Matt McPhee

Red Cedar Forest – August 19th, 2023 – 3:45 PM

Author: Sasheen Ansari (Recordkeeper for The Red Cedar Incident)

We received a tip from Timmy Clark, an anonymous source, that a “scary tree” outside of Harrington “ate” his soccer ball. He says his ball rolled through an opening at the base of the red cedar tree. When he stuck his head in, it looked like the inside was hollowed out, and there was a deep hole that seemed to go on forever. He said he shouted, “Hello,” and “Is anybody down there?” But nobody responded. He also dropped a pebble down, and he said it fell for “three or four seconds,” which, by my math, would mean it is between 144 and 257 feet deep.

Obviously, the anonymous source called The Neighbourhood Watch, Harrington’s best and only supernatural investigation crew. We are the— Actually, I’ll just insert a cutout from our handbook below to give the rundown.

The Neighbourhood Watch: Harrington’s ONLY supernatural investigation team. We protect the citizens from whatever supernatural monster or disturbance threatens the town. Adults may be blind to these mysterious events, but not us kids. That means we have to step up and protect our town, even if adults don’t understand. – Sasheen Ansari and Maisel Montgomery’s The Neighbourhood Watch Handbook (2020) p.2

As is probably clear from the anonymous source’s description of the tree, this is 1000% a supernatural threat of some kind…We just don’t know what it is, whether it’s dangerous, or how to “defeat” it… yet. Luckily, we’re pretty good at finding answers.

I should clarify. T e c h n i c a l l y, The Neighbourhood Watch is not active. (See Pocket’s Disappearance – Oct 26, 2022 – Oct 29, 2022, in The Neighbourhood Watch Official Log.) We broke up nearly a year ago, although the remaining members, Maisel, Murlocke, and me (Sasheen) voted to regroup to handle this one-off occurrence. I’m so excited to be the Recordkeeper for this mission. I didn’t realize how much I missed documenting our adventures. (Maisel thought it was her turn for some reason, but after a brief discussion, we agreed it was my turn.)

We wandered around, looking for the mysterious tree. Unfortunately, the anonymous source was not overly specific about where it was.

Maisel’s never been what you would call patient. She sat down beside me in kindergarten and, without ever speaking to me before, said I was her best friend. No wasting time with the middle stages of a relationship; stranger, classmate, acquaintance, friend, when you’re Maisel Montgomery.

Last year, our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Sharon, referred to Maisel as the Unmistakable Maisel. In part, because while she was one of the shortest kids in class, “what she lacked in stature, she more than made up for in chatter.” She speaks as if the only way she can process a thought is by saying it out loud. What truly makes her unmistakable, though, is her silvery white hair. It curls only slightly as it brushes her shoulders. She dresses like she picked everything out of the lost and found: her combat boots, cargo pants, and leather flight jacket – All one size too big.

Visually, she and I make an unusual pairing. My dark brown hair stretches down to my lower back and is annoyingly curly.

All my clothes are “respectable” and “responsible,” as my mother believes that I should always be presentable, even in my “play clothes.” This means I am stuck with boring clothes with no pattern or style. If I’m really lucky, maybe I get to wear a cardigan.

Murlocke stepped aside to reveal a red cedar tree with a hole at its base. Our exhausting search only took… 12 minutes. Maisel’s prediction of it taking all day may have been a bit of an overstatement.

– Sasheen