A Christmas Death [SCC2016]

Writer Status (so they say!)
I hope you enjoy a different perspective and thanks for the opportunity to participate.

When the chilling winds begin to blow from the north and the frozen tears that fall from the skies start to descend, the humans commence with their merriment. From high atop the ridge line one can view their world below. They seem as busy as the bees in summer, toiling endlessly, as if stockpiling warm nectar. It is not nectar the humans crave or need at this time. Brightly colored packages and lights, everywhere, as if the town is aflame. Their young spend most days sliding across the frozen lakes and building forts in the snow while their parents, exhausted no doubt, travel back and forth, plodding back and forth amassing great amounts of food and dazzling, stunning arrays. Music drifts up and ascends through the ravine, haunting and threatening as if it is their battle hymn.

♫ Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree ♫

This was a season of mourning for my kind, a time of reverence and lamenting of those who had gone before and a sense of foreboding and apprehension enveloping those of us who may be taken this time. We would hold our old friend, the snow, in our arms like a shield and hope for a quick and honorable death.

The mature and strong are often chosen first. Generations lost to the first strike. After the initial attack, our young are repeatedly left defenseless and sobbing, long into the night, awash in the gray moonlight. The fresh fallen powder is not enough to hide them away from the assailants. They will come, at first light of dawn, this is their festival day.

Giggling and laughter precedes their sprint up the hillside. Horrid, gamin like, creatures gather all around us now. My kindred, cut down in the prime of their lives, have no defense against the sharp blades of our enemies.

Can no one hear our cries? Is this our only lot in life? Only being permitted to enjoy the warmth of the sun, briefly, and provide a temporary home to our companions the crossbills and waxwings for a short time. The mother earth tries, desperately, to secure our footing but, it is unavailing.

The first blows come only after our limbs have been pulled and tugged at, shaken with no remorse as our core is chopped at and our hearts begin to bleed. The air becomes thick with our enemies revelry and triumph as our young tremble with fear. Even our feathered brethren, sensing the army’s arrival, made their escape, early, shrieking and calling for help that would not come.

My attacker hands his weapon off to his young comrade. An opportunity for training, perhaps? With three more blows I am taken down. I fall to the side like a rock, broken from the rains, falling away from its mountain top home. I am spent and as good as dead while the life blood oozes from my wounds. I am bound with rope and lugged down the hillside. Across rocks my lifeless body bumps as pieces of me fall away. Down, down to their lair across the icy creek and into the streets. Other humans, as I am dragged, cheer and praise my killers for the magnificent prize earned by their campaign.

My spiritless corpse will be erected in their castle for days, adorned with trinkets and ornaments. Shackled with hot strings of celebratory light as my robust green limbs turn to a matte brown signifying my complete and total death. There will be dancing and kissing, exchanges of excessive and outrageous awards. Not one human noticing my tears streaming down my moribund body or caring for the heartache of my family on the hillside.

When their victory celebrations are complete and their gluttonous bellies full from their lavish feasting I will be cast into the communal grave with my loved ones. Dry and brittle, my usefulness to them finished and, finally, I shall be returned to the earth from where I first came. Someday, I will rise again from the gross intemperance of this place when my loyal familiar, the wind, carries me back to my home on the hill and I’ll stand once more, futilely perhaps, in defiance of the of the humans that massacre, annually, my kind.

That was fantastic and very poignant.



And why I have a crappy artificial Charlie Brown-esque tree.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus


That was fantastic and very poignant.



And why I have a crappy artificial Charlie Brown-esque tree.

Aww, thanks Auggie!

I'm sure your tree is adorable...

Very well written as I like the trees pov

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
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I'm sure your tree is adorable...

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Star and Flag excellent

a reply to: blackrussian63

Thank you, I wanted to do something a little different.

I'm appreciative that you enjoyed it.

a reply to: Jdennis10

Thank you JD for stopping by.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Nicely done Chirp!! From the P.O.V. of a tree! Fantastic!!

OMG Chirp, if I would have entered the contest, that was my idea, to write from a xmas tree's perspective, but there is no way I would have wrote is as wonderfully as you just did here! Bravo! One of my favorites of all the stories so far! Loved this!!!

a reply to: Night Star

Thanks guys!

I started reading a couple of entries and then the idea came to me so I stopped so I wouldn't get the other stories and mine mixed up in my brain, you know?

You both are fantastic writers and your kind words mean a lot to me.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

This was awesome!!!

Might we have a sequel someday? Revenge of the Pine!!

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: TNMockingbird
This was awesome!!!
Might we have a sequel someday? Revenge of the Pine!!

Bahaha! Too funny, thanks.

Some themes I'm playing around with

Ferocious Freaky Firs
The Savage Spruce
The Red Cedar's Reprisal

Thanks Jin!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Do it! Do it! I would read these!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

What a well written poem loved it!!

S/F

originally posted by: Night Star
a reply to: TNMockingbird
Do it! Do it! I would read these!

Don't tempt me, I'll suffer the lot of you to reading my horrible work.



a reply to: LadyButterfly
Thank you Lady Butterfly for reading and enjoying and commenting.

a reply to: TNMockingbird


Nooooo, it will be awesome, just like this one! Do it! Do it!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I am impressed, beautifully written and with intentful intrigue.

Well Done!

People are mean, sometimes.

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
And, thank you for changing my number from 666.

It irked me.

You may want to check that.