October Short Story Madness: Seasons
A small acorn fell to the ground one day during a rain storm. It landed in the middle of an empty field. The acorn rolled a short distance away from the only tree in the clearing. A small pool of water surrounded the acorn. The acorn soaked up the water that pooled around it. The shell cracked and freed the seed on the inside.
A short time later a small root tendril grew from the seed seeking nourishment in the dark soil. The root dug itself shallowly into the ground. Once that was accomplished a pair of leaves spurted up from the seed. They began their search for the sun.
The days slowly passed for the growing seedling. Its root dug deeper into the ground and branched off in new directions. The root was always on a quest for more resources. Once in a while, rain drops pelted down on the leaves as gravity pulled them from the sky. The rain quenched its thirst and helped it grow strong.
As the days continued to pass, the stem thickened and grew skyward. Its leaves spread in all directions in search of more light. The seedling had become a sapling. Things started to change in the empty field.
It started to grow cold as the months passed. Summer had left, leaving a cold fall in its place. The sapling started to pull the energy from its leaves. It stored that energy in its roots. The saplings leaves started to turn from green to yellow and orange.
All of this was natural for the sapling. The sapling had known what it needed to do since the beginning. As the days grew colder, the saplings leaves started to fall to the ground. The last leaf finally fell to the ground.
Days later it became very cold, so cold that when it started to rain the drops froze as they fell to the ground. The soil around the tree slowly became covered in fragile snow flacks. Snow soon covered the saplings branches.
Time seemed to stand still for the sapling. It did not take notice of the freezing winds that pelted its sleeping trunk. Days turned into weeks, and months. The months of time meant nothing to the sapling. It waited patiently for the time when it could wake up again. One day the sun started warm the frozen air. The snow soon started to melt, and the ground began to thaw.
It was time the sapling had been waiting for had finally arrived. The sapling sent its life blood up from its roots. Energy spread to the tips of its branches. New leaves began to bud. The leaves spread in the light of the bright new sun.
The sapling transformed itself and began to search for energy and food. Time passed faster. The sapling grew bigger and stronger. Days became weeks, weeks became months, months turned into years. The sapling grew up and became a full-grown tree. The trees branches soon reached into the sky. The branches brought down the sun’s everlasting light.
A network of roots had spread under the tree. The roots kept growing deeper and wider, always looking for more water and nutrients. Time held no meaning for the tree. Days, weeks, months, and years, meant the same thing to the tree.
That is until a time came when the tree’s growth started to slow. It stopped growing into the sky. Its roots no longer spread. Every winter seemed to be more difficult then the last. It was always harder to grow more leaves.
The tree soon struggled to wake up from the long winters. It became harder every year. Then one spring the tree’s branches didn’t bud. The tree couldn’t grow leaves any longer. Time had come to a stop for the tree.
No more would it search for the light of the sun. No more would it drink the water of the ground. No more would it take minerals from the ground. Its life was over, though life still continued. The lifeless tree was no longer in an empty field.
The tree was surrounded by all of its children. They had slowly spread around the tree, spreading further and further every season. Time still continued for them. Life still moved forward even after the lifeless tree fell to the ground many years later. The trees children kept growing into the endless sky.
