The Trees: A Collection

By Todd Brabander

Monsters, legends, and things that we would rather not think about, this collection of three short stories and two pieces of flash fiction will treat readers to a strange and frightening world that lies in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Todd Brabander
• Release date: Oct 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466002388

Todd Brabander

Todd Brabander is an author, musician, and artist from Portland OR. His projects range in style from comedy, to absurdist, to horror, and usually have a Pacific Northwest flavor. His work aims to capture a twisted and often humorous view of the normal world. He has been in several music groups, had his writing published online, and has publicly displayed visual art. He is a big fan of the Oxford comma.

Book preview

THE TREES

A Collection

BY TODD BRABANDER

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 Todd Brabander

www.todd13.com

License Notes

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgements

Laroche

Happiness Is A Dead Ladybug

Sheltered

The Trees

The First Date

About The Author

Acknowledgements

~ ~ ~

Thanks to all the people who have discovered my writing. These stories are as much for you as they are for me.

Big thanks to my friends who continue to support me, and thank you Kristina King for all your help.

Laroche

~~~

He didn’t expect to be impressed with the hotel. It was small and old and positioned in a cramped little stretch of downtown. It was far nicer than anything else around—hotel or otherwise.

He had always felt that Astoria was nothing more than a small, boring city that had a huge bridge cutting it in half—not much else.

The Astoria-Megler bridge is a four-mile-long monster that dominates the landscape and spans the gap between Oregon and Washington at the mouth of the Columbia River. He’d driven through Astoria before, and that bridge was the only thing in the old coastal town that had left any sort of impression on him.

Astoria sits a couple miles off the coast where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean. It was an old town going through a metamorphosis. The fishing and lumber industries that were the backbone of the local economy had moved to larger ports. Tourism and hospitality were the new way. Astoria was becoming a town full of galleries, restaurants, and museums. The old docks and canneries were being repurposed as event spaces and breweries.

And that’s why he was there: New business.

The hotel lobby was taller than it was wide. A counter, an armchair, a staircase, and an elevator filled up the space. The young man at the desk wore a bright-red jacket over his crisp, white shirt.

How long will you be staying, he asked.

Just for tonight.

The dark wood and decorative flourishes charmed him. He usually didn’t like the little towns. In fact, he despised the rural communities that he visited day after day. Everything was shoddy, there was nothing to do, and the people were unrefined, but every so often he found an exception—this old hotel was an exception.

A loud bell indicated that the elevator arrived. It wasn’t an electronic chime. It was a real bell that sounded a clear ding from somewhere within the wall. The elevator was narrow, but it felt sturdy. The buttons were old and worn and looked dated in their design. There were five floors; he was staying on the fifth.

The elevator climbed through the building and opened to reveal a hallway bathed in warm, golden light. The bottom half of the walls were covered in a rich wooden panelling that matched the hardwood floors. The wallpaper was cream colored. A hint of a design was embossed across it. He felt like he took up the entire hallway. Everything was small in a way that gave the building an old-world charm.

His room door opened with a keycard. It was the first modern update that he’d detected since his arrival.

The room wasn’t especially large, but it felt luxurious. A bed stacked tall with down-filled bedding and pillows dominated the room. The bathroom