Under Our Dancing Apple Tree

Hello there! This is most likely just a one-off story, but I just wanted to post it anyway! I wrote this for a writing competition at my school and felt like sharing it on here. Enjoy!

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A deep breath in, a shallow breath out. The faint beeping of a heart rate monitor fades into background noise as I stare down at the woman in the bed before me. Her dry lips are parted slightly as though she was in the midst of a sentence. Up and down, her chest rises and falls with a steady rhythm like the twisting and turning of leaves on a breezy day. I imagine trees the color of jade, their branches doing an intricate tango with the wind. The woman's shaved head rests gently on the pillow below her, creasing the fabric into a ring like some strange cotton crown. She's beautiful. Even here, surrounded by machines that seem to never stop ringing, and tubes that feed in and out of her as though they were one with her body, she's beautiful. A relentless booming echoes in my ears as I keep my eyes trained on the woman I love. The sound is my heart, swelling into a mallet and pounding against my ribcage. There are so many things I want to say to her, yet my mouth runs dry. Instead, I turn to gaze out the window. Beyond the glass lies a sky bluer than sapphire with cotton-white clouds playing peek-a-boo with the sun's rays. I observe how the thick bands of golden light trickle out and across the horizon like some great glowing snakes. They slither down to a single apple tree. Even from up here I can spot a few specks of glittering scarlet peppered amongst the branches.

A short gasp escapes from the woman's mouth but her eyes remain closed. The steely buzz of an untuned radio sounds from somewhere down the hall. Squinting my eyes, I try deciphering the song. Mozart? No, it's a woman's voice. She sounds so familiar, but who is she?

Suddenly a waving hand in my peripheral vision catches my attention.

"Smoke..." The woman breathes out in a raspy whisper. I can see her eyes again. Though squinted, I can just make out her sparkling cobalt irises. I reach out and close my fingers around the small pack of cigarettes and matches on her bed-side table. Striking one, I admire how the tiny orange flame dances in the reflection of the woman's eyes. It almost looks as though the fire were behind them, swirling around within her brain.

I hold the match to the end of the cigarette and place it between her lips. Pinching it between her fingers, she inhales deeply, closing her eyes with satisfaction as that old, musky smell fills her lungs. I watch her lay there, serpents of smoke spiraling from her nose and parted lips, as buried memories of us come trickling back. There was one apple tree that, no matter the time or the weather, we laid under. We watched the glowing, amber sunlight sparkle between the emerald leaves and glittering ruby apples. I braided her long, chocolate hair and she tried braiding mine, but it was too short so it would unravel every time. My fingers tingle with memory as I reminisce combing my hands through her silky locks all those years ago. We sat up on our grass-stained skirts and carved our initials into the wood of the tree with my brother's pocket-knife. We sat perched among the branches as I got lost in her mischievous sapphire eyes. We laughed and gossiped and sang and danced and talked for hours. Until suddenly - we kissed. We kissed underneath that apple tree, where no-one would see us or tell us we couldn't because we were girls. We kissed underneath that apple tree because through those stolen glances across the schoolyard, we always knew we meant more. We kissed underneath that apple tree because our two hearts had finally intertwined into one.

My eyes are fixed on the woman as she smokes her cigarette until there's nothing left of it but a pile of ash.

"Julia," She mumbles, reaching out her hand to take mine. "Sing for me. Sing for me like how-" She continues before bursting into a fit of painful coughs and wheezes, "-like how you sang under the apple tree." She finishes, squeezing my hand weakly as a tired smile pulls at her lips, painting dimples on her cheeks.

"I'll try my best," I reply, feigning a smile as my heart continues to break, bit by bit. "Under our dancing apple tree," I begin, rubbing my thumb over the top of her hand. "that's where we met each other." I watch her eyes as they flick across my features, trying to unscramble my tangle of thoughts and feelings. "Under our dancing apple tree is where our gray worlds turned to color." The sharp sting of fresh tears pricks my vision as I stare into her magnificent blue eyes. Letting out a sigh, she slowly closes them and hums along quietly. A sob catches in my throat as images of our childhood replay endlessly in my mind. Singing, dancing, kissing, talking, laughing, dreaming. "I found you, you found me, we found each other under our dancing apple tree."

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Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

❤