By: Jessica Jin

On a spring day, a tree finally grew leaves. The leaves of a tree are its children. That tree was happy to finally have leaves. It made sure that all the leaves all knew each other very well.

One leaf was very shy. She wanted to stay with the tree so much. That tree knew that the shy leaf couldn’t stay on forever, but when the tree tried to warn the shy leaf, she refused to listen.

The shy leaf watched the world change. She enjoyed the warmth of spring and summer, but after summer, fall came. The shy leaf always wondered why fall was called what it was. But after the first few days of the season, she realized why.

At first the shy leaf saw all her brothers and sisters changing colors, red, orange, and yellow. She too changed into a reddish shade. The shy leaf looked out to see all the other trees’ leaves changing colors too. But the next day she saw leaves on the ground. It terrified her as she witnessed more leaves falling to the ground. The shy leaf looked down. It’s so far down, she thought. She looked up as her own brothers and sisters were jumping off from their tree’s arms.

“Where are you all going? It’s not safe there!” She called as more went down.

“Shy leaf, you need to go down there. You can’t stay up here, and don’t ask why. You already know that it is the circle of life. All leaves must eventually come down. Leaves are meant to grow on trees and then fall to help the forest floor flourish. You staying up here does not help. You must go down there because it is a better life down there and you are helping our orchard,” said her tree. The shy leaf shook her head. The tree tried to wiggle her off, but she wouldn’t budge. After a few days, the shy leaf was the only leaf on a branch in the whole entire orchard.

“Come down, shy leaf!” called one of her brothers. She looked down to see all the leaves having fun. They playfully jumped up in the air and gracefully came down.

“Yeah! Shy leaf come down! It’s so much fun down here!” said one of her sisters.

“Yes, go down. It is better down there than up here, all alone,” said the shy leaf’s tree. The shy leaf knew the tree was right. So, she jumped off. She slowly fell to the ground. When the shy leaf slowly fell, it felt like a gentle breeze. She never felt this feeling of feeling free. It made her want to keep on falling. When the shy leaf gently touched the ground, she realized that being down on the ground was a lot better than staying on a branch. She had fun jumping in the air and meeting other leaves.

Life was good on the ground, but after a few weeks, a plague came. It started with one leaf. That leaf started to slow down, and instead of the colorful yellow shade it had previously been, it turned a dark brown. The plague spread faster than wildfire. It was deadly and unstoppable. If a leaf got the plague, it would wither away. Screams came from dying leaves. Before the plague got to the shy leaf, she looked up at her tree.

“You didn’t tell me about this!” cried the shy leaf.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this part, but this is the circle of life. Leaves don’t live forever, nothing does. Your life will go to the floor of the orchard and that will help the floor flourish,” replied her tree.

The shy leaf wanted to cry but the plague got to the shy leaf. She started to regret coming down. She tried to avoid it by jumping in the air, but it was no use. As withered leaves started to pile on her, she looked up at her tree. The tree looked down at the shy leaf as she started to wither away too.

“Why did I come down?” the shy leaf asked.