Trees

The crimes I committed, the arbitrary actions I allowed. I had done things, things that destroyed my reputation, things that I will never have the courage to confess. My conscience flooded with pain and guilt. I needed an escape. I pondered where my destination could be for my said disappearance. I remembered what I had heard countless times, "The forest is full of peace, serenity, and solitude." My guilt guided me into the night, into the abyss of the forest. Oh, the things I saw as I meandered through the woods. For those who admired this forest had not seen what I had seen. They had not seen the trees. I shivered as I saw the branches; they were reaching out like knives. My mind began to overflow with fear. The foolish public mutter outside my door, "Psychopath, recluse, monster," those fools I say. Those fools call me the monster! For they had not seen these trees. Specifically, the tree that loomed over the patch of dirt I had inhabited for the evening. For this tree had spikes like daggers; it had hundreds of leaves falling off like the hundreds of victims it had encountered. It had a decomposing, decaying, dying stature. And oh its eyes! The tree's eyes stared back at you, watching you, following your every move. It is as if the tree was threatening you with every look. Some might call me crazy, insane, mad, but they are mistaken. They had not seen the fury, the fire in the tree's eyes. It is as if the tree could strike at any moment and end me. I sat to contemplate and consider all of my options. Should I travel back to the village? Just to hear the murmurs of others calling me a monster, or should I stay here? Should I remain in this woodland, this asylum? Where I am not the maddest being present, where I am the fearing instead of the feared. Where the danger is not emanating from me, but from all around me. I decided after my long haul I should rest so my savage mind could take a break from the vicious thoughts that filled it. I chose to lie down for a moment. I set down my belongings and shut my eyes. I witnessed something tragic as I did so. I watched the tree that stood over me consume me into the darkness. For it had finished me off once and for all.