She awakens. Leaves flutter into hair and twigs braid into fingers. She finds her sisters cut down and a red X sprayed across her own chest.

She weeps.

The tears bead, becoming sap frozen against ancient bark. She waits for the end, drinking the sun and whispering in the breeze.

Taryn is a writer and environmental scientist living in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. See more at tnkloeden.com.