第六话

they’d cry because of that, but he couldn’t stop seeing it in his head every day, even when he tried to forget it as much as possible. The way their faces crumpled, and the way his mother hugged them both, as if she could shield them from the sadness she knew was coming.

‘

Oh, well, at least my life doesn’t seem as lonely as theirs,' he thought. 'At least they have each other.'

He sliced his sandwich into thick wedges, grabbed his crutches from the counter and left the house. His walk to the field wasn’t very long

After several minutes, he was already in position beneath his favorite tree. The sun was barely above the horizon, casting soft light on the grass below, but it didn’t feel warm. As soon as he was underneath the branches, his skin began to turn pink. It wasn’t unpleasant -

just strange. He wished he could take off his shoes - he could always find solace under these trees whenever he needed it, after all - but they were his crutches. He held onto them tightly as if they could protect him. The crutches weren’t strong enough, though. Sometimes when he moved quickly

through the field, wind carried his crutch away from him. He picked up speed every time. In moments, his legs had carried him far beyond his reach.

Once he reached a tree, he dropped his crutches. The tree was huge and beautiful. It was taller than him.

Its roots stretched over a large part of the ground and wrapped around the trunk. It was surrounded by thick moss and vines. A small patch of white flowers blossomed near its base. He lay down on the grass and stared up at the sky. He’d been here many times before, and he knew exactly where everything was. It always amazed him how much he could remember. He could remember the exact shade of blue of the sky, the exact shape of the leaves, the exact size of the clouds. He could remember the exact color of the grass, the exact texture of the bark, the exact smell of the air.

Most importantly, he could remember how the sky felt against his face and how the wind felt through his hair.

The grass felt good between his fingers as he ran them through it. Soon enough, all of his worries were gone. The world seemed calm, almost peaceful, and he felt safe as he laid on his back under the tree.

That is, until something bumped his leg. It happened three more times before he figured out what it was. “Hey!” he said loudly. That startled the animal away, which immediately left a nasty scrape along the back of his right leg. He winced at the pain. “Why did you do that?!”

” He rubbed the spot with his hand, but it didn’t help all that much. He had lost all feeling in his leg by then, and his foot hurt like crazy. He decided to wait for the pain to fade before he tried to stand up. His mother would kill him if he fell out of the tree.