FLASH FICTION CONTEST #3

Maple was a people watcher. She just loved seeing everyone come by. It was rare though. She lived just outside the forest, where not a lot of people went. It was kind of lonely, but she liked it. It was peaceful. Maple loved that. Every day animals would come by. She would say hi. She imagined them saying

hi back. Sometimes the people would come by, and she would say hello. They would never say hi back, though. They would never hear her. Sometimes she would get sad, because she would have no one to talk to. But then a nice squirrel would come by or something like that, and she would forget all about her thoughts.

One day, a young boy came along. Maple called out hello. The boy looked around, shrugged, and started walking again. Could he have actually heard me? “Hello,” she said again. The boy kept walking. “Can you hear me?” she practically screamed. Then the boy stopped. “Okay Joey,” he said. “If this is another one of your pranks…” “I don't know who Joey is,” Maple said, “But if you can hear me, sit by that tree over there. “This had better not be you, Joey,” the boy muttered. And that's how Chris and Maple became friends.


The boy, whose name was Chris, apparently moved to a house on the other side of the forest a couple weeks ago. He liked to take walks through nature. In fact, that's how he met Maple. “Do you have any grandchildren?” He asked her. “No, I don't think so.” she said. “Maybe somewhere else in the forest. Do you have siblings?” “Yeah,” Chris said. “An older sister named Julia. She's so annoying! He said. That made them both laugh.

They would spend most of their free time together. Talking to someone at last would make her so happy, it would make Maples leaves fall, and her branches sway. She was the happiest girl at the edge of the forest.