A large tree stands in the bright forest. This tree looms over all the rest. It beats them in height and width. It would take at least three people to stretch their arms around it, but this tree is dead. There is nothing growing or living on it. No leaves, no animals, not even bugs are found near this tree. Around it is a large, empty circle of barren ground with a dense circumference of trees and shrubs. These plants reach in toward the large tree as if they wish to comfort it, but are too afraid to get nearer. I have become the only living thing to touch the tree.
When I was a child, I found this same tree. I had gotten lost in the forest behind my home, and I stumbled upon a thick wall of trees. Their height astonished and frightened me, yet the mystery of an existence of such a wall of trees drew me to them. I became determined to breach them. I tried many ways at first. I climbed them, but they were too high. I rammed them, but got a headache. In the end, I found that I could shimmy my way through them.
About an hour of shimmying brought me to the inner edge of the wall. There I finally beheld what the trees kept inside. The most magnificent tree stood before me. Its grandeur overwhelmed my naïve senses. The silence in the area was almost tangible. I took a moment to let the scene sink in before I took my first few steps toward it.
I immediately took notice of the thick, white roots protruding from the ground. I ran my hand over it. The bark was like silk to the touch, but the silk gave me the most peculiar splinters. They were like glitter covering my hand. I look up from my damaged hand to the trunk of the tree itself. I climbed over the roots and reached the trunk. I ran my damaged hand over it. The bark here wasn’t smooth. It was rough, but it didn’t give me any splinters like the roots had.
The beautiful moment was ruined by the call of my mother. As an ever obedient child, I rushed away from the marvelous tree and towards what I believed home was. All the way home I couldn’t help but think about the tree, and as I grew older I never stopped thinking about it. I tried to mold myself to be more like that tree. I strived to be immovable, beautiful, graceful, and many other adjectives that would describe it. My determination to become like a tree helped me as I survived my first years of high school, or more importantly, it helped me survive him.
It was that nervous twitch of his. It was so small that you could barely see it, but I knew it was there. His secret way of keeping all of his insecurities and fears to himself. He would never come out and talk about it. He would never talk about anything negative because he fits in now and he should be happy. He became the same as everyone else. From the way he stood to the way he fixed his hair, you might as well stamp “conformity” on his forehead, but there was that one thing that would separate him from the others. The one thing to catch my eye: his twitch. It’s the one thing that, even though he was surrounded by his clones, would scream, “Hey! I’m different! Look at me!”
That twitch tormented me every time I saw him. It was begging me to notice, to go up to him and introduce myself, and to meet the boy who possessed it. I refused day after day, until I couldn’t take it anymore. I relented and introduced myself to him.
He told me his name, but I wasn’t actually listening to him. I was too busy waiting for the moment to end. I felt like it was a get-it-over-and-quick type of thing. People who were around us kept the conversation flowing for me, so when the bell had finally rung, the only words I had said were to introduce myself and to say good bye.
A subtle calmness washed over me as I walked away from him. The frustration and anxiety I was given by his nervous twitch was gone. I felt just like the magnificent tree of my youth. My spirits were high and my whole day went by unnoticed. Nothing seemed to bother me, and I believed nothing ever would again.
Of course something went wrong the very next day. I found out that he was moving. Not just to some other part of the state either, but to a whole different area of the country! This means I would never see him or his twitch again! I was sad, and I couldn’t understand why. This boy had driven me mad. He had annoyed me to no end and we hadn’t even spoken four words to each other. Why was the news of him leaving so sad to me?
My thoughts were jumbled as I fell off the bus. I emotionlessly sulked home and to the kitchen. The freezer appeared to be the perfect thing to cool down this rush of emotions. Then I found ice cream. I kidnapped this frozen snack and a spoon, and I made my way to the woods. I dug ferociously into the sweet treat. Soon, I found myself at the wall of trees from my youth. I shimmied my way in again and ate ice cream next to the trunk of the tree. My emotions poured out in the form of tears. They caused my ice cream to turn salty. The salty ice cream brought on even more sobs and I buried my head in my arms.
After about half of an hour, I lifted my heavy head to notice the approaching darkness of night. In the small light I could receive, I spotted a small flower blooming near one of the roots. The sight put a small smile on my face. I had never seen anything grow near this tree until now. This one small flower had pushed its way up from the dead ground and started a life with this giant tree. It did what I thought to be impossible. Maybe I could do the same.
At school, I noticed an absence of a boy and his twitch. I was sad. It was my fault in the first for never taking the time to talk to him or get to know him. I missed out on what could have been a good friendship. Maybe one day I’ll get over it, but I don’t ever want to live with that kind of regret again.
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Chapter notes: Based on a true story.
Chapter end notes: what ya think?