I stepped outside a few minutes ago to take in my surroundings. I admit, it is not something that I do often anymore- but I appreciate the opportunity to do so every chance I get. My days are often a jumbled mess of deadlines, appointments, meetings, classes, and between all of these things I try to set aside personal time. With this opportunity, and because of the nature of this writing prompt – I made extra efforts to take in my surroundings.

The world around me was dark, and damp. A light wind carried the smell of fresh rain across my backyard. Tree limbs, grass blades, and yellow-brown leaves softly blew in whatever direction the wind desired them to. The sky looked as if it had been painted dark grey by a modern artist. Pockets of white dotted the sky, swirled together with blotches of an even darker black. Because of this- long, dark shadows were cast across the forest that borders my lawn on all sides. The tall trees swayed and creaked, casting long finger-like shadows across the leaf-covered ground. The creaks from the tall pine trunks swaying pierced the otherwise quiet setting, like a scream in the dead of the night. Crrrrr-ack  crack crack, crack…. crack.

As I walked, the sound of squishing water fought with the sounds of the forest for my attention. Looking down, I could see murky water bubbling out of the dark green moss that I stood on. Around the soles of my brown leather boots, tinted even darker by all of the moisture they had so far encountered, muddy water mixed with leaves. Tree roots scrambled across the forest floor, interlocking with other tree’s roots to wrestle for a drink.

The crunching of the sticks that I stepped on snapped easily under my boots. As I walked back towards my house, I felt refreshed. It is amazing how nice a few moments out in nature can serve to recollect someone’s thoughts. I hope you could see what I saw, I tried my best to describe my surroundings like the prompt suggested. Thanks for reading.

Link to the original ‘just another day’ prompt here.