You turn your palms up and feel the energy that surges through you the second the sun reaches your fingertips. Taking a deep breath in, you feel the woods around you settle. You listen for the tiny creatures scuttling about the forest floor. Soon you begin to feel a warmth in the palms of your hands. As you breathe, that bit of energy pulses through your body, slowly connecting you with the moist earth. The soil has changed since you were last here, you know its time is almost up. 

In the distance, you hear a battle cry followed by gunfire and screams of pain. You can feel the anger in the earth because its pulse starts to increase. You see the invisible waves of energy spread out like molten lava from where you’re lying. The earth can sense the imbalance of power, and the tension in the air, you know that the soul of the planet is yearning to be free. The waves of energy spread further and further out into the world, taking with them the safety of the clearing. 

You stand up and begin to walk back to the chaos you’ve been trying for years to escape. The world wasn’t always like this; you can remember when there was bird song in the mornings, children playing in the sun, and the gatherings neighborhoods would have in the evenings; teeming with talking and laughter. 

The second you step out of the woods, you feel your body tense up. At first glance, the world looks like it did a few years ago, but looking closer, you see the kids hiding in the fading shadows, and the adults running behind the abandoned houses to get away from the battle. You raise a hand at the kids, and the older one peeks out from where he is hiding. You put your hands up by your face to signal that you mean no harm, and the kids do the same. You put some of the berries and nuts you collected in a piece of cotton, and place it carefully on the ground between you and the kids. The kids watch you back away slowly, and then without taking their eyes off you, they scurry forward to grab the offering. In return, the boy grabs a canteen of water from behind the overflowing garbage can, and pulls out a cup. He pours you some and sets it on the ground in the same fashion you did. You gratefully grab the cup and drink the precious liquid. You set the cup back down on the ground and bow your head in thanks. The boy’s sister picks up the cup, and returns the gesture. You have seen this sibling pair around when you come back from the woods. You know that like yourself, they have nowhere to go. 

You walk back to the old cellar where you set up your house. There’s not much in the area, but then again, there’s not much of anything anymore. You sit on the bed that you fashioned from some old sacks that once held root vegetables. You pry up the floorboard at your feet and pull out the last of the ancient potatoes that you found in the sacks. After cutting the potato open with a rusty spoon you found in the dirt, you begin to eat. The potato tastes like the dirt it was grown in, but there isn’t enough water to wash it. You walk over to the metal pot that you’ve been catching rainwater in, to find that it’s empty. You shouldn’t be surprised, there hasn't been rain in months, but you were hoping that by some miracle there would be water. Sadly, your thirst will just have to wait another day. You climb on top of the potato sacks and close your eyes, hoping that sleep will come easily. For once it does, and you drift off into another dreamless night. 

You wake up how you always do; with the sunlight tickling your nose. At this point, the sun is the only consistent thing about the world, but who knows how long it will be there? You go over to the floorboard, but you don’t have to open it to remember that there’s nothing in there. You will have to go looking for food today, maybe some nuts and berries. 

On your way out of the hideout, you see the siblings creeping towards their shadowy place. You think to yourself that it wouldn’t be so bad to have some company on your search for food. You walk over to where the siblings have stopped, and put your hands up by your face. You really want to reinforce the idea that you are not here to hurt them. The sister is the first of them to return the sign of peace. That’s to be expected, the older brother doesn’t want to make peace too fast in case it’s a trap. You repeat the motion with your hands, but this time you make eye contact. You can see the tension in those blue eyes, and you know he is like you. He seems to sense the connection, and returns the motion. You slowly lower your hands, not breaking eye contact. The siblings do the same, and before long everyone's hands are back at their sides. You know it’s a long shot, but you open your mouth and speak the words, 

“I’m hunting for food, would you join me? I mean no harm, only friendship,” sure enough, the siblings look at you blankly. Letting out a sigh, you bow down to them and open your arms in a welcoming way. You bring your hand to your mouth and pretend to eat, then you pretend to hold binoculars up to your eyes. It takes a minute, but the boy smiles and holds out a hand to his sister. You smile back and lead them into the woods and away from the battle that just started behind you on the street. 

A couple of hours later, you have collected berries and nuts, along with some carrots you found growing in the earth. You lead the siblings into the clearing, where you sit down and divide the food. The boy stands up and walks over to where you dropped off the small backpack full of their things. He pulls out the canteen and pours water for all of you. You make the same binocular shape and then point to your cup. The boy smiles with understanding, and then using his hands, he digs a hole. As the hole gets deeper, it starts to fill up with water. The water is clear as crystal and as cold as ice. You push your cup into the hole, and fill it up again. This time when you put the cup to your lips, the water tastes different, almost bubbly in texture, and pure in taste. As it runs down your throat, you can feel all the energy you have put into this soil pour back into your bones. By the time you finish the cup, you feel refreshed and happy. The siblings are watching your face, and the boy smiles when he sees your reaction to the water. You spread out your arms in thanks and then motion for them to follow you to the spot you were laying in the day before.

You lay down on the grass and begin to breathe. You close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the birds. You feel the energy start to pulse through you, then the earth, and back through you. You feel the girl follow your lead by laying on the grass next to you, and a while later her brother joins you. You sit up and look at the siblings laying next to you. The girl is so beautiful with the energy pulsing through her body and the sun touching her eyelids. Her brother looks the way you imagine yourself looking when you are here, with the sun reflecting off his dark hair and the look of awe on his face. You bend over the girl, and tilt her palms up to the sky, you can see the moment the warmth of the sun reaches her and the effect it has. You do the same to the boy's hands, and then watch as he buries them in the moist earth. You lay back down, and do the same. This time, as you breathe you feel the energy surge into you, then into the siblings and the earth. You feel the earth thanking you for the extra energy it has received, and in return when the sounds of the battle begin to start, it keeps a little bit of safety in the clearing. 

When you open your eyes you see that the siblings are already standing, the look of surprise plastered on their faces. You sit up and the girl grabs your hands and helps you stand. Together, you make your way back to the street where you split away from the siblings, and walk back to your cellar. 

When you arrive at your destination, you are surprised to see a girl sitting on your sacks eating a yellow fruit. Your first reaction is to scream, but then you see she is crying. You place the nuts you got with the siblings earlier, on the ground, and back away. She looks up, and then cautiously takes a step towards the offering. You take another step backward, and she grabs the bundle. After taking a few nuts, she puts the bundle back on the ground and backs away. You take this as your cue to step forward and take them. You see that in addition to the nuts, there is a small blueberry in the mix. You eat it and smile as the bittersweet juice spreads over your tongue. The girl takes a step in your direction and you take a step in hers. You sit down and lay out the nuts and berries you collected, and together you eat them. Just as she is about to leave, you hold up a hand, and then gesture to your stack of sacks. She smiles, and lays down on them, closing her eyes. You walk over to the corner of the cellar and lay down on the rotten floorboards. You close your eyes and before long you’re asleep. 

In the morning, you bring the girl with you to the clearing. When you get there, the siblings are already on the grass. You show the girl over to a spot, and motion for her to lay down. You turn her palms face up, and before long her eyes close. You lay beside her on the grass, and feel the difference in the amount of energy that is going around the circle. With just one more person, there is a significant increase in energy, and a substantial decrease in the amount of anger in the earth. You lay with your new friends on the grass for a while, only opening your eyes, when you feel another body join the bodies already on the ground. The body doesn’t belong to a human, but to a bird. The bird sucks in some energy and then flies away, an invisible string of energy trailing behind it, connecting it to you and you to it. Like you, the brother feels the change in energy when the bird lands, and makes a move to stand. He walks over to the newcomer and opens his arms. She opens her eyes, then jumps up and they share a hug. The girl hugs the sister, and the three of them begin talking in their own language. You see the similarities between this girl and the siblings, and you know that you just reunited a family. The newcomer breaks away from the group and surprises you by giving you a hug. You don’t know how to react now that all of them are watching you, so you point to the newcomer and draw a plus 1 in the dirt. The boy nods, and draws a plus 2 beside it. You nod back at him and then draw a plus 7 and circle it. The group nods, and then splits up. 

About an hour later, you head back to the clearing to find the rest of the group, plus another boy. You offer the boy some nuts, and then bring him back to your cellar with you. On your way back, you see something that you have only ever seen in the woods before. There is a little purple flower by the edge of the road. You point it out to the boy, and he smiles. 

The next morning, you walk with the boy back to the woods, and on your way you find two girls. These girls are much smaller than you and the boy and look really scared to be seen. You and the boy sit down on your knees and open your arms. The girls cautiously come a couple steps closer, then they too sit down on their knees. You stand up and motion for them to follow you and they do. You bring them right to the clearing where you meet up with the three siblings for a quick breakfast. 

You show the newcomers how you connect with the earth and you stay on the ground for multiple hours. Throughout those multiple hours, the energy seems to double. By the time you open your eyes, it is not just the original group on the ground. Somehow, in the time between when you got to the clearing, and sunset, three more kids joined the group. These kids look older than you, but not quite old enough to fight the everyday battles. You look up to the sky and see the same energy lines that trailed behind the bird the day before. You see these energy lines connecting every animal to each other and the world. The lines connect you with the animals and the group of people laying on the ground. 

You stand and walk out of the clearing. As you walk, you see more and more energy lines branching out from the circle of people on the ground. You see flowers in the smokiness of the old battle-grounds, and on the sides of the abandoned streets. You see life starting to flourish around you, and the smoke starting to part. Behind you, you hear footsteps and see the group from the clearing gather behind you. Everybody is looking at the healing planet with disbelief. 

Through the clearing smoke, a group of adults emerges. They are carrying baskets of apples from the happy apple trees. They walk over to your group and place a basket of apples at your feet. Even though everyone speaks a different language, they seem to know what your group did for them and human kind. You take the apples, and pass them out to your friends. After everyone grabs an apple, you raise yours above your head. You see the lines of energy tracing back to the basket, the tree, the ground, the clearing, and back to you. When you take a bite, the juice of the apple spreads like waves of paradise over your tongue. You look at the others eating their fruit, then you let yourself soak up the nature of energy.

Ten years later…. 

You dodge people running across the lively streets and smile at the people covering the houses with a fresh coat of paint. You wave at the children playing in the grass, then cross the street and head towards an old favorite spot. 

The clearing still has traces of the energy that you and your friends harnessed many years earlier, the lines are faint now, but still powerful. On the ground, by your spot under the willow tree, you see the bird who carried the first string of energy sitting, preening its feathers. You walk over to the bird, and it flies to your shoulder. You stroke the feathers on its head and feel the energy grow between you and the bird. Everything has changed so much in ten years, what you did with your friends gave people hope, and now everyone is working together to bring the state of the world back to how it was. 

Your contemplation is interrupted when the bird flies off your shoulder and into the sky. Something shiny lands at your feet. You bend down to pick up a small round metal object with a hole in the middle. There is a pretty flower made out of purple crystals on one side. You tuck the ring in your pocket and run back to your house to give it to the sister that you were friends with for so many years.