"Fall" by Adam Smith
A short story about two leaves falling in love.
A long, long time ago…
On a quiet farm just outside the busy city of Chicago, a tall maple tree stood proudly in the breeze.
It was home to many different leaves, including two very special ones named Ash and Reed.
For many seasons, they were unaware of each other—until one day, a gust of wind blew them together.
From then on, Ash and Reed were best friends.
They explored every part of the tree together.
They laughed as the farm animals played in the fields below.
They watched the world change colors, season by season.
One night, Reed felt a strange tickle.
A tiny, fuzzy caterpillar was nibbling on their edge.
"Agh!" Reed gasped.
The caterpillar jumped and crawled away.
But the damage had been done, Reed now bore a jagged nibble mark and couldn’t help but feel different.
Ash didn’t mind at all. To Ash, Reed was still perfect.
Their love remained strong—and perhaps, Reed loved Ash even more.
That night, under the glowing moon, the two drifted off to sleep.
But suddenly, CRASH!
A loud sound woke them up.
They looked down and saw a baby cow and its mother running out of the barn.
A moment later, bright red flames burst from the barn roof.
The fire spread quickly across the farm.
Ash and Reed were scared.
The heat was strong and the air was smoky.
But they held onto each other and stayed brave.
The fire burned for days. Nothing seemed to stop it.
Then, on the third day, dark clouds rolled in.
A big thunderstorm swept across the sky.
Rain poured down.
The fire sizzled and hissed… and finally, it was gone.
The next morning, Reed saw something fluttering nearby.
A butterfly.
They looked closer, and gasped. It was the same caterpillar from before!
Now it had wings. It had changed.
Reed gently nudged Ash awake to see.
The butterfly floated on the wind and landed near Ash’s branch.
But then, Reed noticed something else.
Ash’s stem had broken. Their color was fading.
Reed’s heart sank.
They looked down at the ground. A big pile of fallen leaves waited below.
Reed looked back at Ash.
They both knew. It was time.
Ash leaned toward Reed.
Together, they swayed left, then right… then left again.
Then, SNAP!
Reed’s stem let go.
Together, Ash and Reed floated gently through the air.
They landed softly on the pile of leaves.
Their journey had come to an end.
Up above, the butterfly flew off toward a beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky.
The End
I wrote this story many years ago, originally as a screenplay. It was one of the first stories I ever created.
Inspired by Pixar Shorts, FALL tells the story of two leaves falling in love. It can be read as a quiet queer love story, but at its core, it’s about life and death—universal themes that are often difficult to explore in children's animation.
The barn fire was inspired by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the folklore around how it began, often blamed on a cow kicking over a lantern inside a barn.