"Are we done yet?"
"Just two more logs to go, boy,"
Chop!
The log split in half with a crisp sound. He swung again.
The logs split like butter; he was no longer the soft boy he had been just some years ago.
I suppose chopping wood in the forest for years has paid off.
"Good lad!" his grandpa praised him for the good work. When the boy became an orphan, his grandparents took him under their wing. At the time, he was still just a pampered kid.
"You're finally a man now!" his grandpa said, with tears of joy.
The boy side-eyed his grandfather and smiled. The old man had always been a bit eccentric.
I only turned twelve last fall, and already calling me man, huh?
He closed his eyes out of fatigue...
And immediately opened them again.
His heart ached; he missed his parents, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw the same thing he saw that unfortunate night.
"Come on, let's get going, your grandmother must be worried about us already," His grandfather snickered and turned to walk home.
"Coming!"
***
In a remote forest, with verdant green trees as wide as a boulder, the boy opened the door to a rundown-looking excuse of a house and held it for his grandpa.
"Home!" the boy exclaimed after entering with his shoes off, a habit learned after being yelled at by his grandmother a myriad of times.
"Welcome back!"
An elderly woman with a warm smile came in from the corner, hung their coates to the rack, and offered her grandson some food.
"Come on, just one bite, I made your favorite!"
"Marmalade pudding?"
The sweet lady lost some colour and paused.
"Hold on, we need a few more logs." She said, with some difficulty.
Both his grandpa and he raised their eyebrows before the boy smiled.
"I'll get 'em."
He left the shambling house, which ironically looked nice and cozy inside, behind him as he headed over to some suitable trees up ahead.
The clouds started clearing up, the sun shone, and illuminated the lush forest with golden light.
He came back to where he and his grandpa were, chopped some more logs, and carried them back home.
Closing his eyes, he started contemplating again.
It's so tranquil here...
Almost...
Boring!
When will it get interesting? Is this my life? Chopping logs and eating pudding?
He exhaled a plume of smoke before settling his mind, not wanting to wish for "that" again.
He opened his eyes again, noticing something in the sky.
"A... falling star?" he mumbled.
Might as well make a wish, I guess.
why it so big, though?
Why is it getting bigger, though?
Why is it coming this way, tough... what the-
His ears started to ring, and his mind reeled him awake. Only after the "Falling star" got too close did he react, diving to the left.
Craackkk!
His ears started to bleed from the sound of wood tearing like lightning.
His vision tunneled after getting up too fast, setting his poor eyes on the falling trees and the massive groove in the ground, exactly where he was standing.
My luck is just deplorable...
He limped forward, following the long groove embedded in the ground as his vision slowly returned.
Only after the last tree fell did it become dead silent, a rare event in a rich forest like this one.
Was it my imagination?
He continued to make distance, even though his knee would twitch with each step.
Was the halo of that thing green?
After a minute or so, he reached the crash site.
A meteor?
Half-lodged in the ground, and an old tree was a cracked boulder.
He looked around before checking it out, not forgetting to kick it for almost undoing him.
Just as his boot hit the boulder, it started to crack like glass.
Steam poured out and combined into a low layer of fog...
His eyes shone with a glint of green as he stared at the inside of the meteor with some reverence... before shaking the strange feeling of fog in his mind off.
Inside the meteor was a green gem with the unmatched luster of an emerald.
The steam seemed to be evaporating from it.
He wanted to grab it, so he got closer before he was practically inhaling the strange vapor.
His index finger brushed the surface.
His fingerprint burned with green fire...
making him buckle and scream in pain