The trees seemed to sway in the light breeze, leaves holding on for dear life to the dancing branches and twigs. As one small leaf flittered to the ground, something so tiny it was unnoticeable caught the attention of two children playing on an old rusted swing set that creaked and moaned with every push.
“Ack,” cried the small something. The children, known as Juliet and Marcus, looked up from their playing and watched the leafling land on the grassy ground.
“Did you hear that?” Juliet asked.
“Hear what?” Marcus groaned. She had a way bigger imagination than he did and tended to hear things when there was nothing to hear. But of course when he said something, she never seemed to hear him. Or even try to for that matter.
“That. There it is again,” she said her small ears piping up at the imaginary sound.
“There’s nothing there. Now do you want me to keep pushing you or not?” He had always wondered why his parents had to have another child. Couldn’t they just be happy with one? Wasn’t he good enough?
These thoughts seemed to plague his brain. Because of his parents, he was stuck with a little sister who liked to hear things no one else could. If they were going to have another kid, they should have at least made it a boy.
Juliet got off of the swing and walked slowly over to the fallen leaf. She knelt down and looked closely at it, picking it up and rolling the stem between her pointer finger and thumb.
“Something is definitely there Marcus,” she said, her green eyes widening.
“What is it? A bug?” he sneered half-heartedly.
“Maybe. But it says it needs help and that I should stop twisting the leaf this way and that…. Oh.” Juliet stopped the rolling motion of her fingers.
Out of curiosity, he walked over to her and knelt down beside her.
Her fingers were shaking, so he handed her gloves that she had earlier made him stuff in his jacket pocket. She waved them away and he grunted in protest before putting them back in his pocket.
“See right there?” she said pointing to a small vein of the leaf. He did see. Right before his eyes was a Terjjin, something not yet discovered by scientists and something that probably never would be. The bottom half of its boney, hairless, blue body was stuck in the leaf vein and the top of its body was lying down on the leaf. He had no idea how he could see that, but he did. And he could see that it was very weak. It lifted its arm up holding it for a moment before dropping it on its chest.
“He says goodbye,” Juliet said softly.
Marcus looked at the Terjjin. It stared back at him with eyes too big for its face. Eyes, that after a second of looking around, closed slowly never to open again.
Juliet started to softly cry and Marcus wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She dropped the leaf and it fluttered to the ground as if something had not just died. Well it couldn’t have known anyway. It was just a leaf. Just like the sound Juliet heard was just a part of her imagination. So maybe it wasn’t just a leaf.
Marcus stood up, lifting Juliet by her hand. And together they walked inside their country house where their oblivious parents waited holding plates filled with breakfast.