I looked outside my window and what I saw was something that I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. You tell me, how would you react if you looked outside your window and saw an old tree, almost dead, with all leaves fallen off, glowing in the middle of the night? Well, I reacted the same way any normal person would. I went straight up to the front door of my house, threw it open, and ran straight up to the tree. The tree wasn’t just glowing. Rather, It was emitting light, and it felt so warm. I had never felt such warmth before in my entire life. I stood in front of the tree, staring at it with the biggest smile on my face. Just as I stood there, roots of the tree emerged from the ground, as if inviting me into the warmest and the most loving embrace. Without wasting a single second, I moved in and embraced the tree. The roots that were poking out of the ground now wrapped around me, getting tighter and tighter as each moment passed. After a few moments passed, I was not able to breathe. I tried to free myself but all of my struggles and effort were in vain. Nothing worked. My face was now pressing against the trunk of the glowing tree, and the tree bark had started leaving deep cuts on my face. As blood rushed down my face and splattered the ground, I started losing consciousness. The roots kept on getting tighter, and as I drifted away into unconsciousness, I could feel my entire body in pain, and I was sure that multiple bones in my body were broken.

I woke up after some time in my room, feeling extremely thirsty. “I guess it was all just a bad dream,” I said out loud as I went straight to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I filled up a glass of water and drank it as fast as I could, And as soon as I did, The amount of thirst that I felt quadrupled instantly. I was not sure what was happening, but now I started feeling dizzy. I dropped the glass I had in my hand, which shattered into a million microscopic pieces looking like stardust all over my kitchen floor. I immediately picked up a big jug of water kept on my kitchen slab and drank straight out of it. I did not know what took over me at that moment, as I overturned the entire jug right onto my face. I felt as if all of the air in my body was being sucked out. The feeling of dizziness I was experiencing increased, slowly taking over my whole body, forcing me to lose my balance and making my vision blurry.

I woke up on the floor of my kitchen, with pain running through my entire body. I wasn’t sure about the amount of time that had passed by, but it was now the next morning. I got off the floor and went straight to the bathroom to wash my face. As the cold water from the sink taps hit my face, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I wiped the water off my face, feeling relaxed and awake at the same time, and as soon as my gaze fell upon the bathroom mirror, I was left utterly confused. In the mirror, all I saw was myself, but something was different. My hair looked longer, and drier. It was as if I had not washed them for years. I ran my hand through my now long luscious hair, and I felt something thick and moist covering my entire hand. I immediately pulled my hand out of my hair and saw that it was covered in some slimy green substance. Upon careful inspection, I realized what it was. My entire head, hair, and now hand, were all covered in algae. “Where did this come from?” I said out loud, feeling disgusted. I immediately turned the shower on and jumped right in to wash all the algae out of my hair.

I didn't know what was happening to me. First I found myself sleeping on the kitchen floor, and now I found algae all over my hair because of which I was standing in the shower, fully clothed, constantly pouring shampoo in my hair and washing. Even after washing my hair out so many times, the algae didn't seem to wash out. It was still covering my entire head and all of my hair. I got out of the shower, all my clothes soaked entirely, algae still in my hair. This is when I felt a sharp pain fill my abdomen. I lifted my wet shirt to see something moving inside my torso. All I saw were a few snake-like structures moving below my skin, forming an unusual bulge in my torso. All I felt at that moment was immense pain fll straight to the floor, squirming in pain all over the snake-like structures moved upwards, and the bulges in my abdomen formed by them became bigger and bigger as every second passed. Suddenly, everything stopped. The bulges disappeared, and all the pain stopped. As I looked at my torso, wondering what was happening, something like a thick needle appeared from under my skin and slowly started poking outwards. I screamed and squirmed on the floor, begging for it all to stop. The needle-like structures poked through my skin, and blood started flowing out of the several holes I had in my skin. Slowly, the needle started poking out of my abdomen, and I lay there on the floor, absolutely still, crying in pain. The needle-like structures now emerged from my body, and they got thicker and thicker as they slowly moved out of my body. They were like long snakes, just ones that were most probably connected to my body from the inside. As these structures came out of my abdomen, and I cried and begged for the pain to stop, these snake-like structures started wrapping around my body. I looked at them, and as they kept on extending and wrapping around my body, I noticed that they looked like thick roots from a very old tree. Apart from the pain in my torso, I felt a sharp pain run down my entire body, ending up at my fingers and toes. I glanced at my hands and my feet, and what I saw completely shook me to my core. I saw that branches started to emerge from under my fingernails and toenails, spewing blood in all directions.

I lay there on the ground, in the pool of my own blood, not aware of anything that was happening to me at that moment, my eyes closed shut, just hoping for all of this to end. All of a sudden, I felt the urge to get up and leave the house, which I did, but in the worst way possible. I got up, and as I did, it felt as if I was not in control of my body anymore. It felt as if my bones became twice as heavy, and as I slowly moved towards the door of my house, I could hear snapping sounds coming from different joints in my body. I slowly moved out of my house, leaving a large trail of blood behind me. As I got out of the house, I could see the same old tree, almost dead, with all leaves fallen off, glowing. I moved up to that tree, now my entire arms and legs looking like tree branches, snapping as I moved towards the glowing tree. My vision was getting blurry, and all I could think of was how much I wanted to embrace that glowing tree. I reached the old tree, and as soon as I did, that tree began breaking down into an Ash like substance, and as it disappeared, it left a large open hole in the earth in its place. Just as this happened, the root-like structures coming out of my abdomen started extending at a faster rate, and at this point, I could not feel a single thing. My vision was extremely blurry, and I couldn't tell what was going on. Suddenly, I could feel the root-like coming out of my abdomen, and it felt as if I had full control of my entire body.

At that moment, what felt right was to extend the roots down the hole in the earth, which I did, only to find myself taking the place of that old tree. As this happened, I understood everything. This was very necessary to happen. The old tree was dying, and all it needed was for another one to take its place, and Lucky for me, I was chosen for this noble task. I now stand there, providing, as all trees do, and when the time comes, I must choose the next person worthy of being a tree, and who knows, it might end up being you!