By MechanicalPencil13
***
Dewdrops drip
Off sparkling leaves
Onto the mossy ground
Forming a steady sound
A soothing background noise
Wings flutter, birds call
A wind whispers
Stirring blades of grass
Growing between the trees
I ignore it all
I tiptoe with bare, mud stained toes
Through the verdant forest
Alive and buzzing, as always
My feet disturb the ferns
Springing from the earth
In a blanket of little leaves
But my steps are silent, as always
I can't afford to make a sound
And frighten the rabbit
Sniffing at the bait
Of my snare
A hair's breadth away
From becoming dinner
I breathe in and out, as always
But the rabbit doesn't hear me
Its ears twitch
It spring the snare
My mouth waters at the promise of
The meat
After so many sunrises of
Greens and handfuls of
Redberries
***
A tree has fallen
Fungi eat it away
Its dead branches are heaped on the ground
A hollow of paralyzed, rotten wood
Where Emmi, Caroline, and Alex wait
I move through the forest
Like fog
Seeping towards them
Their eyes are set alight
By the strangled rabbit in my hands
Is that real? Emmi demands
A smile breaks open my mud caked face
Real. I confirm,
Lifting the rabbit
Into the morning air
Alex's excitement propels him forward
His fingers weigh the rabbit
He grins
His muddy eyes enveloping me with warmth
About time, too, he says,
I thought the forest was out of rabbits.
The forest can't run out of rabbits, Caroline snaps
Rabbits don't just disappear, Emmi adds
They haven't, I remind them
Pointing to the rabbit
Bad tempers dissipate like frost in sunlight
Caroline starts a fire, as always
Rubbing damp wood against damp wood
Until sparks devour the damp bark
And a flame catches
***
For the first time in a moon
Our stomachs are full
With delicious meat
There are only so many berries
And leaves
You can eat
Before your body won't stand
One more bite
And your mind cries out for a change
The atmosphere is content
As we drift into unconsciousness
In the crevices of the rotten hollow
The wind rustles the sharp blades of grass
Wreathing my body
Crushed into a mattress of green below me
The sun filters through branches above us
Wings flutter, birds call
The jade ferns twitch
With the movement of squirrels and insects
The forest is alive and buzzing, as always
But we are asleep
YOU ARE READING
forest
Science FictionLeah has lived in the forest forever. That's what she thinks, anyway; any remainder of a previous life is floating just out of her reach of recognition. She doesn't think about it much. What with staying alive, and trying to keep her companions (Car...
