Conor O’Malley, 13, is woken up one night from his usual nightmare: “The one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming” (1). He listens and realizes that “Someone [is] calling his name” (2). Conor panics, wondering if his nightmare has come to life, and thinks about how he has told no one at all about this nightmare. At 12:07am, he watches as the yew tree on the hill behind his house transforms into a humanoid monster and walks to his bedroom window. Conor admits that “this wasn’t the monster he was expecting” (8), and when Conor isn’t afraid at all, the monster becomes angry and smashes part of the wall of Conor’s room. Conor explains that “[he has] seen worse” (9), so he isn’t afraid. The monster tells Conor that the boy will learn to be afraid of him in time and opens his mouth “to eat [Conor] alive” (9).

The next morning, Conor awakes to find that there is no damage left from the monster punching the wall. He assumes it was all a dream. However, he finds the floor of his bedroom “covered in short, spiky yew tree leaves” (11).