Challenge Submission The Leaves Were Green

[GremlinSage]

He had visited these woods thousands upon thousands of times as a child, alongside his sister and cousin. The three of them would play every game they could think of, both known and made up. There was a time he remembered every stick and stone, every tree and debris along the earth's floor like the back of his own hand. A time when he felt one with the world. He remembered his sister, Sam, and his cousin, Tammy, climbing up an old oak tree that his father had helped build a makeshift ladder against earlier that same year. Thomas watched the two of them climb, giggling and yelling for him to join as they stepped onto the branches and disappeared into the foliage. The leaves were green.

Slow steps found the debris beneath his feet crunching and breaking pieces apart. A loud cry from the dead parts of nature that littered the earth. The sun lowered as it watched the three of them, coloring the skyline purple and red with just a hint of orange. Sam had always said those were her favorite colors, she liked the warmth they brought and the smile when the sun was watching them play before it slept. Tammy had been the opposite, she liked the cooler colors of the night, when the sun slept and the moon rose, splashing silver amongst the darkness. He had always been indifferent, perhaps because he was colorblind. But he watched them sit on the other side of the tree, watching the sun slowly slip into its daily slumber and calling for him to join them. The leaves were orange.

It all felt like so long ago, though perhaps because it was. He was nearing his nineties and Sam and Tammy were long since sleeping with nature now. They had a life of fulfillment, both as happy as he could have ever wanted. Perhaps it was because they slowed down each night to watch the sun slip away and the moon wake. It was almost as if Sam, herself, had gone to sleep and Tammy had woken. Thomas, they aren't real. His mother always said to him, insistent he was an only child. So why, then, was it that he remembered them so vividly? Sam with her beautiful auburn hair and big hazel eyes and Tammy with long raven locks that shone so brightly when she'd step into the moon's silver glow. They aren't real, Thomas. The leaves were purple.

He had lived such a long life, filled with love and laughter and even adventure. Thomas remembered the time he first took to the seas on a brand new ocean liner, young and free with his friends as he watched the port of England disappear into the horizon. The trees twisted, groaning and creaking, bark breaking and falling onto the ground. The wind brushed past the leaves and against his old, wrinkled skin as his mind wandered back to his return where he caught up with Samantha and Tammy. They were older now, married and happy and Thomas couldn't have been happier for them. They weren't real, Thomas. It was impossible, he saw them age, he knew they were real and yet, these two trees before him had bent backwards and between them lay another path. This wasn't real, was it? Thomas stepped forward, deciding that at almost ninety he had nothing to lose. The setting sun vanished into an empty sky, the trees surrounding him moments before had died and when he turned to look back, the leaves were black.

"I will rest now, good night."