[ WP ] everybody on Earth has a tree that represents them . Once that tree dies , that person dies too . You work as a lumberjack .

I leaned against my axe, placing my elbow on the bottom of the hilt while looking at the ledger for today. It had ten trees listed on it with their name, position, and a basic description of their build. Recently we ’ ve been given withered and broken trees to harvest, given the outrage that spawned from too many young and fit trees being taken down. “ You ’ re killing our youth! ” and “ can ’ t you find a better way? ” were thrown around by the locals to my company, but our hands were tied. The government recently passed a law that nuclear and coal power were unsafe for the public ( one that was initially backed by the populous I might add ). Solar and hydro power wasn ’ t going to power the ever-growing economy, so we had to revert to burning wood to get energy. 
 
 This would have been fine if it wasn ’ t for the trees being connected to people. No, not in a spiritual way, more of a physical way. You see, when a tree gets hurt, someone in the world gets hurt the same. Nobody knows when it started ‘ cause it took a while to make the connection. Trees and people? If you told me they were connected ten years ago I would have laughed in your face. Now it ’ s just another part of my day. 
 
 Nobody likes being the harbinger of death, so the job of a lumberjack quickly fell past “ I don ’ t really want to do that ” to “ please anything but that! ” The government had to instate a draft to get people to actually harvest trees cause the lumberjack employment rate was so low. That ’ s where I come in, jus ’ finishing up my last month of my contract, then I can go back to my old job, a line chef. It wasn ’ t the most glamorous, no, but at least it wasn ’ t killin ’ people or nothin ’. 
 I walked up to the first tree on the list and took out one of my company issued syringes. The syringe took about 20 seconds to fill up with the narcotic, and once I matched the liquid up to the right level for the size of the tree, I shoved it in the base of the trunk. I ’ m not sure what happens exactly to the person connected to the tree, but I ’ m told it makes the act of harvesting a bit less painful. After waiting about 30 more seconds I began chopping down the tree. 
 
 This tree in particular was larger than the nearby trees, with branches that extended proudly in all directions. It probably belonged to a young athlete, a shame it was on the list to be chopped down. It gets easier after the first couple trees, it really does. Once you forget the fact that there ’ s a person on the other end of what you ’ re cutting down it ’ s not so bad. Sometimes I like to make it easier to forget the travesty by singing aloud to myself. If I can sing loud enough I can ignore the screams of those I cut down earlier in my head. 
 
 ‘ Eight trees down, two to go, ’ I thought to myself. Syringe out, drugs in, and wait. I was getting a little tired while waiting, probably ‘ cause of the last couple trees were thicker than usual. I thought I had a light cold the last couple days, that wouldn ’ t help much. I leaned against my axe, placing most of my weight against it now, feeling heavier than usual, and looked up at the tree. I didn ’ t notice it before but this tree seemed more beautiful than the others. It looked comfortable, like something I could live on if I built a treehouse for it. The leaves turned towards me, and if I were a lesser man I might think the tree was tryin ’ to talk to me. Trees can ’ t talk, that ’ s ridiculous. I hefted up my axe and swung directly at the base of the tree. With each swing it became more difficult to recover, I might have to skip my last tree today and head home early, hopefully my boss would understand. By the end of the harvesting session I could hardly stand, but I was almost done, and determined to get at least nine out of my ten tree quota. With a deep breath I heaved against the tree. 

