//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19 
// Story: The Only Tree in the Forest 
// by Hap 
//------------------------------//

The sting of fresh cuts has mellowed to a throbbing ache. The fungus is gone, and with it the bugs and worms. Part of me has been cut away and burned, and I am better off for it. There is less of me now. I can feel a few of my branches dying where their xylem has been carved out. Without the infection, my remaining branches and leaves will be more than enough to sustain me.

For the first time I can remember, I feel… at ease. When I was young, there was an urgency to grow taller, before the surrounding trees closed off the canopy above me. After I was struck by lightning, I was forced to grow wider and stronger, so I did not blow over. Even after I had been left alone, life was a constant race to collect enough sunlight to grow ever fatter to outpace the ever-expanding rot.

As she finishes whatever work is left, the sun seems to favor me, pouring on my leaves and warming me through to the inside. I hope that whatever metaphor she has been laboring under has removed as much of her rot as mine.

When she steps outside, I occasionally see a smile as she looks up at me. I wonder if this is where she will live when she has finished, here on the outskirts of this little town.