Senna
I think the forest knows when something is going to go wrong. The birds stop talking first. Then the wind dies down, and everything gets very, very still.
I was just looking for meadowsweet. It is a nice plant with little white flowers that smells like honey and helps when people have a fever. I go to the river every week to get it because I like the way the water sounds. It was a normal day. It was a quiet day. I didn't think I would find a dying man tucked between the roots of an old oak tree.
I heard him before I saw him. It wasn’t a scream. It was a heavy, wet sound. It sounded like someone trying very hard to breathe when their lungs didn’t want to work anymore.
"Hello?" I called out. My voice felt small against the trees. "Is someone there?"
No one answered. I walked close
