Upside-down Tree

She stood there, alone figure beneath the towering Kremetart tree, its massive trunk like a silent sentinel to the secrets buried below. She wrapped her arms around the rough bark, feeling the ancient strength of the tree seep into her weary bones. The soil beneath her feet held the weight of her quilt and her resolve, but also a fierce love that refused to let her sister suffer any longer. She pressed her cheek against the tree, her breath hitching as tears mingled with the scent of earth and wood, the Kremetart standing as her silent confessor, bearing witness to a crime of love and violence hidden in the deepening twilight.