31 Tales (Volume II) - Powers Unlocked

Dead Leaves

Autumn was now in full swing. The trees were now sporting the many colours of fall. A rainbow of reds and oranges through to the rarest of purples. The crunch of the dead leaves underfoot threatened an end to the season. A season which had seemingly only just begun just a week before. The year had an interesting way with playing with time. It started out as Winter and then before anyone could blink it was almost Winter again and yet it felt like an entire decade had passed in that time. Speaking of time the clocks go back tonight. Yes, that's something they needed to remember. Clocks go back. Darker earlier. Halloween was fast approaching. Halloween? What a thought. Christmas decorations were already being sold in shops. Were people really trying so hard to skip the dark and the macabre. Who could blame them? The year had had enough of that already. Crunch. The leaves cracked as they were jumped on. They danced and swirled through the air like giant snowflakes falling to the ground. Many were wet and soggy from the rain and some refused to leave the ground but nevertheless a pile did lay. A long row of multicoloured dead leaves. Any other time of the year brown would be almost unflattering in terms of nature it symbolised the death of a flower or the decomposition of a fruit. In Autumn it was the opposite. Brown was just as beautiful as the other colours lighting up the cold grey sky with their vibrant colours. The child made it their mission to jump into as many leaf piles as they could. Some even carried themselves halfway up their body. If they were any larger they might as well have swallowed them whole. The leaves danced around the child as they laughed with joy. They turned to their mother who walked with a phone to her ear. "Mummy, Mummy look" she nodded at her daughter without a second look. The little girl gave a small "hmph" as she kicked her little foot into the astounding mound of leaves. As more leaves left the pile a small silver coin shined through. She reached down slowly. Her curiosity getting the better of her. It was only a fifty pence piece. She pocketed it.

At home the girl laid in her bed twiddling with the fifty pence between her fingers staring at her ceiling as the wind howled and screamed at her window. Getting up, she toddler over to see the leaves twirl into the shape of a person. The person walked through the air with the ease of someone walking along the ground and stared without eyes at the girl behind her window. "Papa?" She asked the leaf nan. He nodded. The girl grabbed the handle of her window ready to take it of the latch. "Don't open that window" her mother warned running into the room. The girl looked down at the coin in the palm of her hand. She thought of how her mother had ignored her earlier and so as some form of rebellion she opened the window. The leaves blew into the room and swirled back into the shape of the man. Despite not having a mouth the creatures laughter could be heard through the air. A sickening howl against the wind blowing in through the window. The girl didn't understand what was happening but the leaf man creeped closer and closer to her mother. "No, leave me alone" she begged as he brushed a dozen leaves against her shaking face. "My husband will be home any moment" the leaves laughed. The little girl looked down at the coin and saw the face of The Queen staring sternly off to the side. She was facing something. Her eyes followed to her scrap book. The girl snuck over and turned rapidly to the page with a pressed leaf from last year. A dark brown leaf snuggled gently between two pieces of paper. Picking it up she allowed it to break apart into a million tiny pieces. The fluttered onto her skin covering her with tiny specks of brown. They even entered her eyes stinging them, she just blinked and stared at the leaf man before her. "you're not my dad" she stared blindly at the creature trying to attack her mother. He laughed as the mother watched on in horror. The girl lifted her hands so her palms faced his body. A million tiny darts of leaf shot themselves directly into him. Tearing his leaves apart until he had returned to flesh. He looked at his hands in confusion as blood began leaking out of the tiny holes on the surface of his skin.

The mother cradled her daughters head as they stared at the corpse on the floor. "Your father will be home soon darling" she looked over to a leaf stuck to the outside of the window. "Don't touch anymore leaves until he gets home."