Forest of Denial

Trey finally makes it into the forest away from everyone. He now takes a moment to breathe and rethink on something his grandpa used to say when he was a child, "There's never a good time to do something, you just have to do the good thing to make the time right." He still doesn't understand what it means or why that's what his mind chose right now. He doesn't even know what to do so how could he do the "good thing to make the time right"? Whatever, he figured he should  probably get some sleep. His mother always said, "If you can't figure something out you should sleep on it." So, that's exactly what he did. He slept on it. While he was sleeping he had a dream about himself being in a fishing boat with his grandfather and for the first time sense he almost died, he can speak again.

Trey: "Grandpa?" Grimm looked back at him with a grand old smile.

Grimm: "Yes, do you need something?" He raised an eyebrow.

Trey: "How are you here...you're de-" He stopped himself, not wanting to sound rude.

Grimm: "Dead? I know...but that shouldn't be able to stop me from talking with you when you need me the most...now, what's on your mind then?" He continues to fish nonchalantly. 

Trey: "There's so much...well first Mama's gone. Because someone evil burned down the village and blamed me for it!" He sets down the fishing pole.

Grimm: "Ella's gone...I never thought it would happen so soon." He taps his foot in deep thought. "Have you checked the pack she made for you yet?"

Trey: "No...why is there something cool in there?" He looks around for his pack, "It's not here."

Grimm: "Of course it's not here!" He chuckled, "There is something cool and very important in that pack that your uncle Rosh left for you." He gets a little more serious.

Trey: "Oh...it's important grown up stuff..." He clears his throat and shifts in his seat.

Grimm: "That's not a problem right? You're a grown up now!" He smiles, trying not to laugh.

Trey: "No, it's fine! I, I just...I can't read." He is very ashamed of that.

Grimm: His gaze narrows slightly, "Ella never taught you to read? I should have made sure that you were properly taught...I apologize." He says wiping away a single tear. 

Trey: "Hey, grandpa don't cry! It's not your fault." He moves over slightly to awkwardly side hug him.

Grimm: "That's nice of you to say." He pats Trey's head, "But it is my fault. I shouldn't have agreed so quickly to give you to Ella."

Trey: "Give me to Mama? Didn't she give birth to me?" He looks up in confusion.

Grimm: "No, I'm sorry to tell you only now. She is not your real mother."

Trey: "Then who is?!" He gets a little ticked off that no one ever told him this.

Grimm: "I don't know. No one here does. Besides maybe Anri. She should know. So you should ask her if you can."

Trey: "I can't! She's missing..." He looks about ready to cry again.

Grimm: "You need to find her then...and remember, you can cry if you need to."

Then Trey wakes up. It is bright and sunny but the breeze makes it perfect! He's feeling a little better, enough to talk, if anyone is there to that is. Which right now there is not. Just him and his thoughts. But he does have a mission now, go find Anri and get answers from her. Only problem is, he has no idea where she could be and the only clue he has is a letter but he can't read. Quite a stalemate. 

Trey: "If only I could read this wouldn't be a problem." His jaw tightens slightly in frustration.

His mind goes wandering, trying to find anything that could be even a little bit helpful. "A" he remembers, Tom told him that Anri starts with a letter called "A". His eyes light up.

Trey: "I might be able to get somewhere with this!" He digs through his pack to find the letter Grimm mentioned is important and tries to read it. But quickly finds it's impossible without more letters. "Dang! I really thought I had a chance with that..." He puts the letter back.

Trey stands up and paces back and forth. After a minute he picks up a stick and starts tapping it against the trees as he continues to pace back and forth...trying to think back to anything isn't really working, as now he's just passing some time while forming a plan. With zero information that's relevant. After an hour he sits again. This is a lot of thinking for him. He's not really a thinking kind of kid, he's more of the I love anything that isn't thinking kind of kid. Especially right now, as no ideas are more frustrating than bad ideas.

Trey: "I've got nothing...still. But I feel close to something." He says with no real hope. Unless magically he can read, there's no real options left.

Trey stands back up and goes off deeper into the forest. Hoping maybe something good might happen. Like a random memory he forgot will resurface if he sees or smells something familiar enough to it. As he walks with his feet finding a familiar trail, he follows it with haste until he arrives at an old tree house.

Trey: "Hey...this is the old tree house grandpa built for me six years ago." He walks over to the ladder that's covered in foliage, "Guess I stopped coming out here once he was gone. It's too bad, this place is nice." He sits on a stump near the ladder.

It looks a bit broken down by nature. Plants cover the parts of it from window to roof. It isn't very big either. Just big enough to play in, as it's purpose is just that.

Trey: "I wonder if I left anything up there." He stands up and begins to climb the ladder. It squeaks with each step. After only fourteen bars he reaches the top. He notices the door is open. He's on edge as he pushes the door wider, who knows what animal or even monsters might have made this tree house it's home. "Don't be evil, don't be evil." He pushes the door completely open and nothing happens. "Oh...phew, that's a relief."

The door swings back closed, "Who dares enter?!"