Part VII...

He walked for a little while, coming to a small group of trees. He was almost certain that the shore lay beyond the trees and entered the small forest. It was dark and the smooth trunks of the trees were a deep red, almost black. As he passed, each tree would brighten for a moment with a pulse of brighter red that lit the area around him for a moment. Jonah wondered if somehow the trees knew he was there as a he walked.
He continued to walk until he began to see the tree line clear somewhere up ahead. He was almost to the shore he realized, and walked faster. As he neared the edge, he began to hear a strange humming around him, followed by short chirps and snickers. He froze and remembered his friends warning about the voices. They seemed to be growing louder around him and when he looked, he could see other trees around him in the distance, pulsing with the strange red light. He knew something was out there, probably following him. Maybe the saw my bed fall from the sky, he thought, and began to run.

He ran and ran, the humming and chattering growing louder and louder behind him and around him until, finally, he reached the edge of the trees and darted out onto the black sand of the beach. He stopped then and looked behind him. The line of trees stood silent, but the humming continued and between the pulsing trees he glimpsed dark shadows moving. He looked at the sea. It was dark and calm, the sand soft under his feet. He turned, the water on his right, and walked north, remembering that as long as sand was beneath his feet, he would be safe.
The beach continued for what seemed like miles, further and further north. From time to time, Jonah would glance to his left and whenever he did, he saw the trees pulsing and the shadows moving. They were following him, but they would not leave the trees so he continued walking. Finally, after a long while, the beach began to slope upwards, and here and there patches of grass grew through the sand. The more he walked, the more the grass replaced the sand and Jonah worried that perhaps the shadows that followed him would begin to emerge. The stars however had told him not to worry, so he forced himself to be brave, though with each hum and chirp that he heard it became more and more difficult.

When Jonah reached the top of the hill, he looked to his right at the cliff, dropping straight and severe into the black depth of the ocean. To his left, sure enough, the tree that the stars had told him about, stood tall above the rest. It was much closer than Jonah had thought it would be. The sky had brightened a great deal while Jonah had been walking, although it was gradual and he didn’t notice until he had reached the top of the hill. The strange thing was that the light was very obviously coming from the direction of the tree. In fact the tree stood silhouetted by an orange and red, pulsing glow.
It was the only tree glowing though, and Jonah took that as a good sign. The shadows had stopped following him and it seemed safe to go back into the woods. So he walked to the trees and entered again, following the glow that he supposed came from the orb.