Published by: Aira Lindsay L. Dela Cruz
Date published: April 26, 2022
Time published: 2:33 PM
Theme: Amendments
Category: Prose
Synopsis: Our world was changing slowly, yet the impact was huge enough to cause a stir among people. Our world was full of unexpected things, like what she saw and experienced.
If we were the problem, surely we could be the solution.
There was this tale that I would never stop telling. A tale that was so vivid. One that I would never forget.
It was a clear day in spring when a little girl was running up the hill. Her cheeks and eyes were swollen. Her feet were slowly getting tired, and her body was about to give up. Maybe it was the pain she was feeling that gave her a bit more strength until her body fell.
Her eyes caught that small green leaf growing at the top of the hill where she was. Although she found it adorable, she could not stop crying. It didn’t stop falling. What was the cause of this little girl’s tears? It was her parents. She overheard them yelling, and as curious as she was, she went out of her room to check. What a great mistake.
Her father was shouting while packing his things. One word made her fall into the depth of despair. “Divorce.” She looked at her mother who was begging her father not to leave them. Telling him how much they needed him, how much she loved him, but the man didn’t care.
Ever since she was little, the girl knew that there was something wrong. Her parents always fight, and no one, not a single soul knew…except for her. The most affected person. So she wanted to disappear at least for a day, hoping that they would look for her. Maybe that would stop them from divorcing.
She waited until the blue sky turned dark gray. Thunder roared, and lightning clapped. The sky cried with her. She was scared, yet she stayed still. Not leaving that place even though she realized that it was dangerous. Slowly, that child fell into a deep slumber. If someone would look at her, it would seem as if she had a peaceful life. A life with no problems.
When she woke up, her eyes widened. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Was this real? The little leaf turned into a huge tree. Its leaves were sheltering her freezing body. She looked around, wondering if that was still the same place she went to.
What her eyes saw was a beautiful landscape that she did not notice. Green luscious grass, and this lone tree at the top. Somehow, she felt warmth embrace her whole body. With her child mind, she knelt in front of the tree as her small hands hugged its trunk, crying her heart out once more. She thought that it was not only her who was lonely. It was not just her who felt the pain of surrendering to the sadness of being obliviated to the minds of the people she loved all her life. She had someone.
Even when the rain had already stopped, even if the people might hear her screaming at the top of her lungs, she didn’t care. What mattered to her was the bottled feeling she kept inside. The hidden wish she could never tell in front of her parents. “Notice me! Love me!” she yelled in despair.
Starting that day, the girl went out of her way to climb the hill, bringing a heavy watering can lift with both of her tiny hands. She would sit down and talk to that tree as if it was a human friend, someone who would listen to all her woes without telling her to shut up.
Today, as usual, she sat down and talked to the huge tree, telling stories about her day or her favorite picture book. Telling it about the school bullies who kept on teasing her, the teachers who neglected her plea to repeat that one point she didn’t quite get. She already expected that no one would reply, of course, it was a tree…was. Not until a luminous green light made her close her eyes as it was so bright that it might blind her.
The little girl squinted her eyes to see a bit, what she saw was unexpected. Never in her life would she had thought she would see a creature so different yet felt similar to humans. She froze in her place. She could not scream nor run away. She was torn in between. How could she decide right that instant? A creature comparable to any pearl in the sea had appeared in front of her. It stared at her, and slowly…it hugged her.
The girl couldn’t stop her tears from falling again. The reason was unknown, surprisingly this creature seemed comfortable to be with. Like she knew it for a long time. So long that her arms automatically hugged back. That was when she realized who this creature was. “Friend?” she asked. The girl was taken aback when it nodded…and smiled, like what she was doing. “Friend!” she beamed.
Years passed and their friendship continued. It was peculiar to have a friendship with a creature that was not human, not even an animal. It was unknown to her, but she accepted it with no prejudice or discrimination. She thought that it was the only being who stayed with her through thick and thin. She wanted this to last, but nothing ever last. Someone stuck their noses in her business. Out of curiosity, a man followed her. Thus, he saw how that creature interacted with her. How it gave whatever she asked for. Food, blanket, or wood for their fireplace to be lit.
He wanted to covet it.
The girl learned what the villagers had planned. Her worry grew as she knew she had to escape the town with it. In the middle of the night, her panting was the only thing she could hear while she ran up to the dark hill. As she reached the top, a bright green light illuminated behind the big oak tree. “Run!” she yelled as the light coming from the villager’s torches came close. The creature smiled when it saw her, but she didn’t The girl grabbed its wrist and ran away.
Morning came once again, and although she was tired, she knew it was not her body that felt heavy, so she looked back. “Please…” Tears blurred her vision as she looked at her friend. “We…we have to leave,” she pleaded. But her friend fell to the ground. Its bright light slowly faded. Just how fast it grew into a tree, the faster it disappeared, turning into this beautiful flower that had a vivid green color.
She could not believe it. Her friend was gone. The world had struck her with pain again.
The girl stayed, not leaving the place where that green flower grew. She would never. As she bawled, a tear dropped on top of the flower’s petal. What a surprise it was to see. The friend she found and lost stood in front of her. What caught her eyes was not only the bright gleam coming emitted by the creature which seemed brighter but above all, the brightest among the brightest she saw. A gem that had the same color as its skin.
She stood up and reached for its face…which became a face of a man. Their eyes, which looked at each other, showed extreme happiness. She could feel the satisfaction. Salvation. Only for him to be taken away. The contentment lasted for only seconds before the villagers dragged him away as they held her down.
“No!” she yelled. She struggled to get out of the villagers’ clutch, but she was weak. It had been a day and her body felt exhausted. “No…” she muttered before her eyes closed and she was engulfed by the darkness.
In a place where the woods had piled up, the hay on his feet tickled him. He had been waiting for days for her to come. He wanted to see her. His friend. The poor little girl whom he saw crying one day when he was ready to disappear. He wanted to see her, be with her, and stay with her. He wanted to see her bright shining eyes as she told him stories. Little did they both know…it would cause them a fatal wound that would scar them for as long as they both live.
A realization came up in her head. She realized that they both needed warmth and love. They needed each other to satisfy that need. The independence…or maybe she was just making up an excuse so her guilt would disperse while she walked towards the locked barn with the villagers behind her. Pushing her. Ordering her, “Get that for us. Be useful and we’ll see you at last.”
Her eyes pooled with tears. It was shining indeed, but with anger and regret. He saw her and he immediately stood up and ran to her, hugging her. The shackles didn’t stop him from doing so. She tried to harden her heart. Telling herself that it was his fault, yet at the back of her mind, she asked herself if it was really his mistake.
She pushed him away which made him wonder. As quick as their friendship was made her hand flicked towards his forehead where the bright gem was. Blood trickled down to his chin still, he looked at her, only her. Betrayal. This was what betrayal felt like. Bitter. How bitter.
He fell to the ground…at that moment he stopped believing in her, thus he was astounded when he felt her dainty arm around him, catching him. That caused both of them to fall. The girl sat up to check him…she regretted doing so.
The eyes she loved to see have that unbearable emotion in them. An emotion she didn’t want him to feel, especially towards her. She was there where she started before, at the receiving end of her loved ones’ hatred.
It broke her heart greatly, but what shattered it into mince was the last look he gave before he left the world. He stopped breathing. He became a human and…he still loved her unconditionally.
His eyes softened. She couldn’t fathom how he could look at her like that even after she took his life. She couldn’t believe that she was the reason why the only person who could give her the love—the endless love she wanted to have for a long time is gone. No matter how much she cried, no matter how many tears she had shed for him, he did not come back. He would never come back.
“Is that why we need to love them like how we love humans, grandma?” a small child, her grandchild, asked. I placed the small pot on the counter to reach for his head and nod. “Why, yes, my dear. Those trees are like us. They have life. They needed to live.” My adorable grandson smiled and nodded his head before taking the saplings carefully, running towards our van.
As I watch his small back, I could not stop myself from touching the necklace I had never once taken off. A deep-green gemstone that was slowly turning darker every day. “Can you see this? I made this for you in hopes that I would be able to pay back the sin I had made to you.”
At the top of the hill where many saplings were planted, there I saw the hollow trunk of a cut tree. I caressed the trunk, remembering how much time I gave to take care of it.
Nature has life, they need to live, and they were the reason why our world was still beautiful even after all the mistakes we made. If we were the problem, the cause of all the harmful changes, surely we could be the solution. We co-exist in this world, so we have to live and take care of it, like how the world took care of us.
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