Submitted by Jorge – I was walking through this small village in Vietnam when I saw it—this huge banyan tree. I don’t know why, but it just felt different. The kind of thing you stop and stare at without even meaning to. Its roots were all twisted, breaking in and out of the ground, and the branches stretched so far it looked like it could hold up the sky.

I walked closer, and… I don’t know, the air just felt strange. Like heavier, or maybe buzzing? I can’t explain it. I touched the bark—just to see what it felt like, I guess—and for a second, I thought I heard something. Like a whisper.

I know how that sounds. It was probably just the wind through the leaves or my imagination messing with me. But it didn’t feel like that. It felt real, like the tree was alive and trying to tell me something, even if I couldn’t understand it.

I stood there for a long time—longer than I meant to—just listening. It was calm, but kind of intense too. Like the tree had been there forever, watching things happen, holding onto stories no one else could remember.

Eventually, I walked away, but I couldn’t stop looking back at it. It felt like the tree was still… I don’t know, watching me, maybe?

I’ve thought about it a lot since then. I don’t usually believe in that kind of stuff, but something about that tree stuck with me. Like it knew something I didn’t.

It’s probably silly, but now, whenever I see a big tree like that, I stop for a second. Just in case it has something to say.