**!!!! TRIGGER WARNING !!!!**
-self harm-
The wind blew through the trees calmly, creating a soft chorus of leaves clapping together. The stars burned holes through the navy sky, illuminating the lonely forest.
Tears streamed down his face as he ran. He didn’t understand. Nobody really did. Tyler wanted answers, his thoughts drowning him, pulling him under the river that was once reality. He didn't know what exactly he was searching for, he just knew he needed something. Tyler felt like something was out here. Something that was important. Answers, maybe. His feet pounded against the ground, shooting dew droplets in all directions like waves hitting a cliff.
His chest heaving violently, every inch of his body shaking. Tyler dropped to his knees, the water on the grass soaking into his jeans, his cold hands grabbing handfuls of the grass, ripping it free from the soil. He knew what he was seeking was close. To quiet, he thought.
“I know where you are!” he shouted, his voice catching in the dried throat. His tears glowing silver from the moon, still raining from his tired eyes.
Silence still hung in the air. No response. Nothing. No wind, the leaves have stopped their applauding. “I know you're here!” nothing. Silence.
“I can feel it! You're here!” He screamed at the idol trees. His nails digging into the ground, sore. His fingers throbbed in pain, blood gathering under his nails.
“Hello?! Why won’t you speak to me?!” The trees still silent, swaying in the wind, taunting.
Their shadows over exaggerated by the night sky, making them appear more threatening than they would be during the bright hours of the day time.
“Hello?!” Nothing. Silence. “You're a coward! Coward, coward, coward…” His voice plummeting in volume, running his bloody fingers through his hair, clotted blood smearing across his forehead.
“I can feel your breath…” He whispered out, glancing up into the treetops, the calm green ceiling towering over him.
“I want to know you” He cried out, his voice cracking from the endless sobbing. “...I….I want see…” he weeped, now in a weak whimper, his eyes burned from the cold mixed with the tears, pins and needles.
“ I just want to say…” he sniffled his scarlet red nose, wiping it, blood painting his cold face. Shaking, alone. He’s alone.
“Hello…?” he cried, tears mixing with blood like a sickening cocktail on his cheeks. He looked around the quiet forest once again.
“Prove something to me that I’m not nuts!” He tormented the trees, jumping to his feet, balling up his fists. “Hello?!” His throat raw, blood dripping from his wrists. Tyler lifted his hand to his head, and like the director of a choir, the tree’s sang on cue. “Hey!”. Loud. Tyler jumped, instinctively covering his mouth. The were taunting him. They were hiding. Cowards.
He felt a swell in his chest, anger inflamed his lungs, then his throat.
“HELLO?!” his chest throbbed, angry tears leaking from his red eyes. “HELLO?!” He barked out, the trees echoing back at him with an equally as frustrated hello.
“HELLOO?” the trees sang back to him.
“Hello?” Tyler cocked his head, feeling weak still shaking, both from the cold, anxiety, and anger. Tyler once again dropped to his knees, sobbing, curling up into a ball onto the wet forest floor. He could hear the trees singing to him, a soft, calm lullaby.
“Hey” They sang quietly, almost a whisper. They all danced in the wind, the stars reflecting off them. “Where are you?” Tyler sobbed. He felt his death watching him like bird from the safety of the branches. His wrists clotting, staining the grass a deep red. “Hello?” he whispered, closing his eyes.
“Hello” they repeated in a melodic manner. The leaves began clapping again, but it didn’t sound like claps this time, they sounded like the familiar drum snares he had heard for the past three years. Now hearing the clash of cymbals, the sticks hitting together like he had heard once before. the branches colliding. A bass drum.
