Love Letter from the Sawmill

Whispers Under the Moonlight

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

The sawmill has been abandoned for a long time.

It used to be right next to the forest. In its heyday, people bought many long and wide saw blades. When the blades arrived, it happened to be a festival. Everyone together — men, women, and those who rushed back from the city to help — they all arranged the saw blades one by one in the center of the clearing, next to the towering trees. Everyone thought, this is great, we have so many saw blades now, more than we could ever use, this is great.

There used to be so many workers here. Male workers, female workers, and old grandpa workers. Every morning, everyone started work early, the sound of sawing everywhere. At noon, they gathered in the clearing for meals, then the female workers would rest in the shade of the trees. No matter how much time passed, no matter how many big trees we cut down, the tree shade was always everywhere.

They finished work early in the afternoon, and everyone went back to their holes to sleep.

Those who had children would be expelled from the factory. At night, women carrying bundles would hurriedly leave — this was the rule of the sawmill. No one knows how the sawmill became abandoned. Women disappeared one by one, no children, never any children. The old grandpa workers…