deeplyshallow
I awoke one night to find an old man sitting beside my bed puffing smoke casually from a pipe, as though he belonged there. Startled, I sat up, taking the covers with me, pinning them to my chest with a trembling hand.
"Who are you?" I whispered, afraid of the answer.
The old man didn't even look up. He poured a fiery, glowing liquid from a vile, into his pipe. "I am the distributor."
Still unclear, I repeated the question. "Sir, who are you, what are you doing here?"
"I've been here every night since you were a girl," replied he. "I bring you your dreams." He blew a puff of smoke into my face and I awoke.
There, sitting on my night desk, was a long, thin pipe made of wood, an empty vile beside it.
I planted the seed ages ago, when it was no bigger than the head of a pin. It was dark then, so dark, I could barely see in front of me. However, I still dug the small hole and set the seed in it, planting it in its new home. Every day I came back to water it until it grew into an enormous tree that now gives back to me. I have food because of it.
Before, everything seemed so dark, but now with that seed that grew into a tree that provides for me, the world seems so light.