The Music Of Bones And The Meaning Of Ghosts Chapter 6

I once lived in the dense forests of Shirikami Sanshi, in Japan, so you might think I am used to quiet, but you'd be wrong. The sounds of the forests, were deep and multifarious; I loved being at the heart of a living thing so vast and beautiful. Now, I seemed to be on the edge of a dying one.
I dwelled in the Gajumaru trees, and the villages, when I overheard them speak of me, called me Kijimuna. (Remember what I said about names) I was a fiery red thing in the branches, and what a beautiful place it was. Figs and pineapples fresh from the trees in the morning. The shimmering sunrise over the coral coast. The sound of the swaying limbs in a strong wind. The sweet smell of the bark.
I had dwelled in those branches for a long time; as long as I could remember. My face was in the gnarled wood and my voice was the creak of trunks in the wind. I will always remember the morning we first heard the sound of the loggers edging into our valley. The zrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee
of the saws, and the cries of the men, the sound of the surrounding trees bracing themselves as one stripped naked, and collapsed with an awful cry.
I stared out with my fiery eyes, and saw the bright coloured jackets and logo on the vehicle. I had nowhere to hide except inside myself, inside the centre of the tree that I had become. And I waited, and waited, until my worst fears came to fruition.

It is a thing that is hard to experience, listening to someone destroy you, as if it were the most straightforward thing in the world. The men's voices became louder, they even said a prayer to me and my kind, before the trucks, diggers and saws, dismembered the towering trees that had stood rooted to the land for hundreds of years. I did not forgive them their prayers at the time. I felt pain and loss and horror at what they had done.

"AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Electricity. Clwwwnnnnnng I tensed. The wind blew through a gap in the roof tiles, on the north side of the attic and it sounded like Tom was awake.

"JESUS!!!"

Something else could be sensed below. His voice sounded desperate, terrified and whatever it was that had shaken him so violently from his sleep had shocked him.