Grounded. Trapped within the four, bleak white walls of my room. I sat on my bed. My teeth clenched, hands morphed into spheres, and thoughts zooming through my mind. It was difficult to think clearly, for the pattering of the rain on my windows distracted me. One thought, however, breached that distraction.
I rose off of my bed, using the minimal amount of energy I had within me to glide over to my window. The outside world was in a haze. The wind blew the faint green outline of the leaves in a scattered motion, and the water descending from the sky was being thrown in all directions. I unlatched the window, and flung it open. A gust of wind impregnated my room with crisp, rich air. A slight chill bit at my exposed skin, but a surge of power blasted through my body. The thin fibers of my hair had become like the leaves, and my eyelids began to twitch as water droplets collided with my eyes. I stood on my desk chair and stretched my arm out of the window. The gloomy air continued to bite at my arm, but that feeling was overpowered by a strange sense of power growing within my arm. I curled my fingers around a thick wet branch of the tree outside of my room. I sensed a new feeling in my arm….liberation. My other arm extended outside of the window and soon enough, I leaped off of the chair and hung on the tree. I swung back and forth as the wind attempted to carry me away. But I refused to conform to its demands, and carry myself where I wanted to go. I gained enough momentum and threw myself off of the tree until my feet hit the ground. I was blasted with another surge of power, but even more so, liberation. I rotated my body towards my house and stared at the open window. The window into the world of society.
I turned again and faced the woods behind my house, the woods that continued on into the endless world of nature. My legs immediately began to move at a rapid pace, and so, I was off.
I crossed the bridge above the overflowing stream and entered the world of the woods. The rain made a pattering sound on the leaves all around me, yet this sound was not a distracting one…but a calming one. I released all feeling in my legs and crumpled to the ground. I sat, complacent, listening to the sounds of the woods. The pattering rain, the flowing water of the stream that continued to rise, the silence of the birds, the scurrying of animals looking for a dry haven, and the howling wind smacking the leaves together.
My hair began to soak in more rain, and soon enough, it was sliding down the pale, slightly blue skin wrapped around my face. Tears blended in with the rain, and the power flowing through my body brought me to my feet.
My legs took off again, and I began to run through the woods. I was upset to not hear the crinkling of dry leaves, and instead, all I heard was the mushing. I used my arms to smack small branches in my way, except at rare occasions when my attention was centered on something else; I was hit in the face. I suffered a minor wound, but I was well aware that rain was not red.
I continued to run, regardless of my injury. The rain struck my face with more power, and wind tried even harder to make me do what was expected of me.
“You’re not stronger than me!” I shouted to the sky. Nature could never be stronger than me.
The wind picked up, and more power raced through me. I was free, liberated. Open to explore the world as I wanted. I had all of the power man could hold. All he ever had to do was go outside. A loud crack of thunder rung in my ears, and sent me running even faster. The howling winds called my name, and the rain intensified. Another crack of thunder echoed in my ears, and my breathing picked up. I ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran until one final crack of thunder right above me forced me to crumble to the ground once more.
It took me a moment to realize what just happened and that I had a few more cuts along with dirt in my mouth. I faintly remembered a day in my childhood where I had fallen in the mud, and the taste had made me sick. But this mud tasted rich and almost….creamy. I swallowed with pleasure, and I reopened my mouth and took in another serving. I chewed for a bit, and then gently swallowed the newly discovered delicacy residing right behind my home.
My body was engulfed in warmth along with power. Power bled from my wounds. Power escaped through my sighs of pleasure from being in nature. Power seeped out of my eyes, hidden within my tears.
Most importantly, I was free. Nothing was holding me back, besides the very thin layer of dirt mixed with water on my back. I stood up, shaking off all conformities, and ran once more until I came to an even larger stream. The liquid diamonds falling from the sky were lost in the murky brown waters of the stream. A thick branch was hanging above the stream, and in order to cross, my only option was to swing on the branch.
My fingers curled around the mossy and slippery branch, and for a moment, I reconsidered what I was doing. But I was in the hands of nature. In the hands of freedom and liberation. In the hands of power and life and free-will. My grip tightened and I lifted myself by my arms. My feet no longer touched the ground and I was up in the cool, crisp air. It nibbled on my skin a bit more, but not for too long, because I heard a crack. Yet, this crack did not come from the thunder I had previously heard. No, it came from the branch. I quickly tried to swing to the other side, but the branch disconnected itself from the tree, and my entire body was swallowed by the stream. The rapid waters held me down, even though I tried as hard as man can try to fight nature, and I never succeeded. The water’s hands kept my head down in the water long enough for my lungs to lose the thick, precious air they once held, and instead fill up with murky water. I could faintly hear another crack of thunder and the howling winds, laughing at me. And before I knew it, my heart had stopped pumping blood through my body. The power I once held seeped out of my skin and left me, dead.

Even though that was the day I passed, I died free….liberated. Nature had freed me.