Jennifer R. M.

Elves used to roam my forest but now they have gone over the sea. The last of them went searching for a new home. It had been so long since anything other than an animal had tread so deep into my home that I had forgotten how to speak. The human child was wearing dirty rags over their own flesh. They wandered here and there picking at the mushrooms that grew about my floor. They were about to grab hold of a white mushroom when I snapped at its wrist with my long vines. The child fell back and scuttled on their bottom away from me. Their eyes were wide and searching. I tried to reach out, but they just screamed and rushed away, kicking up dirt as they ran away from me. I pondered for a time.

            Why would a child be here now? It has been so long. Where were the older beings that took care of the smaller ones? Could they be lost? Hmm, I wish I could help. I want to know them. My thoughts drifted as I fell into a thoughtful slumber. Images of that child popped into my dreams. I rolled around trying to sleep more. I rolled around? I don’t roll, my vines can be rolled up. I can feel the sun shining on my petals. The urge to stretch is too difficult to suppress. My arms push open petals and let in the sunshine. I yawn and blink my sleepy eyes. Why am I blinking? I look down at my arms. They are green like new leaves and so are my legs. I stand up out of a large petaled flower. I can feel the cool dirt under my feet and the warm sun on my skin. I smile, this is new. I like new. I bend my new legs and twist my new body. In my joy I stand on my hands and roll into a summersault just like the elves used to do when they played in my forest.

            I lay out on my back and stare up at the trees and watch as the clouds drift by and the light flickers through the leaves bathing the floor in patches of shadow and light. I stand up and dance through my forest, Imagining a circle of elves with their drums and flutes. I watch my feet make indentions in the dirt. I wonder what the child’s footprint might look like. I hope they’re doing ok. I stare at the soft earth and press down to make it come up between my green toes. I wiggle them and giggle as the dirt falls out. I look out at my forest, laid out ahead of me, something so familiar yet so new. I take a deep breath and run. I’ve always wondered what running felt like. The wolves make it look fun. I find myself bounding over fallen trees and branches, the wind feels so refreshing.

I reached one of the older willows that resides in a valley near a stream. I climb its limbs and hang out over the water. I let my hands dangle as my legs held me on the branch. I reach the cool water and cup my hand, but I find the water coming closer. I lost my grip and fell face first into the chilly water. Finding myself unhurt I splash about like a floundering fish causing quite a stir for the animals that made their home in the river. Experiencing water like a fish was new. I usually use my roots. Do I still have roots? I step out of the water and lay upon the grass under the great willow.