Hanging Tree

[This is a story I made up to go with the Hanging Tree song from the Hunger Games series. The song is not my creation, only this story.]

  Nicole stood under the tree's leafy branches, their outline dark against the night sky. She knew he had said midnight but yet, looking around she could not find him. Reaching into the pocket of her jeans, she pulled out her phone and pushed a button to illuminate its screen. No texts or calls. She was about to walk away when a voice called down to her.
 "Hey it's about time you made it! Did you get lost?"
  Nicole looked up to see Brandon sitting on the second branch, his legs swinging back and forth.
 "No I didn't get lost. It wasn't easy to sneak out of the house. My little sister sleeps right next to me and she wakes up at the smallest sound."
  Nicole shoved her phone back into her pocket and reached up to grab the lowest tree branch. Pressing her feet against the tree's wide firm trunk, she hoisted herself up. In moments she was sitting next to Brandon, though not feeling comfortable enough to swing her feet.
 "Why are we here?" she asked, concentrating on his face and trying not to look down. His blonde hair shone in the moonlight and the mysterious smile on his face lit up his blue eyes.
 "We're in the hanging tree," he said. "At midnight."
  Nicole gave him a blank stare.
 "You know...the song about the hanging tree?"
  Another blank stare.
  Brandon sighed.
"You've really never heard the song and the story behind it?" Nicole shook her head.
"Well sit back then, close your eyes and let me take you back about a hundred years to a night alot like this one. Full moon, a few clouds in the sky and two lovers named Annabelle and Peter whose lives were about to change forever."


  Annabelle ran across the field frantically holding her nightdress bunched up around her thighs. Sweat dripped down her forehead and stuck in her thick eyelashes. Wiping her hair out of her face she looked up to see the lights from small torches across the field. She willed her feet to move faster but even now she could feel her breaths growing shorter, her legs tired.
  An image of Peter's face came into her mind. His wavy brown hair, tanned skin and dark brown eyes lighting up with a smile. A smile came to her own face but it quickly turned into a frown as she thought of the fate about to befall him. Her father had said he would do anything to keep the two of them apart but she never thought it would go this far. Could he honestly think Peter capable of murder?
  As Annabelle continued to run, the figures holding the torches became more clear. There were three men and her father standing under the tree. Peter stood next to them, his hands tied in front of his waist. And hanging from the second highest branch was a noose.
  Annabelle caught her breath when she saw this. She urged herself forward the last few steps and finally burst into the clearing falling to the ground at her father's feet.
 "Annabelle, what on earth are you doing?" he snarled, leaning down and roughly pulling his young daughter to her feet.
 "Why are you out of the house this late and in your nightclothes no less?"
 "You know why I am here," Annabelle snapped back, fire in her green eyes. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Peter watching her.
 "Father you cannot hang him, he has done no wrong."
 "He killed three men," Annabelle's father said coolly, staring into his daughter's face.
 "That's a lie," Annabelle shouted, raising her hand and slapping his cheek before she could stop herself. He reeled from the slap and turned to glare at his daughter.
 "You little bitch," he snapped, striking her cheek with the back of his hand. "How dare you strike me in defense of this rat."
  "He is not a rat, father. He is the man I love."
  "He is a hoodlum, he is scum. He should be licking the dust from your boots. And now we have proof he is a murderer."
   "There is no proof, father. You framed him so you could hang him and we can never be together."
   Annabelle's father did not reply but she swore in the moonlight she saw a smirk on his face. He motioned with his hand to the three other men. One of them lead a horse over to the tree and another lead Peter towards it.
   Annabelle rushed forward and tried to pull the men away but they pushed her back.
   "My love," Peter gasped, struggling against the man who held his tied up hands. "You must run. You must leave me and be free."
   Annabelle looked at Peter with crazed eyes. She could not lose him, not like this. Life would mean nothing if he was not part of it. Looking around she caught the glint of a knife in the belt of the man holding Peter.
  Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed it and shoved it deep into the man's chest. He cried out in agony, releasing Peter he clutched his chest and sank to the ground in a dark red pool of blood.
  "Annabelle, what did you do?" Peter cried out. She looked at him with wild eyes.
  "Annabelle, have you lost your mind?" her father barked, frozen in shock where he stood.
  "Well now we have two murderers on our hands," said one of the other men, walking up behind Annabelle and grabbing her roughly by the hair and Peter by his arm.
  "Christopher no!" the girl's father cried, hurrying toward them. "She did not know what she was doing. She is crazy with love and fear."
  "That was my brother she just stabbed to death," Christopher said, his voice breaking as tears threatened.
  "And now she will pay for it. Russell, tie a second noose," Christopher ordered over his shoulder to the third man.
  "No!" Annabelle's father cried. He rushed at Christopher who stuck out his leg and kicked him aside.
  "You'll stay out of my way or there will be three nooses on that tree," the large man hissed, towering over Annabelle's father.
  "Why did you do that?" Peter asked his love, as Christopher dragged them both toward the horse. The third man was in the tree tying another noose and Annabelle's father lay sniveling on the ground, terrified under Christopher's angry gaze.
  "So I can be with you forever," Annabelle told him, a strange but peaceful smile on her face.
  "It's time," Christopher said, as the third man's feet hit the ground. In moments, Annabelle was sitting behind Peter on the horse, thick rope digging into both their necks.
  "Now we can be free together," she whispered in Peter's ear. "Spend eternity in this tree wearing our necklaces of rope."
  "I love you, my Annabelle," Peter said.
    There was a loud smack, the horse whinnied and lurched forward and the tree's second branch moaned and creaked under this new weight.



"That is the creepiest thing I've ever heard. I want to get down now," Nicole said, realizing she and Brandon were sitting right on the second branch. Brandon smiled.
"Creepy or beautiful?" he asked. Nicole raised an eyebrow as if she couldn't understand how that was even a question.
"They wanted to be together and now they are for eternity," Brandon explained. "It's said that once a month during the full moon," he continued, gesturing up at the sky where the round moon shone down brightly, "you can hear the sound of a horse galloping across the field and see the form of two lovers, a man and a woman, their hands clasped as they swing together from the hanging tree."