The Cicatrix
Grandpop said you could tell how old a tree was if you chopped it down and counted the rings inside. “But that would kill the tree, right?” My four-year-old cries were sharp at the thought of chopping down an innocent tree just to count rings. What if someone wanted to cut me open to see how old I was? I had nightmares for weeks and once my mom found me in the middle of the night, standing next to the oak tree in our front yard, sobbing. Touching the tree, she asked me, “Do you hear it, too?” Mom was always hearing voices that no one else could.