Oregon Woods, 2021
“Evacuate NOW! ” the announcer screams. The fires are almost at our doorstep. Mom and Dad run through the house, grabbing treasures we can take in the car. I run to the woods. I can’t just leave without saying good-bye.
The forest is still green and moist, even though the sky is a nightmarish crimson. I throw myself down on a soft bed of moss, burying my head in its welcoming cushion. “I am so sorry,” I sob. I reach blindly toward the banks of ferns still dancing in the slight breeze as if they had decades to live, instead of minutes. I can’t bear the thought of the flames, the charred remains of my sanctuary. Every thought is a lethal blow. I force my mind to go blank, allowing only fragrance, touch, sound, sight. I focus on green, moving into ferns, moss, fallen logs, the comforting forest floor. Everything smells earthy, fresh, eternal. But there is no eternal, is there? Stop! Don’t think!
I run my fingers through the moss. It feels so gentle, so forgiving. Does it know what is coming? Enough! Turn off that thought! The little creek – surely it will be safe. Water can’t burn. But it can boil, it can evaporate. Stop, stop, stop!!! Everywhere I turn is a horrible image, an unbearable question. I stumble toward the creek, its joyous rhythm containing undertones of a child singing. I can’t just let all this disappear. Perhaps the Fire God would take a sixteen-year-old girl and leave this paradise untouched. I’d gladly give my life that this blameless forest might live.
“Take me! Take me!” I shout, as Dad crashes through the underbrush, a cloth over his mouth. I see flames licking the ground behind him. I close my eyes and prepare to die. Dad lifts me in his arms, as I were still a little girl, and tenderly carries me to the car where Mom sits staring blankly at nothing, her eyes empty and dead. He carefully coasts past the ankle-high flames, then starts the engine. Everything that ever mattered disappears in the rear-view mirror.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThe “world on fire” comes home. A poignant story of terrifying loss. Personification adds to the feel of the story.The creek’s “undertones of a child singing” is an especially touching line.
I’m very grateful to have been chosen as a finalist. This was a painful story to write, but I hope to keep people aware of the true costs of climate change, especially for the younger folks.
Julie, this definitely lands a punch and at the same time is so poignant. Loved the descriptions that took me to woodland and made the imagery of what was about to befall it, even more powerful. Your protagonist is clearly attuned to nature and as a result, the reader is drawn even further into the horror unfolding.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you so much for your thoughtful comment, Paul. My story drew from my own love affairs with woods, as a child in Alaska and as an adult in North Carolina. The woods in those two places were very different in character, but similar in the comfort and nurturing they gave me. They were indeed sanctuaries, as my young teen-age protagonist in Oregon experienced. I lost both those special places, first by… Read more »
Very powerful, Julie.
Thank you, Susan. Your writings are inspiring me – they are so close to home and sensitive. Every day I read headlines about thousands of acres and hundreds of homes being burned to the ground in the Pacific Northwest. But these factual, impersonal statistics are easy to shut out when daily life crowds in. I think we need to move into that blazing world and experience it with a young girl who… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleVery powerful imagery Julie. You transported me into that moment with your words. Especially relevant today, with the raging bushfires that destroy our beautiful forests.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Zinna. One of my best friends lives in Oregon, close to the California border. She has spent the last few summers trying to escape the heat and smoke and fires so that her husband, who has health issues, can breathe. She calls herself a “climate refugee”. These stories of ours are fiction, but at the same time they are already today’s realities. Your ocean story, with… Read more »
The image of people having to drive away from ‘everything that ever mattered’ is a very powerful one. Right some good story as they would say in my neck of the (still moist) woods.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you, Alan. It means a lot to me to get your positive feedback, since you are a retired scientist and a spokesman for climate change reforms. I felt the emotions in this story very strongly, since I’ve lost two very beloved woodland retreats in my life. A sixteen year old who has experienced this degree of loss will either shut off completely, as her mother seems to have done, or perhaps… Read more »
I love the forest. I feel inner peace and freedom when I’m in the forest, and I appreciate the forest even more because of how you described it, Julie. On the other hand, you increased my English vocabulary, Julie, because it is my first time to encounter the word, nightmarish. Good job for the powerful imagery you draw in my mind.
As alway, Lotchie, your comments touch me deeply. I know that you love the forest. It shows in your writings. I’m glad I introduced a new word to you!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleYes, thank you again for that one, Julie.
Your story makes me feel emotional and slightly sad.
Thank you, Dipayan. I think it’s important to feel emotional and sad about our losses. The treasures we inherited are worth grieving … and fighting to save.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleYou’re welcome.
How we forget that plants and trees are alive too! I felt the young girl’s heartbreak and the sadness of her goodbye to something beautiful, familiar and so precious…
So lovely that you said that, Greene. Yes, the plants and trees are alive, and very possibly more intelligent than humans. This story was hard for me to write, because it is true, probably every day, somewhere in the world. It’s hard to even think about. But we must. ?
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleA very powerful and emotional story, Julie, especially as your protagonist is a young girl who really loves and cares for nature. The fact that she offers herself as a sacrifice in order to let her beloved nature live, makes her a hero of old, classical proportions.
My protagonist is a bit like yours, Christer. Greta also is willing to give up everything for our fragile planet. That kind of passionate commitment is what it’s going to take to turn things around. Thanks so much for reading. ?
Julie, this was very captivating. It felt like I was right there with your protagonist, watching everything unfold. Your love for nature is evident in your stories. This was beautifully written.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you so much, Marianna. Yes, I feel the same way the young girl in my story felt. The woods are incomparable, irreplaceable, and a vital part of each of us. Thanks for reading! ?