Submission (#677) Approved

Meridia always loved fall. It meant change in so many ways, it was exciting. It meant cozy nights in, colors everywhere she looked outside. Her critter definitely seemed to enjoy the sights too, its wings fluttering at the falling leaves. Occasionally, Meridia would find herself climbing up the trees that were shedding their leaves, growing excited each time her feet touched a branch, watching the cascade of orange and yellow and red fall to the ground like rain. She liked to think she was helping the trees out, like when you get a sweater stuck over your head.
When she deemed herself high enough up, she watched leaves slowly break away from their branches, one landing in one of her hands. She examined the leaf; the veins, the edges, the stem. And to think it was all green just months ago. To think, one day long ago, it was just a bud. She let it fall, watching it turn over itself, flutter around, and finally join the others at the ground.
Meridia hopped down from her place near the top and finally to the ground. Her critter, her little rosy maple moth, had gotten excited watching the leaves fall. That made Meridia curious, and she got an idea. She began pushing the leaves together, bunching them all up into a pile. Once she deemed it big enough, she took several steps back. Truthfully, she couldn’t remember the last time she did this. In her mind, she counted; three…two…one!
She started running towards the pile, and jumped, turning midair so that she landed on the pile on her back. As she landed, leaves flew up and sideways. They fluttered back down towards her, and she loved the feeling of the leaves this time of year. Not crunchy yet, but not soggy. Still smooth and stiff. The critter fluttered around in excitement as leaves rained down on them both. Using her four arms, Meridia picked up clumps of leaves and threw them up into the air, eventually nearly covering herself. But she didn’t mind. She was having fun, and her little moth friend was too. Eventually, she pushed the leaves back into a pile and shook herself off. She took a moment to look around, seeing all the other trees and their leaves changing and falling, different stages of change for all of them but change nonetheless. Change was nice. Change was good. Change meant fun.