Chapter 16: Cut me some slack

Wake Louchette

The crisp summer wind whipped through my clothes and past my cheeks. A herd of birds slowly gazed over the breathtaking clouds slid across the bright blue sky. Hisha and I stood at the building's summit, looking at the panoramic, spectacular view of the city below. We were observing other teams who roamed around the downtown to check those newfangled plants that grew. 

"Wanna join them?" Hisha quizzed. My eyes were still starring at this picturesque scene.

There was a silence between the two of us for a long. I knew Hisha waited for a response, but instead of answering her question, I turned my back and decided to go down from the building to watch the team doing their research and observation.

She raised her shoulders while letting out a sigh. Then, she followed me. 

When we finally arrived outside the building, several vast, towering trees were present across every street. The leaves were also huge. It was a sparkling scene dew lit up the urbanized plains like a colony of future gardens. Every tree has brown branches that suddenly lit up to a green that brought a stunning approach towards all the people who saw it. 

The city turned into a flourishing habitat, full of colorful flowers, new insects, and wonderful tiny white circles that floated around these trees. The grasses began to grow, and it seemed like it carefully took over the cemented roads we have. 

Citizens passing by took their cameras and grabbed the chance to capture the scenery. People who rode from the elongated, two-legged circular transportation with restaurants inside dropped to where they lately arrived and did the same thing. Floating transportations went above the plants. Passengers reached their hands to touch the leaves and those white, glittering circles. 

Many teams used the same transportation to gain access to the trees' lush elements it might show above it. All of them were wearing their synthetic gloves with their signature logos on their lab gowns. 

I went nearer towards the nearest tree right in front of the Mystica Glory building. I looked closely at the nerve-like figures that can capture everyone's eye when starring at its trunk. 

The tree bore many long branches that were at first ascending but eventually arching over and drooping at the ends. The trunk was fluted and buttressed to more than seven meters in diameter at the base. 

It was a Narra tree.

When I raised my head to see this gigantic tree, those long branches changed from brown to green eventually. The changing process made sparkles that ran from the roots towards its human-sized leaves. 

What a coincidence. 

"A beautiful scene will fetch you when you have a bad day at work," Hisha commented, referring to our days where our proposals end up in the trash. Her eyes were busy looking at the leaves with eagerness to discover more about this tree. 

"I wonder something..." I whispered on my own, but it seemed like Hisha heard it.

"Wondering what?" She questioned with her voice focused on the words I will say next.

"Out of all places here in Prisila, this Narra tree grew here. What's with this area?" I answered with furrowed brows while glancing at this broken concrete road due to its roots. 

This question came out to my mind immediately. I was curious to know the origin of this catastrophe. Maybe people would not consider it as a problem, but the thing was, it appeared in this size out of nowhere without starting as a baby plant.

That is why teams assigned for this task kept repeating their experiments, revising their proposal, reobserving the subjects, and such. 

Hisha smiled in distress. "Well, I am just hoping that this tree, including the rest, will bring no harm to our community." She cheered with my worried face looking at her. 

Well, I hope so. 

I went towards the tree until an inch away and pushed the trunk repeatedly using my palm. I want to check how hard its wood was.

"What are you doing? Aren't you afraid that you're not putting gloves on? Better stop that before it's too late." She coaxed with her slightly curved eyebrows. She was breaking eye contact and frequently looking in the people that surrounded us.

"Checking the hardness of this tree?" I responded to her while still focusing my attention on what I was doing.

"Hardness?" Even though I did not saw her from my back, I knew she was crossing her arms right now with her raised eyebrow. "Tsk! You're planning something, eh?" 

It was not a surprise anymore that she knew what I was thinking.

"Yes, I am thinking of cutting this tree. We can use it to create a new set of furniture, especially tables, which are very useful in our company. What do you think?" 

"Lmao, as if our company is not a fan of making hologram tables."

"I know, but this tree is rare. Surely, it's expensive too. I am wondering if it's still illegal to cut this out."

"Try it, and you'll die." At this time, I was facing her. She replied to me while rolling her eyes, with a tone of joking. 

I was about to say something related to my plan, but the peaceful environment reminded me of Lance. Wait! I haven't seen him since yesterday.

With a wrinkled forehead, I asked, "Have you seen Lance?" 

Hisha raised her shoulders with arched eyebrows. "No... I-I haven't..." She replied while looking everywhere to see if Lance was there.

Where the hell was he? 

We were going to start our formal hypothesis this afternoon, and yet he was not around! 

"Wake...Look at your hand!" The surprised voice of Hisha intruded my thoughts. She looked directly towards my hands while pointing towards them. 

I was distracted by how she reacted. So I automatically glanced at my hands to look at what she was indicating.

I was shocked and could not make any move! There were tiny brown branches that crawled in between my fingers. They were swirling like worms!

"What is this?!" I exclaimed in extreme nervousness! The branches went deep into my skin, causing it to make a wound. Little by little, blood came out.

With shaking arms, Hisha grabbed an injection to treat the wound. She was hoping for it to be cured and to stop the branches from moving. 

After she injected the medicine, the wounds cured right away, and the branches fell to the ground while it flew back towards the tree. 

I glanced to our surroundings, where people went and made contact with the plants. I spotted every one of them, but nothing happened to them with the same incident as mine.

Seriously? Is this tree shaping its own biases?