The Creature In The Tree

A creature made of gears fell from
the top of a ridge and impaled itself
on a small tree. Its jaws opened and
closed with loud metal groans while
the twigs and branches worked their
way between the teeth of its inner
mechanisms. Eventually it could no longer
move and it’s only functioning systems
were the cognition ones in its head.
They were controlled by bits of rock
from the sky that made green sparks
when you held them close together.

Couples strolling through the park
looking for comfortable places to
picnic would come across it, and
take pictures with it, or poke it
nervously with their custom made
walking sticks. The shade was nice
under that tree, and the couples would
notice usually opting to have their lunches
beneath the metal beast.

Rain rusted the broken body until it
became the same color as the bark of
the tree, and eventually the rocks in its
head gained more control over the root
system than the soil. It’s initial reaction
was rage, and using toxic pheromones it killed
most every other plant it was in range of.
The grass dried up into brown dust,
the weeds shriveled into dried husks, and
the people stopped coming to that side of the
park.

Decades later a storm arrived from the West,
and it was the kind that drank up sheep and
spit them out. The creature had killed all the other
trees by then and was left there just writhing in
in its madness. It’s roots had spread back up the
side of the ridge from where it fell,
and because of that it was the tallest thing around.
It’s also possible that those rocks in its head knew what
lightning was, and did everything they could to get its
attention. Temporary blue veins formed in the flesh of
the dark clouds above the last tree in the park, and the
creature made of gears waited desperately for anything
to happen.