The Shadow of my Presence

by Vicky Shi

Vroooooom.

In the past many weeks, I've been waking up to the same sound.

One, two, three, four weeks?

I lost count at this point, and I don't want to keep counting.

I don't want to keep hearing this sound. It replaces the sweet sounds of nature - birds chirping, leaves rustling, water trickling. And worst of all, it's getting louder.

My brother is busy playing with our neighbour.

I find this a perfect time to go to a historical lookout point that my ancestors used to go to. It had an amazing view of the surrounding trees and wildlife. But ever since I noticed the annoying sound get closer, it almost seemed like I could see the end of the greenery.

I stood there for a good moment, and thought what this could all mean. My ancestors told stories that described how large the forests were. They told me how the forests were full of fruit, and how they were so large they couldn't even explore it all. I focused my eyes off into the distance, and saw the end of the forest.

A gust of cold wind blew past me, bringing me back from my thoughts.

#

I decide to make it my personal mission to discover what lies at the end of the forest.

I ran down the lookout point, and saw that my brother was still playing with the neighbour. I sneak past him and begin my journey to find the end of the forest.

After about an hour or so into my travel, the environment started to worsen until I finally reached the end.

I was shocked.

There were noisy large yellow beasts with huge claws on them. A swarm of two-legged creatures filled the area.

But the most shocking part was the absence of trees.

Once a lush, flourishing forest, now a desolate wasteland.

I continued to explore the area and found a massive pile of logs. Those were the trees that used to be standing there.

The two-legged creatures seemed to roam around everywhere; some were even inside the noisy, large yellow beasts.

They might have been the ones who cut down those trees

But for what? Why? Who gave them permission?

A mixture of shock, scar

A huge yellow machine clamped down on a nearby tree, and the tree was cut in half. Vroooooooom. Then, the two-legged creatures picked up the logs, hauled them into a truck, and dropped them off at the pile of logs.

Out of fear, I ran back as fast as I could. Branches scratched me, but it was better than watching the horror.

When I gained enough distance, I turned back, slowed down, caught my breath, and returned back home. I sat on the lookout point and asked those questions again.

Why do they want to destroy our land?

What have we done to deserve this?