The Popcorn Tree
My name is Hoffmann, and I’m a journalist. My assignment took me to a remote town when a random neighborhood caught my eye. It looked like a fairy tale coming to life. Tall trees and colorful flowers of all kinds encircled it. I felt like I had never seen such trees in my life.
While I was driving inside this place, my car stopped. I curse, then getting out of the car. A forest of trees surrounded me. Their leaves turned colors. From brown to green and from green to yellow, over and over again.
A sweet fragrance and a soft melody filled the air. I saw no one and heard nothing but the rustling of the branches.
After a while, I reached a pond. The water was glowing in an acid color, with its microorganisms dancing, not swimming.
Trees surrounded the pond, swaying and whispering as if welcoming me.
I thought one tree was calling my name, but the strange thing was, all the trees around the pond turned their attention to me–not at me, but above me with reverence.
A presence behind me. I turned around and saw the biggest tree. It looked like the mother of all trees. With mahogany and maroon colors moving from the bottom to the top, and its leaves were full of popcorn, dripping with liquid gold.
The popcorn tree waved its branches at me, inviting me to come closer and taste.
I was terrified and fell to the ground, trying to escape from it, but I couldn’t move. It was as if I was crawling in place; until one of its branches reached out to me and wrapped around my waist, lifting me off the ground. I didn’t feel the fear that I had felt before; on the contrary.
A warm hug from the tree covered me with the wonderful smell of caramel. The branches of the tree enveloped me until I was completely inside, and my body melted and became a part of it. Inside, my mind opened in a new way. I realized that everything alive was interconnected. I felt peace and love like I had never felt before. My mind was a vast and open world, ready to explore. I no longer saw the world I knew. The place here was wonderful; the sky was clear, and I could see the arm of the galaxy and millions of stars. There was no noise or light pollution; as if I had traveled back in time millions of years.
A strange light reached my eyes. I rubbed my eyes; only to find myself sitting on the street with my back on the rim of my car in the middle of the road.
A police officer was shining a flashlight on my face.
“Sir, are you okay?”
I blinked and looked around.
The forest.
The pond.
The tree.
It was all gone.
