Last Leaf

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: needle, wheel and leaf

Last Leaf

As he held it up to his eye, Paul and the leaf became one.

There was nothing else.

The children laughing as they played on the park’s swings faded to silence. The cars on the adjacent streets blurred into a still, background montage. Even his breath stopped so as to avoid any unnecessary intrusion into the “bonding” moment.

It was such a beautiful thing. Paul wondered how it could have escaped his attention in the past. Its shape was perfect, except for where it was not; a feature one must truly contemplate for complete appreciation to be achieved. The green was not merely that, but also a collection of seemingly every color in the rainbow. Browns mixed with reds. There were even shades of blue and yellow if one held it just right up to the sun.

Paul spun unencumbered by self-consciousness as he held the treasure over his head. If anyone was watching, he didn’t care. There was only him and…his leaf.

He hardly noticed when his head bounced off the sidewalk.

“I must be near the curb,” he thought as he watched a wheel roll by not a foot from his nose.

No one came to his aid. The “park people” had seen this before. They knew he was beyond help.

“And they’re right…” he thought to himself.

Standing was out of the question.

“Maybe I’ll just lay here for a bit,” he thought. Sometimes he got better.

Then he remembered the leaf. He rolled his head left and saw only street traffic. He rolled his head to the right and saw it. The half-full needle was still hanging from his arm.

He knew the end when he saw it.

He embraced the idea of death; of no more pain or sorrow.

Though he would miss his leaves…

Word count 300