The burning trees // twentyonepilots

The snowflake Forest

The gales push Tyler to the ground, as if they were telling him not to go this time. However he hugged a railing and slowly pulled himself back onto his feet. It was hard to stay standing of course. He trudged on moving his feet slowly in an attempt to maintain balance.

An hour had gone and Tyler had only walked a mile. 2 more to go.
"It'll all be worth it in the end"  he kept telling himself as he hugged his battered body with his numb arms.

Tyler was cold, wet and fed up but he still soldiered on to get to the trees. He was approaching the base of the cliffs now he was on the final stretch, which just happened to be the worst part of the journey. The steep slope up to the top was exposed, narrow and delicate. If you put one foot wrong the mistake would cost you your life. He clung onto the damp rocks to catch his breath before making the run for it.

"Ok 3, 2, 1 GO!" He shouted as if he were leading an army into battle, But this was worse than any battle, nature is the strongest thing of all and could not be fought no matter how hard you tried. You could only be prepared. The mad dash that followed his battle cry almost sent him over the edge once or twice.

Half way up the slope Tyler's destructive thoughts started again.

"Wouldn't it be better to just jump right now, what's the point in doing this every day" Tyler used to dismiss these little thoughts but recently they were getting louder and more powerful.

At the top of the slope the battle wasn't over, next was the large field of sunflowers that lay just before the trees. Tyler hated this filed. it reminded him of Josh and the night he was caught.   Tyler walked around the edge of the field looking for the opening he had cut last night. When found, he climbed inside and started the long muddy march to the trees.

It took 3 and a half hours to get to the trees, but Tyler always managed to convince him self that it was worth it, that josh would see and come for him. The trees at the front of the forest were perfect and healthy, as you moved to the back the picture became very different. Black figures now loomed where lushes trees once stood and the soot on the ground made the forest look like it was covered in a blanket of snow.

Tyler kept his head and quickly marched on through the distraction his nightly ritual caused and made his way to the tree he decided was to die next.

He made his selection each night by closing his eyes and finding the closet live tree to him. It would seem very silly to any on lookers when he did this but Tyler believed it was the only way of making the deaths fair.

He walked over to the last tree he had burnt, a large oak tree, he thought it might get Josh's attention as it was big enough to cause a lot of smoke. Next to this tree was a large plastic sheet, Tyler pulled this back to reveal 1 bottle of oil. He had saved all of his wages to buy 10 bottles and now he was down to his last
"Josh has to see this time" Tyler whispered to him self almost crying as the prospect of never seeing his best friend again passed over his head. He grabbed the bottle and quickly covered the tree in oil. The grabbed a box of matches and lit one causing a huge ball of fire. Tyler smiled with delight as he watched the flames burned. His plan was finally working.

The tree burnt to a crisp and Tyler watched. He watched the dancing flames as they took the life of the tree away. It distracted him from the fact that josh wasn't there and that deep down Tyler knew that he would never be there.

the flames burnt out and Tyler looked around him as if expecting to see josh stood hiding somewhere but he wasn't. This broke Tyler inside knowing that he didn't have another shot hurt him. The dangerous thoughts came to the front of his mind again and this time he couldn't shake them away.