Piney's Story

[pieface101 285]

Piney

 

Hi! My name is Piney. I was born on a little section of the map Alexandrovsk. When my sprout first poked above the ground, soft and tender, I was greeted by a winter landscape. My roots were especially cold, but the sight of such a merry place made up for it. The trees were all singing Christmas Carols, covered in snow. I caught a snowflake myself, and it was the first memory I ever had.

 

"Merry Christmas!" Momma said to me, reaching her lowest bough down to brush the snow off of my sprout. I giggled, mostly because it tickled. "Welcome to the world, Piney."

 

When I grew a little older, Momma taught me how to perform photosynthesis. "Tada!" I would say, waving my branches about, "Glucose!". And all the older trees would put their needles together and clap for me.

 

In that first year of my life, everything was good. Momma introduced me to my brothers and sisters. I am still embarrassed about how shy I was when I first met them. I made friends with the rest of the trees, and we watched the seasons change. On Earth Day, I earned the Sapling rank in society.

 

And then my birthday came. We pine trees have a way of celebrating birthdays that takes up the entire day and goes into the next night. I awoke to Momma shaking me gently. The other trees put on a show for me. My brothers mimed a play. My friends told stories to me. My sisters sang songs. And then the present giving began. I got so many colorful flowers and snow sculptures that I didn't know where to put them all. It lasted all through the day. As night fell, trees began singing Happy Birthday. I looked at at the stars and made a wish. I wished that the trees would live happily in this valley forever.

 

Christmas came. The wonderful snow fell again. I was entranced by this surreal world of white that embellished my brothers and sisters. We played in the snow until the sun dipped below the horizon, welcoming night. We would look at the sky and wonder where Santa Claus was over the world right now.

 

For Christmas, I got a daffodil from Momma. My sisters gave me multicolored mushrooms to decorate myself with, and my brothers threw snow at me. In return, I lumped up the biggest snowball I could find, and heaved it at my brother. "Kids, cut it out," Momma said, smiling at us.

 

In the early years of my life, everything was good. I grew quite a bit, but I was still a Sapling. We would watch the seasons change from the cold beautiful wonderland of Winter, to the welcome freshness of Spring, to the hot sunny days of Summer, and then the colorful display of Fall.

 

And then the humans came. I woke up one morning to screams. I heard the grinding of chainsaws as they cut through my friends and one of my sisters. Momma bent over in front of me so I could not see what was going on. "Try not to listen," Momma instructed me, her voice cracking. But I did. And I will never forget the sounds of crying, wailing, screaming, families lost that day. The most gruesome part was watching the humans build a house out of the bodies of trees I once knew.

 

The humans came again and again. They cut down more and more trees. I could not stand listening to my siblings wail, calling for Momma, and me, and every other member of our family in turn. Yet I was as helpless as anyone.

 

As the houses went up, pollution followed. I could no longer see the stars that I once wished upon. "It will get better," Momma said, sharing tears with me.

 

And then Fall came. The humans stopped murdering trees, and instead spent more time in their houses. I thought they were gone and we would finally have peace. I was wrong. They harmed the Maples, putting strange metal tubes in them to extract syrup. We Pines sent plenty of gifts to them, even though we never talked before. If there's one good thing about the crisis, it's that it brought out the best in all of us.

 

That Winter was the worst. The snow fell again, but it seemed sinister, somehow. It was no longer the snow I grew up with, the winter wonderland I so enjoyed. Maybe it was the loss of fellow trees. I'm not sure.

 

I woke up on my birthday, to screaming. Momma was being sawed through by one of their horrible chainsaws. So were a bunch of the other trees. The human had a nonchalant face, as if he did not care at all about the pain he was causing. In fact, he seemed downright cheerful and merry. He was even whistling one of the Christmas Carols we used to sing. I hated him for that.

 

"Momma!" I shouted, looking at her pained expression. Contrary what teachers told you to make logging seem humane, trees don't die immediately. Instead, they die a painful death, until their lack of roots causes them to thirst to death.

 

"Piney!" Momma looked at me, her boughs brushing the snow off of me, possibly for the last time. Tears rolled down her trunk. "Piney..."

 

But then the humans yanked Momma and began dragging her towards a truck. Then they drove away, the voice of Momma disappearing with them. This was the worst birthday present ever. I broke down and cried, but there weren't any trees left to comfort me.

 

The next year passed so slowly, I swore time was teasing me. Hey, Piney! Want to get life over with? Too bad! Spring lost its freshness. Summer was hot, not warm and sunny. I began to speak to tree stumps, pretending they were alive.

 

The boy came during Fall. I was talking to a tree stump, when he came. He couldn't be more than six or seven, with rosy cheeks, holding one of those metal tubes. He walked up to me, about to suck the living sap out of me, when I snapped. This was a human. They hurt my family. Anger rushed through me, and I swung my branches, knocking the little kid on his back.

 

"Ow!" cried the little boy.

 

"That's what you get, human!" I spat, putting emphasis on human as if it meant worse than vermin.

 

'You can... talk?" the boy asked, in awe. He pinched himself for whatever reason. "I'm not dreaming, am I?"

 

"Of course I can talk! Did you really think we trees are lifeless hunks of wood?" I shouted.

 

"Well, you do seem kinda boring... and-"

 

"We trees have families! We show love! Unlike you cold blooded killers!"

 

"Woah woah there... we aren't cold blooded killers. I go to church every Sunday, and I... I never even hit the bully on the playground!"

 

This took me a second to comprehend, because I never even heard half the words he said. "You killed my brothers! And sisters! And especially Momma!"

 

"Wait... you have a Momma?!"

 

"Of course! Where do you think I came from? Who cared for me, gave me presents, showed so much love for me, that you humans never had?"

 

The boy tried to wrap his mind around this novel idea. "So... you trees can talk, have families, and hate humans?"

 

"Yes!" I screamed, although I couldn't really find a way to put all my hate into that word.

 

"Well, my mother cares for me too. She gives me food, buys me toys, and reads me stories. My name is Alfred by the way." the boy offered, giving a shy smile.

 

I was a little taken aback by that comment. The boy clearly did not realize my anger. Unfortunately, the only thing I could think was "My name is Piney."

 

"Nice to meet you Piney. I'll tell all my friends about you!" said Alfred, extending a hand. I slapped it away.

 

"Don't tell your barbaric friends about me! They're probably just as cruel as the rest of you humans!"

 

Alfred seemed hurt, but recovered quickly. "Well, I'll go collect sap from the other tree then."

 

That got my attention. "Can I see that tree?" I asked him, as politely as I could. It was only a sliver of hope, but better than nothing.

 

"Sure!" he said, brightening up. "Hold on a sec." He ran towards a house and came back with a shovel and a pot and began digging. I would like to say I was patient, but sadly, I was not.

 

"Can you be faster?" I asked. Alfred just grabbed me by the trunk, heaved, and pulled me out of the ground. I covered up my roots with my branches.

 

"Can you not look? Roots are supposed to be private parts of trees."

 

"Right." said Alfred, looking away. He put me in the pot, and covered my roots in a layer of dirt. "Now can I look?"

 

"Yep." I replied. Alfred looked at me, and then picked up my pot and began running towards his house. In his yard, was a tree. It was covered in ornaments, but I recognized it.

 

"Momma!" I cried. Momma looked at me blankly. "Momma!" I called again, extending a branch.

 

Momma looked at me. "Who are you?"

 

Merry Christmas, Everyone

Edited December 9, 2016 by Quarks

[Quarks 2,255]

Edits:

1 slight grammar mistake, if you are having characters speak in a sentence, it ends with a comma.

 

Besides that, nice article. 

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

If you ever want to have a sappy (don't kill me) story about abiotic subjects, go to pieface. He'll figure out a way for you to cry over a vacuum cleaner.

 

Great story!

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

:(  cri

Edited December 9, 2016 by Blackdrakon30

[asifmehmood 1,576]

Very nicely written. 

[r_I_already_won0 2,339]

Good job, nice and entertaining little article. :)

[pieface101 285]

If you ever want to have a sappy (don't kill me) story about abiotic subjects, go to pieface. He'll figure out a way for you to cry over a vacuum cleaner.

 

Great story!

Mwahahah  :D

[Viking4s 10,791]

"Can you not look? Roots are supposed to be private parts of trees."
best part.

[GeeVuh 1,647]

There better be a sequel to this... or else imma cri so hard

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

There better be a sequel to this... or else imma cri so hard

Get the tissues ready T_T

[pieface101 285]

There better be a sequel to this... or else imma cri so hard

Would you cry if I told you to... use your imagination?  :huh:

[GeeVuh 1,647]

Would you cry if I told you to... use your imagination?  :huh:

But... that's writer's job xD

[pieface101 285]

But... that's writer's job xD

Of course you have to consider the ultimate troll a writer can give you... a cliffhanger xD

 

:ph34r:

[GeeVuh 1,647]

Of course you have to consider the ultimate troll a writer can give you... a cliffhanger xD

 

:ph34r:

pls no nuba

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

Of course you have to consider the ultimate troll a writer can give you... a cliffhanger xD

 

:ph34r:

How could you join our torturers' ranks

 

How could you possibly do that to us

[GeeVuh 1,647]

How could you join our torturers' ranks

 

How could you possibly do that to us

cri so hard like why did momma forget piney?

[NERF836 202]

Tada!, Glucose!