Title: A Talk Amongst Apple Trees by Milo_Chalks
Verdict: Reject (6.5/10)
Reason:

I'd like to start this review off by saying that this has an excellent message, and if there is one thing that anyone should take away from this review, it's that it's definitely worth the read if you're trying to fit in or be something that your not. This is something a lot of people do, sometimes without even realizing it, and it can take a while for someone to come to terms without outside intervention.

That being said, there's a couple of reasons that keep me from accepting this story. Chiefly among them is the head-hopping issue at the start of the narrative. I believe I even incurred a point-of-view change in the middle of a paragraph. Arguably since this is an omniscient POV story, some of the transition between characters is alright, at least in the second half of the narrative. However, there was some back and forth in the beginning that made me have to reread a couple of passages.

One additional note to mention was how much harder the omniscient POV makes it for one to become intimately attached to one particular character, and for a short, five thousand word story, this reduces some of the emotional impact the message has on me.

There's a couple of different angles of approach being used here to try to instill that impact. Big Mac seems to be reliving his childhood experience through Tender Taps. That's how he's able to be the catalyst for the delivery of the message. Then there is the recipient's reaction to the message, how it helps change his perspective on life and help develop him as an individual. Unfortunately, I didn't connect enough with either character to go beyond the concept.

Simply put, I am not along side them in their self-discovering.

It might just be me, but the talk seemed a bit too long-winded as well. It seemed to me that Big Mac got his point across at one point and then he continued to reiterate in other ways afterward. This, however, might be attributed toward personal tastes rather than an actual issue.

There are minor issues present in the narrative with regards to its mechanics (grammar and sentence flow), although that is few and far between. A quick edit can round off some of the comma placements and boost clarity by truncating some of the phrases or optimizing word choices.

Yet just like the last fifteen minutes of constant abuse, the tree withheld from the attack.

I think recoiled would work better here. To withhold is to refrain from attacking in this context, which doesn't make sense unless the tree has the ability to move.

With little of his regular thought and grace, Tender Taps let out a weak attempt at being angry. “Cause I wanna be. I’m angry, and I wanna be alone.”

Essentially, the conversation up to this point was:

"What do you want?"
"I wanna go for a walk, what about you?"
"Cause I wanna be."

I'd settle for "I wanna be alone. I'm angry."

Like I said, it was mostly small things that were and far between, but you still might wanted to know about them. Overall, the story was nice and enjoyable regardless of any issues I had with it.