**Writings is a series of posts, as we close out 2017, featuring work by the teen writers participating in our Teen Day program. **
The Night
The blue of the sky and the hills through the fog drew my eyes past the crowded room, past the frame, and out the window into the evening light. The dark shapes of trees frozen in a desperate struggle blocked a clear view to the hill across the valley. Tiny lights twinkled there, the only sign of life through the fog. The top of the hill was distinguishable only by the change in color from it to the lighter sky.
Between me and the distant hills was an army of trees, their rain drenched leaves flopped limply from their branches giving the forest a sad, dreary look. A few dead trees scrambled at the others reaching for their life and young joy. But they, like the others, were frozen in a silent dance, unmoving until the wind came to playfully shove at them. When the trees held strong the wind would give a final exasperated push and move on.
—Emily Warner
TEEN DAY Ithaca 