Home in the Woods

A Story by Chauncey

A short story that I had to write for an audition at an arts school.

I was home. Back with the soft, warm dirt on my feet, unlike the cold and hard marble of that horrible place. I felt the the thick mud as it worked it's way around my legs, like a snake coiling around it's prey. It felt so good to be back, where the rain always leaves such an earthly aroma unlike the cities, where the most scents are fumes from those machines. I looked up to see a blue bird, almost as blue as the sky on a clear day, zoom overhead to catch the meal for its young. I sighed as the mud made it up to my waist and I smiled. The red flowers that surrounded me, redder than the blood of a deer just killed for a feast. There was nothing in the forests that wasn't beautiful. From the trees that surrounded me, so closely knit as to create a blanket over the land, to the small woodpecker, who's constant pecking on trees made it seem as if somebody were knocking at the door, wanting to get into the natural paradise. My hands went under next. I could feel the grit of the small stones, like tiny needles against my skin, as if they were trying to bring me down faster. The sky was a granite gray, and the bark of the trees was almost as dark as the earth I was sinking in. The rainfall had just ended, but I already missed it. The pitter-patter of the rain falling against my skin made me feel so wonderful, it was liquid life that came from the sky, bathing all life. Cleansing them of the marks that man had made in them. My shoulders had almost touched the mud when I heard something in front of me. I looked down to find that a petite rabbit had come to watch my final few moments as a being of this world. It's small beady ebony eyes seemed to stare at me, wondering what my next move would be. It's nose twitched here and there, as it sniffed the air for any edible vegetation. It looked around, it's paws held up as it stood to its full height, not much shorter than a mans knee, but taller than I was right now. It's eyes seemed to see through to my soul. The animal before me crawled close and looked at me more time, before kicking off the ground as if it were propelled by a spring. The mud touched my chin. I felt so relieved to be away from the cities. Where the pollution was so overwhelming that at times, even the brightest torch would not have been able to pierce the smog it made. The false suns, that turned off and on at the humans will, creating light and comfort where there should be none. The machines that allowed them to move while not moving at all, which released calls like that of a dying animal, yet louder than a predator in it's prime. The mud invaded my mouth, but I didn't care. The bitterness that it left was comforting invite back from the foods that they held there. The mass amounts of meats and fruits, abundant in any area but the one in which those are eating. The rations that they gave out were filled with unnatural items, while the mud was nothing else. I closed my mouth as the scent of the earth invaded my nostrils. The sweet scent of the flowers, which I relished until my nose, too went under. I didn't want to close my eyes, I wanted to see the earth, everything above and below me was what I wanted to see now and forever. And right before my eyes sank beneath the loving earth, I looked up to they sky again, and as the clouds cleared, I could see the moon. I kept my eyes open to watch the milk bowl in the sky, until I could no longer see. But yet, I could. I was surrounded by the one thing that allowed me to survive. I took in everything, the cool, slick earth was like a loving hug that held me tight. I couldn't breathe in or out, but I didn't not care. The mud lost it's bitter taste and became more like a tasteless blob of matter on my tongue. My eyes burnt, but that was what let me know I was alive. And then, something else was alive. I could feel the pulses around me, the loud drum-like beats of a bigger life form ringing through the mud. I knew I was right, everything in nature is alive.