This Is My Home (201 hits)
Category: UberMadness! Entryno reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Fionavar (View user info) at 2004-04-10 00:40:09 EDT
This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.
I peer through the slits at my surroundings. I am in a deeply wooded ravine, lying at the foot of a large maple tree. I can only remain here, helpless. This is my home for six long months.
A gray squirrel nuzzles my face inquisitively. I twitch, and it darts away, startled. It indignantly chatters at my boldness, from a safe distance, before disappearing into the underbrush.
I watch as the leaves turn from green to yellow, from yellow to orange, and finally to a fiery red above me. I hear the sounds of "Trick or Treat" in the distance, and yearn.
The leaves lose their grip on the branches above me, and drift lazily onto the forest floor. Some are caught in the breeze, and slowly skip their way onto the river below. I watch as they dart in the current, plotting their escape into the lake a few miles downstream. More fall atop me, completely covering me in their colorful symphony.
Days pass; gentle autumn breezes turn into numbing arctic assaults. Cold rain drowns the leaves around me. The wetness releases their earthly musk; I gag.
In the darkness, young lovers pass within ten feet of me. Giggling and laughing, they turn to each other and embrace, consumed by their assumed solitude. Spent, they drift away, into the night. I am unnoticed.
The overcast clouds yield their burden, as the first snowstorm of the winter envelops the forest floor. The dervish dance of the snowflakes entertains my drooping eyes, as they drop, twirl, and meet in an elaborate ballet. Dimly, I see the fir trees on the other side of the escarpment, lit up with red and green bulbs. Their shapes are hazily reflected upon the ice-covered river.
My insulation is complete. The snow is strangely warm, and I succumb, drifting off into a dreamless slumber...
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I stir, awakened by the rites of spring. Birds in treetops far above me are joyfully announcing the season of love. Squinting through the mulch, I notice buds forming on the naked, barren limbs.
I hear a faint whistling in the distance. It gradually becomes louder, revealing a lone hiker exploring the woods. He is approaching me, and I begin to hope. Twenty feet, then fifteen, now five. His foot touches me.
I am found.
I am free.
With a smile, I take flight into the first rays of the morning. I soar into my maple tree, and explore the new buds with abandon.
Catching the eye of a flamboyant robin, we engage in a rambunctious game of "catch me if you can". We rocket into the sky, dart sideways, then spiral downward. Racing, we follow the river's course through the marshes and rapids. At length, we come to a waterfall; plunging over the edge we breathlessly swoop toward the lake below.
The robin has become afraid of this dangerous game, and returns to shore. Caught in the swift current, I am swept into the lake. Without mercy, the winds blow me further, into the ocean.
I surrender, and rise with the mist as it evaporates above the ocean swells. I gaze with wonder at the greenery from my perch in the cloud, and begin my final voyage.
This is my home.
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"Our lead story tonight: The decomposing body of Stephanie Lockwood has been discovered in a ravine, adjacent to Pine River. It is six months to the day of her mysterious disappearance from her home on Main Street, just three days short of her tenth birthday. Her parents, who had been tireless in their efforts to find her, issued this statement:
"Our darling Stephanie, we are so sorry we could not keep you safe and bring you home. Know that you will always be our only child, our precious child. We would like to thank everyone in this city for their thoughts. The love you have shown us throughout this ordeal has touched us greatly.
Dragonfly, be free."
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