THE TORN LEAF As I walked towards her, I felt that something unthinkable was about to happen. And it did. From that moment forward, my body started pulling me. It was like my legs had a will of their own. If someone told me then that we only had one brain and one heart, I wouldn’t believe it. Just like some people lack them both, others might have millions of brains and hearts. I felt that in that day. Maybe it was because of the natural irony of that instant. We were surrounded by the green and brown of maple trees! I could almost feel the syrup running through the trees’ veins, sweetening those dark seconds. That was when I saw that gravity is just the need of sweetness in our lives. That’s what she wanted, she needed beauty and peace, she wanted to forget why she had been fired, why her husband had died and she wanted to dive into the earth, to feel the frigid waters of the river taking her nightmarish thoughts away. She was being pulled to all the beauty down that cliff. But the earth was pulling me too. Not to crash into the well of peaceful oblivion, but to show her that, sometimes, everything is prettier from above. There was an eagle covering the sun. There was a squirrel grabbing an innocent leaf. Even though she was stopping the light, she was watching the beauty of life from up there, and even though he was hiding in the branches, he was holding on to what was important. She had her arms opened, but her feet were trying to grab her. She wanted to release the leaf and fly to the depths. I don’t know if I was running that fast, or if time was slowing down for me. But I prefer the poetic last one. The poetry of life can be revealed in the hard times. Her image was starting to get blurry. I don’t know if I was shivering or if earth was. The eagle let the sunshine; I was feeling cold. I heard the sound of her feet leaving the ground. The squirrel started tearing the leaf in two. My heart jumped and I got blind. Something whistled inside my brains. Today, I think that is the feeling of stopping time. But a warm breeze started blowing. I opened my eyes and I saw the torn leaf. Everything else was blurry. I had the instinct of grabbing it. That was when I grabbed her hand.
Duarte B.
7
