Whisper on the Wind

         Danger!  You must leave now.

                   The voice was softly whispering in Amelia’s ear. Eyes fluttering open to peer about the clearing where she was currently napping the afternoon away.  Seeing no one present Amelia sighed and threw her arm up to cover her eyes.  Settling back on the blanket once again, intent on getting a peaceful afternoon naps in the meadow.

         Get up, little one.  You must leave this place. Danger is coming.

                   Sighing softly, Amelia drew her arm down and once more let her eyes scan the clearing.  The wind moving about her, she slowly rose to turn and peer around the meadow.  Trees bent and swayed, their leaves rustling and shaking in a frightening display.  The branches seeming to extend and whip in the air, the actions like some wild signaling of a harbinger of destruction.

         “Who are you?  Come out so I can see you?”

                   The wind picked up, the leaves on the trees acting like a depressing wind chime of fall.  A branch nearby snapping and falling to the ground with a loud crack even as Amelia’s eyes widened.

          I am nature.  Your mother and the mother of all life.  I am the wind at your back, and the trees offering you shade. Heed me now, as I speak to you with the breath of my life and the form of physical existence.  Hear my words in the trees surrounding you.  You must run.  Danger is coming.

         “If this is true... Why help me?”

                   Because you are one of the few who knows the names and voices of the trees.  You speak to then, you hear their cry.  And now the man who wishes to destroy this forest is angry you have stopped him.  He is coming here to hurt you. 

                   This was something Amelia did not have a hard time believing.  Bending down she grabbed her blanket moving to snatch it off the ground and running for the tree line.  Now the voices she heard were startlingly clear.  Each tree voicing its own protest to the danger she was in.
Run this way.  Towards the creek.  The whisper she heard having a hollowed out sound, like the echo of a voice in a long tunnel.

         Amelia’s legs were already tightening, her run causing her body to protest the sudden change of activity.  Following the guidance of the hollow whispers and soft spoken praises to the safety of a cave nearby, where Amelia’s body finally gave out.

         Slowly, the branches of trees lowered, covering the opening of the cave, as the whispers of the trees kept her company.

         We will keep you safe, just as you keep us safe.

         More whispers and cries from the trees around her denoting the arrival of aggressors.  Each tree groaning in pain as their roots was subject to clumsy footing and inconsiderate invaders. Before offering the soothing songs of their long existence and lulling Amelia in to a state of sleep.

         Jerking awake, Amelia sat up in her bed.  Had it been a dream?  Or was it the truth from a new point of view.  Something told her, she was about to find out.