She had bought a thatched cottage in Westshire’s thick dark woods hidden at the bottom of a woodland track. It was simply the most lovely place that anyone could ever live in. Except for one thing. Behind the cottage stood an enormous black tree. It towered above all the others in the woods. When she’d bought Charis Cottage, she hadn’t noticed this monster of a tree. The thought that the tree had appeared after she’d moved in kept racing round in her mind. But how could a huge beast like that have grown in such a short space of time? She knew it was silly. She must be seeing things. But that black tree just looked so much like a hairy giant - one with thick branches, growing downwards towards the ground, looking like drooping arms. The trunk split in two at the bottom, like two sturdy legs. The treetop was in the shape of a wild head of straggly hair. Black leaves grew on the black branches. And, when it rained, black water dripped down and had formed a big circle on the ground around the tree.
