# Oregon Woods, 2021 - by Julie Harris **URL:** \ **Category:** Voice.club\ **Tags:** fiction\ **Created:** [April 22, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://softart.discourse.group/t/oregon-woods-2021-by-julie-harris/716 "2025-04-22T16:12:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Julie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/softart.discourse.group/julie/32/21_2.png) [@Julie](https://softart.discourse.group/u/Julie)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://softart.discourse.group/t/oregon-woods-2021-by-julie-harris/716/1 "2025-04-22T16:12:30Z")
[![](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/uploads/softart/original/1X/b24b788e6dee5e74f00580f10e5f8ce06576c1bf.jpeg "Voice.club - Fiction - Oregon Woods, 2021 - by Julie Harris") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI_l39nh55g) [https://Voice.club](https://Voice.club) - “Evacuate NOW!” the announcer screams. The fires are almost at our doorstep. Mom and Dad run through the house, grabbing treasures we can take in the car. I run to the woods. I can’t just leave without saying good-bye. The forest is still green and moist, even though the sky is a nightmarish crimson. I throw myself down on a soft bed of moss, burying my head in its welcoming cushion. “I am so sorry,” I sob. I reach blindly toward the banks of ferns still dancing in the slight breeze as if they had decades to live, instead of minutes. I can’t bear the thought of the flames, the charred remains of my sanctuary. Every thought is a lethal blow. I force my mind to go blank, allowing only fragrance, touch, sound, sight. I focus on green, moving into ferns, moss, fallen logs, the comforting forest floor. Everything smells earthy, fresh, eternal. But there is no eternal, is there? Stop! Don’t think! I run my fingers through the moss. It feels so gentle, so forgiving. Does it know what is coming? Enough! Turn off that thought! The little creek – surely it will be safe. Water can’t burn. But it can boil, it can evaporate. Stop, stop, stop!!! Everywhere I turn is a horrible image, an unbearable question. I stumble toward the creek, its joyous rhythm containing undertones of a child singing. I can’t just let all this disappear. Perhaps the Fire God would take a sixteen-year-old girl and leave this paradise untouched. I’d gladly give my life that this blameless forest might live. “Take me! Take me!” I shout, as Dad crashes through the underbrush, a cloth over his mouth. I see flames licking the ground behind him. I close my eyes and prepare to die. Dad lifts me in his arms, as I were still a little girl, and tenderly carries me to the car where Mom sits staring blankly at nothing, her eyes empty and dead. He carefully coasts past the ankle-high flames, then starts the engine. Everything that ever mattered disappears in the rear-view mirror. ---
**Author:** ![MargaridaBrei](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/softart.discourse.group/margaridabrei/32/26_2.png) [@MargaridaBrei](https://softart.discourse.group/u/MargaridaBrei)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://softart.discourse.group/t/oregon-woods-2021-by-julie-harris/716/2 "2025-04-25T03:21:35Z")
Oh, what a sad sad story. How brave and selfless of the girl wishing to sacrifice herself in order to save the forest. ---
**Author:** ![Lotchie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/softart.discourse.group/lotchie/32/24_2.png) [@Lotchie](https://softart.discourse.group/u/Lotchie)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://softart.discourse.group/t/oregon-woods-2021-by-julie-harris/716/3 "2025-04-28T17:36:41Z")
A touching read of a heroic tale of a very brave girl.