Lost in Thoughts

I was afraid of the woods, the huddled trees looked menacing, as if hissing and scowling at me, threatening me to keep out. There were reptiles by the dank ponds too. Sometimes they would slither over my feet, sending chills down my spine. An occasional gleam of a panther's iris, would find me dashing back home. Then one day, my mother led me by arms, humming softly as we walked through the trees, let me run my fingers over their scared barks, plucked for me a flower hanging off a branch. The trees were quite generous, I thought, they didn't mind it even when I carved deep, my name, into their trunks. The snakes didn't hurt me unless I them. My mother patted my head and said, "No creature would ever hurt you, unless you do them wrong!" "Because", she smiled as she continued, "Every being is a child of God, just as graceful." I didn't know then that, She was wrong about one. From then I