Chapter 1
Cold dark nights have never been kind to a willowy man like him. Every night the bright stars would invite him into their world by force, leaving him with no choice but to enter. He sat in his usual area; under the only maple tree in the area where the wind seems to have an advanced gust and where the night seemed cooler. As he lay against the thinning bark his mind was held in abeyance. For so long he questioned if this blankness the space created for him was to aid or destroy him. This otherworld that squeezed him in its grasp took away his troubles right then and there but left him with a feeling of emptiness and anticipation when he left. Other times he’d come back with the same troubles. He waited for something to occur but ended up pushing away the expectancy in denial. From this disappointment on, when the sky called to him every night he disregarded the bright light and the fresh smell of unknown heaven. Even though already in bad condition, the same tree he once laid against seemed to grow quickly to its end without the pressure of his back; It needed his conflicted thoughts of nutrition to seep into its roots. Soon the vicinity grew dull and disguised from the man’s absence and like a baby missing its mother he decided to pay the area a visit. Unwittingly, he took a seat against the sacred tree, and instantly he felt the consequences. A burning feeling rose up from his chest; choking and suffocating him until he began to see flashes of how the vicinity looked before its downfall. He scattered away from the now burning tree, rejecting him for good. The sky hinted at violence and anger with the stars glistening one after another. When he looked down, the grass wrapped around his thin ankles, refraining him from any movements…there was no answer to the dark skies’ motive; it was all a warning. Those who failed to realize from the start received the end of a slow burn.
