thejunipertree

Standing outside of the chemotherapy office this afternoon, with my coat billowing around my ankles and a cigarette caught between the first two fingers of my left hand. Cold and clear, the air on my face and it was just overcast enough that I didn't need to cover my eyes with sunglasses.

There are so many trees in that area, around the office, that it makes my head spin. This isn't the country, which makes it stranger. Acorns litter the ground and you have to watch your step with so many lying about.

I craned my head back to peer at the silhouette of bare branches against a grey-white autumn sky. Almost all the leaves are gone. Well, gone from the trees. They're still here, only now they lay on the ground, almost a foot deep.

Watching the sky and smelling the air. November air. I'd forgotten how it smelled. How it felt to fill my lungs with it. They don't have air like this in Goblin Town.

And that's when I saw the last leaf.

Way back above the tiny building was a smattering of spiderweb like branches. And on the tip of this group was a single leaf, clinging for dear life. One leaf.

I smiled and drew my coat closer around my body.