short fiction · 2026-10-27

The Garden of Unlearning

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

In the quiet of an abandoned orchard I watched the old apple tree stand under a waning sky. Each cut was deliberate, a lesson in letting go; the gardener’s hands, steady and sure, removed dead limbs that no longer reached for sunlight. I thought of my own habits, the routines that had become weeds, choking the potential within me. With each snip, a memory faded, making space for new shoots to draw strength from the earth below. The act taught me that growth often begins with subtraction, and that careful pruning can reveal hidden vitality."