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The Leaves (6) : With the changing seasons, there are piles of leaves all around Destiny City. It’s a difficult job to try and keep up with them all, and sometimes the allure of these leaf piles is impossible to ignore. Who doesn’t want to relive the childish joys of their youth? And no one’s around to see, right? So why not jump into a pile of leaves? Oh–because, when you do, you jump through one pile and come out of another somewhere else across the city. The leaves all seem ordinary, but there’s a few odd seconds between when you jump into the leaves and when you jump out; it feels like falling, tumbling, somersaulting through the air. It’s not scary, just odd. You see walls of leaves–brown and orange and yellow and red–and they crunch magnificently. Overall, it doesn’t seem menacing, just a bit of trickster fun. If you try to jump in a pile of leaves again, you might wind up somewhere else entirely–or right back where you started.
It was that time of the year the temperature dropped and the leaves changed color. Sweaters became in fashion again, and stores around the city were selling pumpkin and apple and cinnamon spiced things. Large gourds filled markets, their perfectly smooth surfaces just waiting for someone to impress their artistic talents onto them. And orange and red and yellow leaves began to pile up in parks and along sidewalks.
Alex was making his way to a class, his satchel filled with books bouncing along to his steps. He loved autumn, and it was probably his favorite season next to winter. Spring brought along too much rain and pollen, and summer heat made his skin itch. Halloween was a big thing at his house too. Autumn was also the season his birthday landed in, so maybe he was a little bias.
He was looking down at his boots and thinking about ways to celebrate when the leaves on the sidewalk began to clear. Looking up he could see them neatly raked into piles in the grassy space beside him. Oh how tempting it was to run through each pile and destroy their perfection. He glanced around to see if anyone else was paying attention. Maybe if he just jumped into one pile of leaves, no one would see.
He readied to jump into the nearest pile, taking a running leap and ready to hear the crunch underneath his boots. But instead he fell all the way through, vision going dark as leaves obscured his sight and blocked out the sun. His heart felt like it had jumped into his throat from the brief panic of oh s**t, I’m falling! However before he could truly go into a mental spiral, he landed on his butt on soft grass. His sight returned and he… ended up in another part of town. What? Wasn’t he just on campus?
Alex took in his surroundings, trying to place where he had landed. Well, he was surrounded by leaves, bits of debris falling out of his hair. That looked like a grocery store and oh! There’s the makeup place and… he was definitely nowhere NEAR campus. And people were definitely looking at him funny now.
His face turned bright red as he turned to leave the scene of the crime, remnants of leaves leaving a trail in his wake (rest in peace, perfect pile of leaves).
After Alex found a place he could calm down, he began to think clearly. He must’ve stepped into some sort of portal or trap that brought him to the other side of town (ugh). But it didn’t seem especially dangerous or targeted at him. He wondered if he stepped back into the same pile he appeared in, he could make it back to campus before class started.
Taking a deep breath and strengthening his resolve, Alex turned back around and marched right back where he came from. The feeling of falling wasn’t as utterly terrifying as it was the first time, and soon he was back to where he started. Thank goodness!
He tidied his hair, brushing any evidence of his adventure out of the green strands and dusting off his coat. With a face that seemed more unbothered than he felt, he quickened his pace towards his original destination.
