Chapter 1

“That’s gorgeous God” she said. That’s what she first says after she decides to start. She had looked out of the window and seen the red-flowered tree against the background of the stormy sky. It wasn’t just that, the sun had decided to shine down upon it, casting it in a light that made it stand out. She thought it looked like something out of a Chinese painting, though if she looked beyond the tree and the sky and the light it was certainly not Chinese.

Her smile though fades far too quickly. She’s realised the only reason the tree is so poignant is because the other day they chopped down one behind it. She hated that tree, it blocked her view of the moon when it rose but when she woke one morning and found the men already well into taking down the trunk she was sad. The tree had held her glimmer of hope. When she looked out and saw the slits of the moon behind the branches she knew that it would disappear, but also that it would be back. She’d see a sliver again, perhaps brighter this time and then finally it would brush through the top of the leaves and emerge in the sky. She hated the tree, but she loved it.