Shorts breaths- I am suffocated. Piles of work mock me, as does my family, and I am surrounded with the presence of America’s downfall, the poison of his toxic spray tan oozing into the youth with every baseball cap. The anger and frustration radiates from my skin while artificial happiness takes hold on my face. Nonsense and noise plague me as I walk away from it all.
   

The industrial hum of the world fades as I crunch through leaves and settle into the earth. Around me red, orange, and yellow trees weep what is left of their lives onto the ground, ready to join their brothers in slumber. Ironically, they attempt to keep up with their family, while I try to run away from my own. My environment is all real, raw, natural, a sharp contrast to the mechanical commotion of humans. I lie still, soaking up the fire from the remnants of summer, but inhaling the crisp, cold scent of winter. Quiet. The light breeze blankets me from the heat of the sun. The faint sound of the calm tide controls my unsteady breaths. Push, pull. In, out. I close my eyes, ready to fall asleep to the rhythm of the lake. I have escaped.
 

My breath hitches. I am wide awake.
 

The serenity turns into a buzz of life. I am not alone. My goal to escape life has failed, but for the better. The commotion and chaos of birds and squirrels does not overwhelm me the way my fellow humans do. The snapping of twigs from wild deer in the woods does not scare me, but intrigues me. The sounds of animal life in my ears calm me and draw me in, while the sounds of my own species have pushed me away. I observe as the family of deer travel to a different neck of the woods, while the birds flock away into oblivion, and the squirrels share their piles of acorns.
 

I suppose you are never truly alone, no matter how hard you try to be. I am reminded from my haven that the bonds of friendship and family are universal among species. If ants and birds can work as one, so can I, so can all humans. We should not be so split up, as we are one species. We should put aside our differences and work together towards a single, better, extraordinary future. I should not take my family for granted. I should try and work with my family rather than against them. Alone, I cannot achieve much. But together I am sure we could all fly high above the treetops.
   

I  am calm, the sudden warmth of my family, the rush to join with my species envelops my soul. My breath slows. I sit. I feel the life of the earth below me, working together, working towards reaching new heights. A hum brightens around me. I feel the ground shift as the earth breathes. In, out. I let out a sigh and inhale, ready for my return to the systematic chaos we call life.