Us and Them | Teen Ink

Us and Them

May 22, 2018
By hanzal BRONZE, Clarence, New York
hanzal BRONZE, Clarence, New York
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Strange things happen in this semmingly normal forest. Follow The Girl as her nature walk turns to a magical, crazy adventure.

Chapter 1: Us and Them

Can you see me? I feel as though, in this world of natural beauty, I am overlooked. Day by day, I see many people. They notice the beauty. The beauty in the trees, and in the air. The beauty of the grass and the sky and the noise of calm water. But me… I am overlooked. You see the beauty of the things around me, but can you see me?
You can't see her. She is invisible, for, we made her that way. She was drawn to the beauty, as most people are. We found her,and she is ours now. Her job is to watch over the earth.
When we discovered her, she was happy. We noticed her because, in our eyes, she blended with natures beauty. We needed her to blend. For, how would she protect our earth, if she was to be seen by all its creatures?
Here is what we did:
I step out of my car and walk where the signs lead me, to the trail. The smell of nature filling my nose more and more as I walk against the wind. I can hear the birds singing, yet I felt as though they were singing a tune of terror. Usually, their soft songs invite me, welcome me; But instead it seemed they were warning me. As I walk down the path, I begin to feel lighter. It feels, not like I am floating, but almost like someone is carrying me. I feel like somebody is guiding me. As I continue on, I notice the ground gradually becoming muddy, and before I know it, i’m now trudging through puddles. It felt like quicksand, and everytime I put my foot down, it became harder to pick back up than the last. The trees around me begin to viciously swing; throwing their branches all over, making lots of calm, yet frantic noise.
We watch, as she struggles between herself and nature. She’s had many chances to turn back, yet still she keeps on going. She is interesting… It seems that there is something telling her to keep going. Perhaps she knows this is her fate. Perhaps she knows exactly where she belongs.
Walking further, it starts to feel cold. There is a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. And I keep jerking my head nervously to look around me… I think someone is watching me.
When you get to know a place, you convince yourself you know everything about it. You become comfortable with the idea of comfort. You memorize the positions of all the trees, and you listen carefully to the birds songs, just so you don’t miss your favorite one. I liked that feeling of comfort; it made me feel powerful.
We like that she holds power. For, watchers of the earth need power. As she walks further into her new life, we see a change in her behavior. we see her pass a family, strolling along on the path; and she stops to talk to them. We see that she is inviting, but we also notice she is warning. Not on purpose, but just her way with words. When the family walks away, Our specimen continues on. She has almost reached us. We begin to prepare for her debut. The maze we constructed is beautiful, and we are sure it will draw her in, just as it is supposed to.
That strange feeling has reappeared in my stomach, however, along with that, it now feels like my face is on fire and my mind is screaming “something is wrong”. But i ignored it. I follow a stream downhill while examining the wildlife around me. Suddenly, I see something bright and colorful. I walk closer to it and, in my gut, I knew what was about to happen. It seems like it’s some sort of extra path. I step through the entrance and immediately regret it. I go to turn back, but, the opening has disappeared. I begin to panic, I need a way out. So, I walk further into the path, desperately searching for another opening. The more I walk, the more aware I become of the fact that I am trapped. Just as I begin to lose all hope, I see an exit. I run through it to safety; but, I wasn’t safe. The flowers I had been marveling at throughout my walk, begin to rapidly grow out of the ground. The trees rumble, as if they were growling at me and all the forest animals stop in their tracks and look at me. They are going to take me aren’t they? As I look at the flowers growing higher, I notice their faces. The ground shakes, but I stay observing what is going on around me. I know what is happening. Soon, I will also be one of these flowers. I sit down near a tree while i anxiously wait.
She is with them now. Although still beautiful she is now so lonely. This little flower, alone in the forest. But she is not alone. They are all around her, constantly watching. She doesn’t know how lucky she is; to be seen by everyone yet no one at all.


The author's comments:

I wrote this based on a feild trip we took in creative writing class


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