"Why am I being treated like this?"
"Or is it just me imagining things?"
" Why are they being like this?"
" Or have I gone crazy?"
With all these thoughts and questions, I just kept walking, and finally stopped when I found a huge tree blocking my way. As if it was saying that it's time to stop now and have some rest.
I stared long at the huge tree and then decided to sit down. So I rested my back against its huge trunk and closed my eyes to its breeze.
"Oye, Mr. Tree. You are alive right? That means you are a living being too. So, you should consider yourself lucky today, because I, Dani, don't rest on anyone's shoulder, even if I am dying. I am so strong, no?
Or... am I the weakest?"

" I am indeed lucky, Dani. "
I sprang up and start looking here and there for the source of the voice I just heard. But I found no one around.
" It's me.. Mr. Tree? "
And I slowly turned around to see that it was the tree I was sitting under.
I started laughing loudly.
"  I definitely have gone crazy!"
"No, you haven't Dani."
I stopped laughing and then reality hit me.
"You.... Is it really you..?..... Mr.... Tree??"
"Yes. I am sorry to startle you Dani."
"Oh! How do you know my name!"
"You told me earlier, don't you remember?"
"Oh.. Yes. But.. How can you....?"
"Sit down first."
And I sat down facing the tree.
" Just like I am lucky today for being your shoulder, you are lucky today to hear me talk!"
"But... I mean... You don't have any... Mouth or... Something..."
"Is it right that sometimes you people talk through your silence?"
"Yes."
"Similarly, I don't need a mouth to talk or ears to hear. I  an hear you through your touch and you can hear me through my breeze."
"O.. K... So, how many people have you met before?"
"Not many."
"So, you talked to them too?"
"No."
"Why?"
"They never talked to me. I was just a shelter to them. They came, slept and went away. That's it."
"Oh, so you talked to me because I talked to you?"
"Yes."
"Well, to be honest, I am one of those people who don't care about your existence. It's just that... I don't share things with anyone... So I usually talk to the non living things around me when I am alone. If I knew, you could hear me and talk back, I would never have come here. "
" I don't think so. "
" Think what? "
" That you don't care about my existence. "
" And how can you say that? "
" I can feel that. "
" I don't know, I don't even care about the people around me, so I am not sure if I care about you. "
" OK. "
" Hmm"
"So, will you now not share with me what's bothering you, since now you know that I can hear you?"
"I don't know."
"OK. So, how about we play a game?"
"What game?"
"Questions.. I'll ask you one, you ask me back and we'll answer."
"Okay."
"So, what's your age Dani?"
" I am 25. And you?"
"Ummm 150 something.."
"Oh my..!"
"Hmmm.
So what do you do?"
"Nothing. Recently, I am just laying in my bed the whole day.
And you?"
"Same. Just standing here 24×7.
So what is that you love the most?"
" I love being alone. And you?"
"I love bathing in sun, the whole day and then shining with moonlight at night.
So, who do you love the most?"
"No one."
"No one? Why?"
"Because I don't know what love is. What about you?"
"Everyone's the same for me. I treat everyone the same.
So, what is the reason you don't share anything with anyone?"
" I don't have anyone."
"Not even your family?"
" I do. But, I don't trust them.... Not anymore."
"And why is that?"
"Because they don't trust me anymore."
"Why? Did you do something wrong?"
"Yeah, something seriously wrong."
"And what is that?"
"Taking my own decisions and surprisingly they are all wrong, for them. So, they are now ashamed of me and so they don't trust me anymore and so I also don't trust them anymore."
"Did you hurt someone?"
"I don't know. All these years, I've always worked for them, to earn their trust. They also always appreciated me. I never did anything wrong. But when recently I started taking my decisions on my own, they smashed their trust, just like that, saying that it's wrong. I always believed that they'll always  trust me, no matter what others say. But now I've realised that, they were by my side only untill I obeyed them and that now I don't have anyone anymore.
Anyway, what about your family? "
" I don't have any family Dani. It's just that, everything or every being around me is my family. Just like you, I did my best to serve them, shade, wood, fruits, oxygen, everything I had. But the ones I trusted the most, started slaughtering me according to their needs.
Sometimes I wonder, why am I here, why am I doing all this when they are treating me like this in return? I've never asked for anything from them, it's been ages since I'm serving them and still they don't understand me.
But unfortunately, dying is something not under my control. But even if it I could, I would never do that, because I know that they can't live without me. So I'll just keep on bearing this for many more years."

I moved closer to the tree and touched his trunk and tears started rolling down my cheeks.
" The same with me. They say they know me very well, yet they don't even understand my intentions, even after living for 25 years with me.
I also want to die but I can't, because I know it will hurt them and bring embarrassment to them, because they care  about People more than me, so, I can never die.
I don't want to live... "
"... but can't die either. " completed the tree.

I hugged its trunk and cried very badly.
That day,
I found a being I could cry my heart out to
and
Mr. Tree found an other tree, dressed like me.



   The End

  - bani745