The pointlessness of it all 2
After what seemed to me like a short while they were so tall that they could reach up and eat the leaves and berries I’d sprouted at my peak. Their necks were long and would stretch like shadow in twilight. I’d be left bare and they would leave only to return when they knew I’d have food on my branches again. There are never any leaves or berries left on me when it’s time for them to fall and be carried off to some other place by the wind. I could see another one of my kind, Ptelea, in the distance and when it was quiet we could have a conversation. She had managed to force her berries to taste more bitter so the long necked things wouldn’t eat bits of her. I asked her how it is possible. I await her reply.
Then, from nowhere, came a shrill shriek that perforated my senses and made my roots quiver inside themselves. I gazed towards the area whereupon the other of my kind lingered and sensed that he was in trouble. A monster with glistening jaws and yellow stripes had assaulted the roots of my brethren. Green fluid seeped from the wound and Ptelea shrieked with pain. Aghast at her plight, I appealed to the gods above to intervene, but they mocked my pleas with rain that tasted bitter and impure. My one beautiful love winced and writhed in agony as the jaws of the animal tore at her very being, and as the colour drained from her soul I cried bitter berry tears at the helplessness of the situation.
