Tree

There was snow everywhere, and nothing but bare, frozen trees in sight.

It was a seemingly endless forest. To the right were barren trees and snow bombarding the surface, and to the left was the same. Everything was the same. The constant noise of the howling wind and the puttering sound of snow tapping your body would surely drive one mad in a matter of minutes. If one were to be lost in this place, may God have mercy on their soul.

Well, it turns out there was someone lost in this place. And he's been lost a good deal of time.

His name is Scottie Cassidy. Where he is, well, that remains a mystery. At first glance he looks like a careless, troublesome asshole that you wouldn't even touch with a ten foot pole. Well, he is.

"Fuckin' hell..." Scottie murmured in disgust. He had a gruff, thick Southern accent to his voice.

He trudged along the slippery snow, hands tightly tucked in his coat pockets. He had a bandanna wrapped around his mouth tightly, followed by a long, skinny scarf around his clothes.

"There's nothin' but this goddamn snow," he remarked.

He reached a small clearing and the moonlight shined down on his body.

Scottie had light, auburn hair that messily poked out from behind the hat he wore. He had blue eyes, and the rest of his face was covered by a crimson red bandanna. He wore a black, scuffed up hat with a dark red stripe circling the hat. He wore on a black and red checkered coat that hung down to the back of his knees. He wore a black, worn vest with off-grey stripes. Underneath the vest he wore a purple shirt with a design stitched on it. He had on black pants with white stripes running down, and dark brown boots with spurs that jetted out from the back.

Scottie adjusted the bandanna around his nose and squinted up at the sky.

The moon was red in color, as was the entire night sky. Scottie looked around his surroundings and heard an odd humming sound in the distance.

"Doesn't sound like the wind..." he wondered aloud.

Scottie felt a strong gust of wind blast through the clearing, knocking his hat off his head. He turned in the opposite direction of the wind and sighed heavily.

Scottie walked a different direction and ignored the humming as a result of his annoyance with literally everything that was happening around him. He attempted to pick up his hat, but it blew away in the wind and disappeared in the darkness of the frozen forest.

"Gotta be fuckin' *kidding* me," he angrily tsked.

Scottie walked on as the wind began to die down. He glanced at the ground, noticing his own footsteps all over the place. Had he been walking in circles? He wasn't even sure.

Scottie reached a gigantic, downed tree that covered much of his path as if a wall had been built. He leaned against it and slid down, sitting on the cold snow. His legs were stretched out and his hands were in between.

"What the hell *is* this fuckin' place?" he inquired to himself, looking around yet again.

He sighed, reaching into his pants pocket and pulled out an object. A card. The Jack of Hearts card, to be more specific.

The card had dried blood on all four corners of the card, and was in poor shape. The initials 'S.C.' were signed on the bottom of the card.

"Papa?" a voice suddenly rang out in the forest.

His entire demeanor had changed. His eyes widened, and his body tensed up. He quickly jumped up to his feet and turned around, seeing nothing.

"Claire?" he asked, desperation rising in his voice.

"Papa, hello!?" the voice returned, equally desperate.

Scottie sprinted towards the sound of the voice, which originated from where he was in the clearing. He approached the clearing and heard the humming once more.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Scottie screamed out in panic.

The humming grew louder and louder, as the wind picked up once more. He began to breathe heavily and sweat, turning in circles.

"Papa!" the voice shouted again, coupled with the humming and wind.

Scottie covered his ears and fell to his knees, screaming. He closed his eyes, which began to well with tears.

The red moonlight suddenly enveloped his entire person. He looked up weakly, noticing that the clouds in the sky began to churn and spin around. He noticed heavy snow and fog had completely covered up his entire surrounding, leaving him trapped in a circle.

He passed out from the exhaustion, falling face down on the snowy surface.

His eyes opened up a few hours later. Everything had calmed down by now. He got up weakly, freezing cold, but at this point it was like second nature to him. He sighed and smacked the snow on the ground, frustrated.

"God damn it," he tsked under his breath.

"Scottie Cassidy?" an unfamiliar voice came through.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Out of instinct, Scottie rolled away from the hand and tried to reach for a gun on his holster, but there was nothing there.

A figure stood where he had been. A woman with beautiful, long hair and a long, white and black checkered dress stood. She smiled at him.

"Oops! Did I startle you?" she laughed.

"What the *fuck* is going on here?" Scottie angrily protested, getting up.

"I apologize if it took a bit to find you. This place doesn't typically get visitors," she explained.

"I have been walking in circles for fuckin' *hours* on end, I don't even know where the hell I'm at! Last I remember I was being fucking *shot* to death and suddenly I wake up in this freezin' forest all alone. And then I hear my goddamn *daughter-*-"

"Scottie, you must relax. I understand how confusing and weird this whole experience is, but just trust me, alright?" the figure interrupted him, smiling for reassurance.

"Trust, eh?" Scottie scoffed, crossing his arms. "Where the fuck have you been, then? I've been here for what feels like forever and you just now decide to stop by. Where's my fucking daughter, you bitch!?"

The woman stared at him for a while, then sighed.

"Well!?" screamed Scottie, his eyes wild.

"I had to...mimic her to bring you to me," she began, softly. She looked away in sadness, pushing her elegant hair behind her ear. "With how massive this forest is, I had to be sure you'd--"

"That's all I needa hear," Scottie spat. "There goes *any* ounce of trust I had in me."

"Scottie, wait," the woman said. "I can get you back to her. That's what you want, right?"

He glared at her.

"You died, that much is true. But, your soul was brought here to the Forest. You're being given a second chance, and I can be the one to give you that chance," she continued.

He still glared at her.

"What is this horse shit?" he finally spoke. "Who the *fuck* are ya, anyways? You seem to know a great deal about me and my situation, but how and why?"

"I've been in the Forest for what feels like forever, and other people being here is a bit of a rare occurrence," she started. "So, naturally, I take great curiosity in whoever comes here."

"And if you can...give me a 'second chance,' why the hell're *you* still here?" he asked.

"That's the thing. I can give *others* a second chance, but I cannot give myself one," she sighed. "Come with me, please. I know you must want to get back to your daughter."

"And that's another thing," Scottie continued. "How do you know what she fuckin' *sounds* like?"

"I can read you like a book," she explained. "I'm not exactly normal."

Scottie sighed and rolled his eyes. She turned towards the fog and put her hand out, and the fog began to vanish. A path through the Forest appeared in front of them. Scottie reluctantly followed.

He observed her as she walked through. Her dress flapped in the wind and sparkled in the moonlight. Her hair flowed like a river and shined brightly. She was extraordinarily beautiful.

He found himself staring at her legs moving in perfect sequence, noticing her backside swaying back and forth.

"So, eh-hem, this Forest? The hell is it?" Scottie asked, trying to look away.

"Every 52 years, a lost soul ventures here to the Forest when their destination is not yet decided," she spoke.

"*Without* the nonsense talk," Scottie sighed.

"...Right. This place is a crossroad between the afterlife and reality. When people die, they typically go straight to two places. But with people like you...you wound up here," she finished.

She looked back at Scottie. The two briefly made eye contact, and then she turned forward.

"Because I've been cherry-picked for a second chance, eh?" Scottie tsked. "None of this makes sense."

A bright light shined in the distance. Scottie noticed it, and was perplexed. The woman reached the bright light and then turned around to Scottie.

"Only a few more steps," she smiled.

Scottie sighed and walked into the light with her.

The entire scenery completely changed once Scottie entered through the veil.

There was no snow or barren trees in sight. Instead, the ground was a vibrant green, and there were various plants and flowers growing around him. The sky was a bright yellow, and the sun was rising over the horizon. He looked in front of him and saw a blossoming tree with fruit hanging down.

"The hell?" he questioned.

He saw the woman by the tree, looking up at it in awe. She turned to Scottie and smiled brightly, motioning him to come forward.

"Isn't it truly beautiful?" she asked, looking at the tree.

"Better than freezin' to death," Scottie tsked.

He pulled down his bandanna over his neck, and stared up at the tree. noticing it sparkling and seemingly pulsating with light. His eyes were fixated on it. The woman disappeared from his view.

"Are you ready to go back now, Scottie?" her voice whispered to him.

"Yes," Scottie responded.

"That's good," she said.

Scottie felt her hands wrap around him, rubbing his chest. He sighed in pleasure and then closed his eyes, breathing more rapidly.

"Scottie," the woman whispered again. "I know what *else* you want."

Her hands unbuttoned his vest and then his shirt underneath it. She then reached down and unbuckled his belt, pulling his pants down.

"Power. Revenge," she started. "You want them to die, you want them to suffer and pay for what they did to you. It's only natural to desire these things. You were wronged."

Scottie turned around and saw the woman, who was completely nude. She placed her hands on his cheeks and smiled.

"You want that trump card, don't you?" she asked silently.

"Yes," he spoke with conviction.

She shrugged off his loose clothes. The two stood in front of each other, their eyes locked. The woman raised her hand towards Scottie which held his Jack of Hearts card.

"Then, take it," she whispered.

Scottie reached out to grab it, but she slapped it onto his chest. She then went in and kissed him, which he didn't retaliate against. The two fell onto the beautiful ground.

As they kissed, the wind picked up in the beautiful vista. The plants began to die and wither as the cold wind began to encircle the two.

Suddenly, snow began to stream down from the sky, and it turned a dark red. The blossoming tree behind them instantly lost all of its leaves and fruit.

The woman pulled away from Scottie's lips and got up. She looked at him.

"I'm sorry," she spoke sincerely. "I had to..."

Scottie opened his eyes and looked at her. He felt a burning sensation on his chest, and the howling wind picked up.

"...What's going on?" he asked in confusion.

He looked down at his chest and saw the letter 'J' and a heart symbol burned into it. He groaned from the pain and grabbed onto his head, which began to throb.

The woman's shadow on the ground began to manifest and take form. She faded away with the wind, and only her red shadow remained.

"All those people on your mind," the shadow began, its voice heavily distorted. "I wonder how it would be if they all received their *own* trump card."

Scottie's eyes flashed yellow and he gritted his teeth from the pain.

Flash images of the people on his mind appeared before him, including his own daughter. He leaned up against the barren tree, and a rotten apple fell into his hand.

"I almost pity you," the figure continued. "All you wanted was to get back, right? You didn't sign up for *any* of this. A shame, really."

Scottie looked up, noticing the shadowed figure now in a jester's uniform. It dropped to his knees and looked at him intently.

"I'm the Red Joker and that gorgeous, ditzy woman is the White Joker. We've been *dying* to meet someone like you. Everyone else goes crazy and we end up having to put them out of their misery. But, you? You're one *hell* of a wildcard."

The Red Joker reached out and grabbed Scottie's head.

"You won't remember any of this. Enjoy the gift we've given you, Scottie Cassidy. Impress us."

Everything around Scottie flashed.