Trees Don't Like Us

I was running away from something with an older lady. I think this lady was supposed to be my mother, whom i didn’t really know. We came up on a path that led into some fir trees, which after a minor hesitation, my mother pulled me along. There were several women there, tending the trees, dressed like they belonged at a Rennaissance Festival. My mother spoke briefly to one of them, and the woman frowned at her. "This isn’t Christmas, you can’t just come here with anyone you want", the woman said disapprovingly to her. At that point, i felt the trees glaring down hostilely at me, willing me to get out of their grove. Sadly, i turned to my mother and behind her i saw a smaller tree. Like an irrepressible child among stern adults, the little tree loved me and beckoned to me, offering its shelter. Though the woman my mother spoke to clearly didn’t like this, she dared not argue. She merely stalked away. I went to the tree, and its underbranches parted for me, and then folded behind me, its soft needles caressing and embracing me as i made my way to its trunk. I wrapped myself around the base of it and felt myself become smaller, unnoticable. Just as the last of me disappeared, i felt the source of our hunter drawing near. It stopped before my tree, an amorphous black mist. I knew it could sense me near, but if the trees disapproved of the presence of me and my mother, they were simply not tolerating the black mist. I could see the mist shrinking under the weight of the trees’ unwelcome, and it moved on, fearing for its existence. Relief washed over me, and i tried to step out of the tree. The tree didn’t want to let me go. I pulled a little harder, trying to coalesce at the base where i’d disappeared, and i felt the heartbreak of the tree at the thought i’d leave. Panic washed over me at the thought that this shelter would become my prison. I felt the tree release me sorrowfully. Resisting the impulse to rush out of the tree before it changed its mind, i let compassion wash over me and chase the panic from my mind. I wouldn’t be safe out there with the mist. Why not stay with the one who loved me when no one else cared?