Mackenzie Gregory
The forest provided us with what we needed—food, water, shelter—so we had to give back one of our own. Pa needed to cut another tree down today. Auntie Rose just had two babes at once, a surprise to us all, which meant she also needed another rocker for that baby. We hadn’t planned for this one yet; usually, an elder would be given some more time to prepare. But the babes, wrinkled and blue, were fussy, and Auntie Rose grew more agitated by the minute. Granny Marilyn was the only elder we had left, and she had only turned five and sixty. But Pa said new life was more precious than old, so it was left to us to inform her of the sacrifice she would be making for us all. We all were forced to watch as Pa began chopping at the tree. It was thin yet sturdy, but not as tall as the others. Its bark would be strong enough to handle the babes. It cried out in agony, and we echoed its pain. Our sobs drowned out the wails of the babes, but Granny Marilyn was louder than us all. We didn’t know her lungs could handle that volume. The tree eventually teetered and died as it fell from its roots. Its brothers and sisters trembled furiously, their leaves falling like our own teardrops. As Pa grabbed the trunk to bring back to craft, we hoisted Granny Marilyn up and carried her over to the grandfather tree, the biggest and most defined of them all. We were prepared for the fight that she gave us. It was a natural part of death, Pa had said. We beckoned her into the hole of the tree, having to stuff her in to make her fit completely. The tree began to ravage her body, stretching out her wrinkled skin, breaking her bones, and absorbing her blood. It always looked painful, but Pa told us the elders had thinner bones that were much easier to snap. We sometimes wished to look away, but we must watch. The trees had to watch their family die, so we must, too. Once the tree had consumed Granny Marilyn’s screams, we headed back to our home to greet Auntie Rose’s new babes.
Mackenzie Gregory is an English major at Cedar Crest College. She also serves as an editor of Pitch. She loves to spend her free time reading, writing, or watching horror movies.