The Tree House

The Tree House was still there though the wooden boards were rotten now and it was unsafe to climb the rope to get there. She could reach it standing on the ground now that she was an adult, but remembered as a child how her older sisters would climb up the rope without her because she was too weak to climb herself. That was until she had screamed sufficiently for them to either help her or to have her father give her a boost. She knew it was still full of treasure maps, which had probably crumbled during the years. She remembered where they stored their pots and pans and how they'd shot at enemies from up there and healed each other in the safety of the tree house had they'd just come home from an epic battle. Some of the time it was a witch house and countless spells had been cast on their parents when they called them inside for dinner. She remembered the day her youngest older sister said no to playing with her in the tree house. She hadn't been able to comprehend why she had said no so firmly, when just two weeks ago it had been their favourite game to play? She still played in the tree house herself after that but the games seemed hollow and lonely. She'd watch her sisters walk into the house, she'd hear them talk on the phone to their friends through the walls and she saw how they started caring about makeup, clothes and boys. Gone were the days of the witches, wars and magic and an invisible wall had been built between them. After a sufficient amount of being on the other side she remember she decided to climb the wall. At first her sisters thought it was funny to dress her up and put makeup on her and though it didn't seem as fun as their old games she felt like she was part of the gang somehow again. But then something shifted again. Now it was no longer fun to have involved in their chats and sleepovers. She recognised now she'd tried to grow up with them without understanding what was going on and that that was what fell upon the youngest, that childhood was cut short.