Imagination

Tyler and his older brother Brandon stumble upon a mysterious miniature village in the woods behind their house. They return there everyday to play until Brandon becomes bored. When Tyler decides to return by himself what he finds living there will change his life forever.

This idea came from something that actually happened to my brother and I. Well, it happened to an extent.

The year was 1986 and we were living in Burleson, Texas with our mother and step-father. We lived in a fairly new sub-division that had nothing but woods and open Texas land behind it. Anyone who has lived or does live in Texas knows that when you say open land you mean OPEN LAND. At 10 years old it seemed to go on forever with the occasional spooky abandoned shack or barn with rats hanging from the ceiling or a bag of Playboys in the middle of the woods. Creepy indeed but a wonderland of discovery for curious children.

One day during the summer, after a long day of playing Army, riding dirt bikes, poking dead animals, etc, etc, my brother and I were walking back through the woods on our way home. As we were walking through a particularly thick part of trees our path began to slope up until one side of the path had created a mound. My brother noticed it first having been walking in front of me the whole time and me no doubt staring at the ground making sure not to step on any furry woodland creatures. When I looked up I was looking at one of the coolest things I have ever seen, even to this day.