If Life Was a Forest by Samantha Lozinski
I wander through the dark forest, with leaves crunching beneath my feet, and wind whirling around me. In the distance, I see a circle of sun shining on the ground. I run as fast as I can. I hear a cracking sound in the distance, but I ignore it. Until I fall to the ground with a thud. I can feel my knees beginning to throb. My fingers tingle. I can feel a heavy weight on my leg, and realize a branch has broken off a tree, ripped off by the wind, and landed right on me. I grunt as I try to pick it up. It’s so quiet around me, and that means there is nobody else out here to help me lift it. I awkwardly twist my body and try again and again to lift it. I don’t have any way to tell the time for certain, but I’m pretty confident about my guess of having been trying to lift the heavy branch for more than fifteen minutes. I’m about to think that it’s hopeless and that I’m hopeless, but I realize maybe if I try rolling it off… I twist the side of my foot so now it’s facing the ground, and I slowly roll the branch down my leg, and past my foot. I get up from the ground and let out a sigh of relief. I begin jogging cautiously to the circle of light, ready to feel the warmth, the happiness, instead of the cold, sad, darkness.