The Autumn Identity

(This post is a bit abstract, but after really looking into “Thanks to Them” from the Owl House, I wanted to try and capture what I felt Luz was feeling in a small little story. It is hard to do that show justice, but I gave a whirl!)

As the once green leaves are pulled down by the autumn breeze, engulfing the ground in waves of red and brown pigments, you may find yourself being a bit more introspective. You trudge along the sidewalk and begins to think of the past and the future, about how this chapter of your life, the year of 2022, has begun to end and how it has affected you and those around you. While lost in your mind, a chilled gust slices through your jacket and further along animates a flying ghost decoration. It swings solemnly as you continue walking by, each step greeted with the vivid crunch of leaves and a growing listless feeling. It’s a bit ironic, that ghost. It hides its face, and yet you feel as if you understand it completely.

A few of the remaining leaves up in the trees continue to fritter down, kept just above the ground by that persistent wind and a cobweb decoration strewn hastily over a streetlight. Underneath that light is a puddle. Though slightly disturbed by the wind, your face is reflected clearly within it. You peer down, and a pained smile reflects back up at you for a second before a final powerful gust releases an above leaf from its tangled prison. It seems more decrepit that the others. It falls and disturbs the water, and a distorted grimace appears for a fraction of a second before becoming completely unrecognizable in the ripples. You look up and see the oak tree that has been losing its leaves. The wind has stopped but it doesn’t matter; there are no more leaves left. The tree stands weakly, as do you, but you continue to walk. The crunch of your footsteps is louder than before. Far behind you, the ghost decoration slowly stalls. One couldn’t help but feel it had more to say.