There was a little dryad named Rose who lived inside a sapling in the middle of a large empty field. One day, humans began building cement structures all around her. A butterfly sat on a flower next to where her sapling grew. “What are the humans doing?” she asked the little butterfly. “They are building houses here to live in.” the butterfly replied. The humans began building a house near to where Rose’s sapling grew. A little while later, it was finished. 

A few days later, a car with a sign on the side of it that said, “Coconut Sunset Community Real Estate” pulled into the driveway, and a woman stepped out of it. Another car pulled into the driveway behind it. A couple stepped out of it. “Where are all the trees that we saw in the advertisement?” the woman asked the saleswoman. “Well, that was an artist’s rendering of what we hope the Coconut Sunset Community will look like in the future! We bulldozed the trees to build the houses.” the saleswoman replied. 

They bulldozed the trees?! Rose thought, horrified. The man said to the saleswoman, “Well, we were looking for a home in an area that is kinda woodsy. I guess we’ll have to keep looking around." 

Serves you right! They don’t want to buy this house now that the trees are gone! Rose thought angrily. She was going to get her revenge. No human was going to live in that house if she had any say in it!

As she wept for the other trees, a black cat walked by. He saw the spectral like tree spirit sitting beside her tree trunk, crying. “What’s wrong?” The cat asked. 

“The humans tore all the other trees down to build these houses!” she whimpered. 

“That’s too bad.” the cat replied. 

“I want to punish them, but I don’t know how I can!” 

“My human owner watches shows on television about people who hunt for these creatures called ghosts in houses. The ghosts are see through just like you! If you go inside the house and pretend to be one, you will terrify them!” the cat said. 

The next time a realtor arrived to show humans the house, Rose was ready to scare them. She hid in a dresser in one of the bedrooms. When the realtor opened the bedroom door, she floated out of the dresser. The human couple and the realtor screamed and ran out the front door! Rose thought this was hilarious and did it every time humans came to buy the house. Over time, the humans quit coming. 

As the years went by, other trees grew in the area. Some grew from seeds that were carried in on the wind or by birds passing by overhead. Rose’s tree was so close to the house that as it grew, the tree wrapped itself around the front porch and grew up the front of the house. 

As people moved into the housing development, their children climbed the trees and swung in swings they attached to their branches. Birds and squirrels ate their seeds and built nests among their leaves. The dryads were always telling each other how much they enjoyed watching the human children play in their shade. 

But, none of these things happened under Rose’s tree because no one moved into the house. Eventually, the realtors for Coconut Sunset Community stopped showing customers the house because it was ‘haunted’ and no one wanted to buy it, and Rose was very sad. 

Then, one day, a young man came to look at the house. “Since I was a little boy, I have loved the stories about how this house is haunted, and now I have enough money to buy it!” he said to the realtor. “We saw the ghost for 17 years, and now we haven’t seen her in about 5 years.” the realtor said to him. Rose’s heart leapt in her chest. Someone wanted to buy the house! 

The young man walked inside. Rose decided to play her old ‘float out of the dresser’ trick just to make sure that the young man would know that she was there. “And now, here is the bedroom!” the realtor said as he opened the door, and the two walked inside. Rose moaned and floated out of the dresser. The realtor screamed and stumbled backwards, but the young man just smiled at her! “I have always wanted to meet you!” he said to Rose. She felt her cheeks turn bright red. The young man turned to the realtor and said, “I’ll buy the house!” 

He and Rose lived happily ever after!