Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Posted in Spring on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 246 stories

“SPEAKING TREE” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #90

Trees fulfil wants of men and other creatures with bark, branches, buds, flowers. foliage, greens, leaves, nuts, oils, roots, seeds, shadow, sweet smelling sap, timber, tender roots, toddy, twigs, wood and unripe fruit. A tree branch is the first choice of a human wanting to commit suicide by hanging in a public place or shelter for a brigand to escape from wild beasts. They also bring misery into human lives by falling on people taking shelter under them. Historians count the rings within barks to date the age of trees. One product of the t...

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“Ever After” by Eden Arbon

Submitted to Contest #90

July 15th, 1821 Oh how the sun was shining! Everything its light touched was illuminated in a cast of gold and silver. The blue sky stretched endlessly over the scattered cottages which made up the quaint little town of Newbay. Newbay was a small little town nestled in the middle of a large thick forest. Almost everyone in the town knew each other, and everyone lived harmoniously and happily. Each working to better himself, and help his neighbors. “C’mon Sarah!” Austin Harrington, a handsome young man yelled as his eyes sparkled with joy...

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“The Big Tree” by Don Hill

Submitted to Contest #90

I remember the first time I saw The Big Tree as its commonly known by Texans who pay attention. I was a scrawny pre-teen back at the beginning of the 1980s and my family went to Corpus Christi on vacation. Dad let me be his co-pilot as I was getting really good at reading maps. I asked him to take us on a slight detour so we could witness what is believed to be the state’s oldest and perhaps largest Live Oak tree. Estimated to be around 1,000 years old, more than 45 feet tall, a crown spread of about 90 feet, and 35 feet in circumferen...

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“The Special Years” by Steve Kendall

Submitted to Contest #90

John was sitting in his father’s chair in his father’s study. The house had a damp, unlived-in feel about it. His mother had died a couple of years earlier and his father, Bradley, had lived alone there since her death. John imagined he could smell roast dinner being cooked by his mother in the kitchen and hear his father shouting at a political broadcast on the television. As he surveyed the room he spotted a ball of screwed-up paper lying on the floor where his father had attempte...

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“Bea Aglacya” by Chris Wagner

Submitted to Contest #90

I lay in a hospital bed with a mattress the texture of a bunch of flowers, framed with something like rubbery vines, boa constrictor thick, with metal facets. It seemed like someone had grown it in a lab somewhere, stabilizing it with machine parts. Pictures and other decorations hung from walls resembling pollen under a microscope. Homelike, to an alien. A guinea pig-like nose and mouth wiggled on the nurse's hairless humanoid face. Her mouse ears twitched. "How are you feeling?" I stared into the Abreya's goat ...

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“Family Trees” by Gracie C. McKeever

Submitted to Contest #90

Sylas watched the new family move in, limbs and trunk vibrating in anticipation of what these different people would bring. He felt his sibling’s responsive excitement in his roots. The movers unloaded the large truck and carried boxes and furniture into the house, working for an hour before the family arrived in another vehicle. Two parents and two children! If Sylas could have clapped and cheered, he would have. Sylas loved children. He loved the way the sound of their laughter, the way they ran and played, the way they soaked up...

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“In the Shade of a Moment” by Steffy Greene

Submitted to Contest #90

"It's so hard to be here. I love my Mom, but it's not where I thought I would be spending my time with her. At least here, I share with those around me the pain of loss, the pain of knowing that this is the only place left that I can be with this person that I love so much." I look around, and to my left is the old man I see here every day when I come. He just sits there. He doesn't move, but I see him talking quietly, as though there is someone with him. Once when he was not here, I went over and looked to see who he talks to. 62 years. T...

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“Barely Standing” by Sarah Martyn

Submitted to Contest #90

April 2021 A gray, somber sky is somehow more beautiful with its counterpart, this antiquated bristle cone pine tree, towering beneath my vision. I sit beneath it as a fairly antiquated person myself... I try to come here daily, but busyness and the world's paranoia inhibit me from coming more than weekly some weeks. Leaving your own home upsets people, but what's ironic is this place is home...outside, under this tree. Still, the relief I feel seeing this tree after all these years gives me a reason to go out of my way for it. When I w...

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“Red leaves” by Mariana Del Rosal

Submitted to Contest #90

First, there was the seed. Nobody was there to witness the wind carrying it around thanks to its little wing. Or perhaps it got tangled on the feathers of a bird. Neither the animal nor the seed can tell us where or when it all began. In any case, the seed fell to the ground. And it was dark, rich, fertile soil. Soon, the little seed was buried deep enough, yet not too deep. Rains were kind that season. The sun warmed up the land. And, among herbs and wildflowers, a little sprout emerged from the ground the following spring. “I think this pl...

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“The old Sycamore Tree” by Madison Moore

Submitted to Contest #90

Chapter 1 The beginning of the end She had made a poor job of hiding the damage. What would father say? He had planted the sycamore about 3 months ago. It was only up to her hip. It was still a sapling. It would take about 3 more months to get to this height again. Why had she been so careless? She had been running around with the old family dog and ran straight into the sapling trampling it over. What was she to do? If father was to find out she was surely going to get punished. Since there is n...

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“Sanctuary Tree” by Kenneth Diao

Submitted to Contest #90

It was a hot day. The sun beat down, frying my scalp and burning my skin. Sweat stung my eyes. My tongue was dry as dust. I despaired. I can’t keep going, I thought. I felt the despair tangle with the irritation and resentment building in my gut. Why did it have to be so hot? Why today? Why now? I just wanted to curl up and die. No, that wouldn’t do. But what else was there to do? Keep wandering until I died? That’d be real fun. Go back? No. There was no going back. Keep wandering it is, I thought. I shuffled forward. One step. Then another....

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“The Argument” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #90

It began as most disagreements do. A misunderstanding of ones intentions, a word taking on a meaning not associated with an action, stupidity. We all are capable of mistakes that find their way into a realm of interpretation. A time, a place, a venue that cajoles the worst from us. Later we stop and consider how it happened, why, but move on only after reassuring ourselves it will never happen again. And then it does. Sometimes the impetus is too little or too much of a boost to ones ego to be of significance, someti...

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“Churuli” by Lakshmy Das

Submitted to Contest #90

“Time is relative,” remarked Churuli. She isn't a physicist. In fact, Churuli has never been to school. She hasn’t heard of Einstein. Come to think of it, not even about the Mahatma. Her theory of time came from the tree. She used to say that it spoke to her when they were alone. She lived near the Banyan tree for years, making it her home while protecting it with her subtle presence. Both the tree and the woman stood as the centre of our small community. The banyan was old and like the earth upon which it thrived; it was home to many. From ...

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“Ragged bark” by Maryam Qureshi

Submitted to Contest #90

My ragged bark streaked with tears, with ashes, and with paint.Long ago, the paint came first.It happened when the woman came to paint me. Not to paint on me, but to make a portrait of me. Or at least, I think that's what she was doing. The blonde sat opposite me, looking up every half a minute, earnestly scrutinising me, focusing on every detail. It made me feel a bit shy, but I quite liked it.She frequently came to the forest to paint. Sometimes it was the sunset, or the sunrise, or the night sky, or an animal, or the little creek with cry...

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“Children of the Dogwood” by E.C. Nickelson

Submitted to Contest #90

Around her, arrows flew, long black hair waved behind the men, war cries whooped, and redmen fell. The girl's last words were silenced by the yell of her fellow tribesmen at war. "Daddy..." His kind smile, dark brown eyes, coal-black hair, and tan buckskins floated before her caramel eyes. "Daddy." She sighed, breathing his last, cradled by the soft grass under the bows of the pink dogwood tree. She could see him in the distance. She ran to him, her chest no longer hurting or covered in blood. She could see clear rivers with no ...

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Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 246 stories

“SPEAKING TREE” by Sivaram Govindaraj

“Ever After” by Eden Arbon

“The Big Tree” by Don Hill

“The Special Years” by Steve Kendall

“Bea Aglacya” by Chris Wagner

“Family Trees” by Gracie C. McKeever

“In the Shade of a Moment” by Steffy Greene

“Barely Standing” by Sarah Martyn

“Red leaves” by Mariana Del Rosal

“The old Sycamore Tree” by Madison Moore

“Sanctuary Tree” by Kenneth Diao

“The Argument” by Joe Swanson

“Churuli” by Lakshmy Das

“Ragged bark” by Maryam Qureshi

“Children of the Dogwood” by E.C. Nickelson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Contest #90

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: