The darkness is a wet blanket thrown over Ada. She can’t breathe. She can’t stand for the shaking in her legs. She tries to sit but her hands are held too high on the tree. “Please,” she begs the tree, “let me go.” She sobs.

Images boil up from the roots of the tree. She hears the voice of the girl in the dress begging. She feels the bond through the tree to the dead girl. More than that she can sense the girl. She sees through the dead girl's eyes. She can feel the terror the girl felt. She is the girl in the dress.

The door opens just like before and light spills into the dark room. One of the men drags another dead girl away from the tree, severing the girl’s hands with a long knife. He throws the girl in the pile by the wall and returns to the girl in the dress. Ada tries to pull away from the vision.

“You can escape all this.” He leans in close and whispers in her ear. His breath smells of onion and garlic. It is hot on her neck. “Just give in to the tree.” He runs a finger down the girl’s neck and Ada feels the hand as if it were touching her. The man kisses her, and she responds by shoving her life force into the tree. The tree drinks down the essence like parched earth to water. “That’s it. You’re doing it, can’t you see that’s all we ask.”

The girl begins to feel wrung out. Her pulse thrums in her head. Her legs grow weak, and she feels as if she will vomit. She pulls back from the tree, but it is latched onto her essence. She struggles and with a grunt regains control.

The man in the robe sucks through his teeth. He draws back a fist and strikes the girl in the back of the head. She sees stars and Ada sees them through her, or through the tree. Ada struggles to perceive the difference; the vision is potent. The man grabs the girl by the chin and turns her head to look at him. To see his soulless eyes and corroded teeth. To smell his breath. His face is covered in scars and skin tags. Immediately she tries to escape back into the tree.

Her eyes roll back, and she tries to remember good things, but the tree only soaks up the horrors. It draws off of her again pulling at her so hard her veins hurt in her arms. Her head pounds in pain. Growling and writhing she pulls back from the tree again only to find the man there kissing her on the mouth. She screams so loud it feels as if her lungs will collapse. He pulls back and screams with her, then he laughs, long and hard.

Ada screams and tries to pull her hands from the tree. She places her foot against the tree and shoves hard. Her shoulders pop and she collapses in pain hanging from her arms. She can tear her arms off before the tree will let her go. “Please, let me go.” She sobs again, her voice ragged from screaming. She is so thirsty, that her throat feels like she swallowed crushed glass. “What do you want from me?”

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Another vision, another desperate girl. One of the girls from the pile in the corner. The door opens each night and one of the robed men slices open her flesh. She tries desperately to shove her essence into the tree, but the pain is excruciating, and her power is feeble. The tree can hardly bear fruit. Little balls of gray fruit form not much larger than grapes. Yet she tries to give the tree and the evil men what they want she pours herself into the tree with all her strength. Tears stream down her face. She was too young. Not yet ripe. The tree is sorrowful.

Ada tries to dig her nails into the tree. She hates the tree. Hates the men in robes. She hates with hate greater than all the love she has known. The tree shivers. It shares sorrow with her. It shares the hate. It calls her down, down into its roots.

Lover's tree. A woman calls it. A voice so distant Ada barely hears it as it passes. The tree remembers the voice. It remembers the smell of the woman. A fragrance of lavender and honey passes by. Ada is deep in the darkness, but she can hear the woman speaking to a man. His voice returns and Ada can’t make out the words, but she can tell by the tone that the two are a couple. They are embracing one another and serenading each other in poetic love-filled words.

She can feel them through the tree lying down at its base. The tree is warm. It likes the touch. It likes the smell of her perfume and the sound of their voices. They are lying on a blanket eating together and drinking wine. She hears the woman’s laughter, and the tree delights along with her.

They return often and sit under the tree together. Ada can feel the seasons passing. Then one day they are interrupted. There is fear. There is blood. The woman’s lover is dead. She is crying and the tree reaches for her. It wants to comfort her. It tries to wrap her up, but its movements are too slow. Too terribly slow. A stranger is torturing the woman at the base of the tree. The wizard sacrifices her there. The tree tries to draw the lover into itself to protect her. The wizard senses the tree's action and commands a curse at the tree.

Sorrow, floods of sorrow and regret. Anguish and hate fill the tree. It can’t take it back. It can’t stop the wizard. It is too slow. Too weak. Hunger builds in the tree. Hate courses through it and washes down through its roots into the soil. Rage builds in it like an inferno. It can’t stop. It hates, but it can’t stop. It is cursed and it curses. There is no stopping. No vengeance. Only sorrow and hate.

Ada gasps for a breath and pulls back from the tree. Her body is covered in sweat, and she feels as if she will vomit. Then the door opens.