because according to my observation, merged with my understanding, this place looks old especially the well. There are some possibilities that some of the structures and vegetation; such as the tree, existed before you."

Natalie giggled and stretched her hand to the edge of the lid and touched the rusty padlock. The padlock seemed to have held the lid of the well in place for several decades if not a century. Although it could have looked weaker from the condition that it was in, it was still strong enough to hold the lid in place.

She was just confirming if the padlock was that weak for it to be pulled open. This was confirmed when Natalie tried to exert some force on the padlock a moment after her giggle.

'Did she just giggle? That is so uncommon of her. What did I say that could ignite such an emotion in her?'

Jean thought for a moment, clearly surprised by this weird action of Natalie.

At that moment, Natalie let go the padlock with one hand and massaged her temples with the other.

"Do you know how funny you sounded when you tried to compare the age of the structures and the tree in this compound with my age?"

Jean let out a muffled groan.

He had tried so hard to find a clue to the strangeness of the ominous tree, but his efforts seemed to be meeting a dead end.

At the same moment, Natalie gave Jean a piercing look. When Jean saw this, he immediately averted Natalie's gaze out of embarrassment.

'Did she hear that? Let me hope that this menacing look of hers is not as a result of my groan.'

After a few moments of utter silence between the two, Natalie straightened and took a few steps towards Jean.

Throwing a furtive look at Natalie, Jean felt dreadful. He somehow felt like he had offended Natalie during their talk, and as a result, he was wary of her actions from the moment her emotion darkened.

'What is she up to?'

A few breathes later, Natalie patted Jean on the shoulder. In response, Jean shifted uncomfortably.

"If I may ask, why are so much interested in knowing more about the initial owner?"

Natalie asked with a serious face.

 (^_^)