Bloom {Amaryllis/Dafa}

The woods was something that I found solace in. I didn’t know what about it made me feel like I was home, but I held my knife close to me as I started to carve the hunk of wood that I found. Most of the time, the pieces of wood around seven were rotted, but when I was able to find a couple that weren’t, I took the opportunity to make something beautiful out of them. However, there were times where I didn’t know what to make exactly, so I listened to the wood to tell me what I needed to make. This piece was telling me that it wanted to be a wooden train car, so that’s what I started with. Of course, it was hard to get it right off the top of my head, so I would attempt to make something close to it and then take it home and work on it more closely. The goal was to make something that one of the children could find happiness in. That was a hard thing to do here in Panem, but if you let your mind wonder like I did, then it wasn’t too bad. You just had to believe that anything was possible. That is what I told myself at the least. It was easier that way.

I was craving away, feeling the knife groove the wood in a way that made me feel at peace. It had been a while since I took a chance to carve a piece like this, but right now, I felt at peace with myself. I wasn’t in an emotional state like most days. My mother wasn’t on my mind for once, and that is what eased me into the wood carving that I enjoyed so much. I wasn’t thinking about how much I missed her. I thought about how I was going to make some little kids day with a new toy that I was making for him. That was all I thought about after all. Making people happy with what I was doing. I might have been miserable, but that didn’t mean that I had to watch other people be miserable. I could watch their faces change into excited, joyful even. That was what I wanted anyway. For everyone to be happy.

And when a girl approached me and asked me what I was doing, I had half a mind to grab the knife and hold it to her throat, however, I knew better than that. I didn’t want to scare the girl, who seemed like she didn’t want to startle me. “Jeez, don’t come out of no where like that.” I said to her, putting down the knife so I didn’t stick it somewhere it shouldn’t have gone. I looked at her again, thinking about where she could have come from. I looked around for a moment to see if there was anyone else around, and when I noticed that she was the only person here, I let my guard down for a second. “Sorry, Im not used to people sneaking up on me like this.” I told her with a small smile before putting the piece of wood in question down. “Just carving out a rough outline for a wooden train car.” I said, noticing that I still had a bit more to go before I could call it finished. “Why are you out here in the forest by yourself?” I asked her honestly. At least I had a knife to protect me, but this girl seemed like she came here without anything, and that was a little alarming. Maybe she trusted mother earth more than anyone I had ever met here in Seven.

Or maybe she had a death wish.

I didn’t know.