r/stories • u/TazzaKa • 1d ago
Fiction a forest in Red
I'm in such pain.
The forest knows my name.
A pain belonging to a person
whose mind is a forest.
A pain belonging to a human
whose mind, if it exists,
is a forest.
I'm in such pain.
If it feels mine, it should be mine.
I hate the way “mine” sounds.
The path to my heart is what I hate the most.
The path fears Myself.
You are the one attempting it.
A forest won’t need to hide me.
Hands are Red. Keep them warm.
The grass will turn Red soon.
I caught the word.
You sent it; I kissed it goodbye.
And a person will flee before a minute passes.
My mind is a forest.
And the way out will take longer
than sixty seconds feel like.
And me, Myself, will remain untouched.
My hands Red.
The grass Red.
The hair turned black.
Hide behind a tree
before the forest turns Red.
The blood of a person will decide
the fate of the forest.
A reputation of a tree.
My hands will rise,
and I will surrender
to the forest of my mind.
I'm in such pain.
I only ever dreamt of dancing in the forest.
With you.
I only hoped for running into the tree,
and finding you beside me.
I’m sorry that I am late,
but the forest doesn’t wait.
My thoughts are worse
than my actions will ever be.
Your hands covered in Red.
My hair in black.
Be careful of the path to my heart.
If you trip over, try again.
If we trip, we will continue dancing.
Dodge the trees.
Cover the tears.
My actions will decide for my thoughts,
and my thoughts will be stuck
in the forest in which we danced.
Your hands turned Red.
Follow the path.
A patch to my mind, perhaps.
Maybe you are a patch to my heart.
But until then,
dance with me in the flame.
My mind will cover us both
in a color named Red.
Hear the birds sleeping.
You don’t hear the owl closing in.
It moves slow,
silent,
like a predator.
But it doesn’t hunt you.
The flames will burn down the forest.
The thoughts will linger.
The flames will burn down the actions.
Our hands are covered in Red.
I’m in such pain,
a pain ruthlessly described in songs of hate.
A pain known by people close to me.
A pain which will remember yesterday.
Dance with me until we fall,
until the leaves turn Red.
Dance.
Even the owl looks away.
The owl will hear us dancing
before we hear a chirp from its children.
The owl knows the trees.
It watches us dance into them.
It’s ruthless.
It won’t hurt us
unless.
Let the black take us.
Let the Red watch itself turn to brown.
Dance with me.
My pain will become yours.
I’m in such pain.
Dance anyway.
You can’t bear to imagine a world without me,
while I live off the pain.
1
u/WhatKadambarisees 1d ago
There's something haunting about the way you've made the mind feel like a place someone can get lost in, and how the colour red slowly becomes more than just a colour. ❤️🩹 What stayed with me most is the contrast between wanting someone to enter that forest and knowing how much it might cost them to stay. The lines about dancing together are especially poignant because there's such tenderness in them, even with the danger closing in around the two of you. It feels like wanting to be understood so desperately that you're willing to let someone see the parts of yourself you can barely face alone. And that final thought, about someone being unable to imagine a world without you while you live off the pain, leaves such an unsettling ache. There's so much vulnerability here, and I appreciate how you let the imagery carry it rather than explaining every feeling outright.