Hope in the Dark

The Tree in the Forest

⚠️Trigger Warning for suicide/hanging⚠️

There is a tree in the center of the forest, an average, strong, tall tree. It is isolated and does not seem to belong with the rest of the trees. The forest is right outside the yard of a young couple. One day, in spring, with flowers blooming and bird nests sitting at the tippy top of the tree, they waltzed into the woods laughing and holding hands. Fungi covered the ground, some soft and delicious, others filled with poison. The couple talked and picked flowers. They sit and weave flower crowns. They do not talk about the weather or the news. They read the morning paper and saw the shining sun, so instead they spend the afternoon talking about books and bugs and science and stars. The forest's flowers are drained of life, but at least they have their flower crowns. Days pass and they come back for more. Weeks pass and they take the mushrooms from the fresh forest floor. Months pass and they return less and less and less. Years pass and they have yet to return until one day, in spring. This time they are not laughing; their hands are centimeters apart. Come with me, join me. Unless you are happy. Are you happy? The partner shakes their head. And so their hands clasp. They climb the tree. One gets the knife and carves a heart and initials into the tree while the other ties the ropes. Together they sit, on the bough of the catalpa tree, the tree that watched from the forest as they fought, as they grew, as they learned. Together they fell; they watched the world fade to black. And as the life empties from their eyes, the cup-like flowers fill with blood. It spills onto the roots, so years later, when the rope is disheveled and the bodies are gone, the people see pink stained flowers and oddly patterned bark. They then dig the tree up from the ground to make room for an apartment tall enough to jump from and not survive. Life fades again and again and again and again...