I am...Leaf

Things were quiet. Quiet and dry. And dark, but he'd only ever known darkness. He was still too small to sprout, so he didn't get to see the world just yet. But why was it so dry? Normally, the Big Thing always came by and dropped water into his soil... the Big Thing hadn't come by in a long time, and so he was starting to worry. His leaf had started growing, and it wouldn't be long before it poked its way out of the soil... so where had the Big Thing gone? Even if he was starting to feel awful dehydrated, all he could hope was that the Big Thing was okay, wherever it'd gone off to.

Zacharie had never, ever in his whole seven years of life been this excited.
EVER.
Because his father had given him his very own science project to work on! It was difficult (even his father hadn't been able to get it to work) but the boy was positive that with hard work and love he could manage to get this little plant to grow.

"Hello," Zacharie said softly as he settled the pot full of dirt beneath the lamp he had set up on his desk. "My name is Zacharie, I'm gonna take care of you from now on. So grow big and strong, okay?" Andre had told him once that talking to plants sometimes helped them grow. He couldn't remember why, but Andre was super smart so it had to be true. "You must be thirsty, your dirt is all dry. Father wasn't doing a very good job taking care of you." He grumbled the last bit to himself as he carefully dripped some water onto the dirt.

He was starting to get sleepy. He did sleep a lot, which was normal for such a seedling- or, at least he thought it was. But this was because of the uncomfortable heat... but then, he heard something. It wasn't the Big Thing. This was a different sound, he didn't know that voice. It was softer, more gentle... and then, there was water! He squirmed around in his soil, overjoyed at the sudden refreshment. Oh, he was so excited! The new voice was nice, he decided. In the midst of his happy squirming, he felt the soil atop him shift- and then, his leaf had popped up into the fresh air. He stopped moving suddenly, a bit frightened. There was a whole new world up there, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for it yet...

But, the new voice(what was the word he called himself? Za...Zachie? Something like that!) had already been so nice to him. He wanted to meet his new caretaker. And so he wormed his way up the soil again, until his tiny head pushed out of the surface... he rubbed his eyes with needle-tip sized fingers, adjusting to the light. Wow, light... it was really weird! He didn't mind it though, and eventually adjusted to it and peered up. The new voice(decidedly, the Smaller Thing), was there, towering over him. He stared, sinking shyly back down into his soil.

"A leaf!" Zacharie exclaimed, shifting a bit closer to get a better look at the small, green leaf that had emerged from the damp soil. "I knew you weren't dead. You were just thirsty, weren't..." He trailed off when a teeny tiny...head(?) suddenly appeared. "...you?"

Well...okay.

Not really know what to do in this sort of situation, he could really only watch in awe as the tiny...plant...human...thing, slowly adjusted to the bright light and take in its surroundings. "You're...you're a little person." He whispered, a wide smile slowly lighting up his face. "A tiny plant person!" He exclaimed excitedly. He had grown a tiny plant person all by himself (for the most part). "It's okay, you don't gotta be scared. I won't hurt you." He promised as the tiny creature shrank away from him.

The Smaller Thing made some excited sounding noises, but he wasn't sure what they all meant. He sounded... happy. And he didn't seem like he was scary, he had watered him after all... so, he peeked up again, holding his hands above his eyes to block the light from his eyes.

Wow. The Smaller Thing was... strange looking. But, this was his Smaller Thing, who'd taken care of him, so he had to love it anyway. He wasn't sure what kind of plant had purple hair, though. Carefully, he pulled himself out of the soil and tried to stand- but, his leaf promptly threw him off balance, and he was toppling head over heels. He landed on his leaf, and decided to lay there and watch the Smaller Thing. Maybe it wasn't so strange, after all. He rather liked it, and so he smiled up at it from his very comfortable leaf bed.