Last night I dreamed I was a yellow autumn leaf. I shook and quivered- bracing myself for the next gust of wind. All day long, from my lofty perch, I witnessed my brothers and sisters being plucked by the hand of an invisible giant then tossed carelessly down. I heard their miniature screams- high and fastforewarded as they were ripped from their homes and plummeted to their fate. I couldn’t get that sound out of my head. All night that blood curdling screech replayed over and over again and I clenched my toes even tighter around my bark foundation. I knew my day would come but I cannot bear the fact of leaving my mother tree to die on the muddy paths below- trampled and rotting until the snow froze me stiff and brown. To never again feel the sun’s warm rays or dance with the wind or rub noses with my feathered friends…
The screams are getting closer now and I squeeze my toes tight.