The Pear Tree

The courtyard was buzzing with life as Eren sat at his window. His room was high up, and he had a clear view of everybody going about their business, unaware that they were being watched. There was Lottie sitting at the fountain, singing to a girl as she braided her long hair, and on the other side of the fountain, a multitude of doves ate a handful of breadcrumbs as a young man painted a picture of them. Eren recognized him. It was his friend, Solomon, who was trying to get into a prestigious art school. Across from them, an acquaintance named Jonas did stretches before running laps around the courtyard to prepare for an upcoming race. There were others – some familiar and others foreign – that made up the vibrant collection of people in the beautiful courtyard, and with the diverse group came an array of hobbies that Eren loved to observe before running errands in the neighboring town.

To get there he had to cross through a large forest. It was something that he looked forward to, and as he ran into the courtyard and through its wide doors, he embraced the sight of green all around him. The endless trees stood tall with their slender branches and pointed leaves, and at just the right time, the sun shined through with golden beams that lit up the entire forest. It was comforting to him, and his anxious heart loved how predictable his routine was, for every day was same to him.

Until one day, when the forest had an expected guest.

The sight of the hooded figure startled Eren, and he instinctively hid behind a tree to watch what they were doing. The mysterious person found a spot to dig a hole in the ground, their brown robes matching with the color of the dirt, and once they finished, they rummaged through a small pouch and pulled out a tiny seed. They then planted it, and before he knew it, they stood up, left, and were never seen from him again. Eren approached it with curiosity, wondering what the strange person could have planted, and the next day his question was answered when in that spot stood a brand-new tree, standing tall and in full bloom.

He stared at the many branches, sprinkled with tiny white flowers throughout, and on the day that it began to bear fruit, he was surprised to see that the pears were shaped like people. His heart stopped when he noticed; the sight of it was just so unsettling to him for a reason he could not express. It was almost as if someone had carved into them, and they all had folded arms and distinct little faces despite their closed eyes and tight frowns. And as the days went by and they continued to get bigger, he began to recognize them. They resembled people that he knew, all of the townspeople growing from a single tree.

He looked at the pear closest to him. It looked just like his grandmother. He smiled as he plucked it from its branch, then suddenly feeling the cravings of hunger, he took a large bite before quickly finishing it.

But the next time that he saw his grandmother, he noticed a change in her. She seemed more tired, and less motivated. Normally her colorful basket would be full of the most beautiful blankets and scarves that she would knit to sell, but that day, they were empty. Eren could only stare in confusion as she rubbed her bony fingers, and when they later discovered that she had arthritis, he wondered if it was just a coincidence.

But as time went on, and as he ate more of the delicious pears, there were too many coincidences that he was beginning to notice. On one day, the courtyard gardener suddenly became allergic to flowers. He could no longer even be around the flowers that he loved without his body becoming full of hives. On another day, the town’s favorite baker suddenly lost his sense of taste and smell. It was a shame, really, for Eren had always looked forward to the new pastries that he would come up with every week. Then, it would be some other person that he did not know, and then after that, another. It always happened a day after eating one of the pears. The person that it resembled would be affected in some way that would hinder them from being able to do the things that they loved most.

Eren stood under the tree as he stared at the cursed fruit. Each day they grew more plump, tempting him to take another bite from them, but he was now too terrified of what would happen to the people. He thought for a long time, pondering over what he should do, then as the minutes passed by, he realized that the discovery of this tree was a burden that he could not keep to himself.

And so, he decided to share it with a friend.

The first person that he immediately thought of was a boy named Judas. Like Eren, he was often sent out to the forest to run errands in the neighboring town, and so he came to the conclusion that his friend would have been just as interested in this new tree as he was. The two children made their way through the forest and down the area where he knew it to be, and there it was, the tree with the mysterious pears. On the way there, Eren had told him all about it, but even when seeing the pears for himself, Judas still did not fully believe him.

“I need proof.” he told him.

“Proof?” Eren asked. “Look at the pears and the people that they resemble. What other proof do you need?”

Judas thought for a moment with a dark shadow hovering over his eyes before he finally answered. “How about,” he said. “I eat one of the pears?”

Eren hesitated. He wanted to protest against the idea of it, but how else would he prove to his friend that the people were directly affected by eating it? There was no other way that he could prove it. And so, in the end he agreed.

Judas scanned the branches until his eyes found a pear that was good enough, and when he finally found one, Eren immediately recognized Lottie’s face on it. He imagined the girl at the fountain, singing with no other motive than to bring joy to the people around her, and as his friend ate it, he could only feel dread in the pit of his stomach. Something was going to happen to that innocent girl, and sure enough, his prediction came true.

The next day he did not wake up to the sound of her beautiful voice. It was his favorite part of waking up; hearing the songs of the courtyard from his open window. But that morning, there was only silence. He never heard the sound of Lottie’s singing again, and when he discovered that her vocal cords had become damaged beyond repair, he could not say that he was surprised. He was only saddened by it, and he became even more afraid.

His friend, though, was fascinated by the tree. In fact, witnessing Lottie’s demise only brought an eagerness in him, one that – Eren was horrified to discover – involved every person that had ever wronged him in his young and bitter life. First, he targeted childhood bullies. Then, people that were bothersome. Eren watched in horror as more and more pears were being plucked from their branches. Judas would bite into them with no hesitation, and he would finish the pear off, excited to see how the poor soul would be afflicted.

And there was nothing that Eren could do to stop him. For a time, he considered setting fire to the whole tree to rid the world of its evil, but Judas warned him that burning it would possibly cause even more pain to the people that were connected to it. It made sense, and so, he held back his urge. The other option was to inform the elders about the tree and what was happening to all of the townspeople, but after exposing it to Judas, he was now afraid of it possibly falling into the hands of others who were just as corrupt.

So instead, he watched as his friend grew increasingly more evil, and his actions more sadistic. And he was quite good at it, though there wasn’t much that he had to do. All he had to do was eat a pear. But it still frightened Eren, how much his friend wanted to harm others. Soon he didn’t even need a reason to; he would find the most trivial thing that he could to use as an excuse against them. Someone looking at him the wrong way. Or, an admirable person that he had simply grown jealous of. He’d rush to the tree and rummage through branches until he found the right pear, and as the days went by, Eren watched as the people deteriorated.

He sat at the window overlooking the courtyard like he always did, and he eventually came to realize that it was no longer the lively place that he once remembered it to be. The doves still ate breadcrumbs given to them by the people, but there was nobody there to paint them. Solomon was one of the best painters that Eren had ever known, but unfortunately, his talents became a subject of jealousy to Judas. He didn’t even have to ask to know that that was the reason why one day, the young painter had suddenly become blind without warning. He was sure that the same thing had happened to Jonas, who had suddenly lost his ability to move either his legs despite having no injury.

Eren wept over the anguish he had caused by showing Judas the tree. Who knew that he would be so passionate about inflicting pain onto others? If only, he thought, there was a way that he could take away his ability to do such a thing.

And then, it came to him.

The idea of it terrified him at first. He sat at the window with wide eyes. It came to him quietly, whispering exactly what he should do, and he instinctively brushed it off, for it was something that he vowed never to do. But as Judas grew more unstoppable in ruining the townspeople’s lives, and no other ideas presented themselves to him, he realized that there was absolutely nothing else that he could do.

He sat by the window until he saw Judas walking in through the courtyard doors, and quietly, doing his best to not be spotted by him, he slipped into the forest and went out to find the tree. He ran his hands through the slender branches, shifting through the many faces and leaves until finally, he found what he was looking for: a pear that looked just like Judas. He held it in his hands for a long time, praying for forgiveness for what he was going to do. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, he now had a steely resolve that could not be shaken.

Quickly, before he could change his mind, he ate the pear to its core.

Then, he smiled.

It was a very delicious pear.