For the Love of Carbon

I would say "once upon a time", but my life has neither begun nor ended; it has only been proceeding. Allow me to introduce myself: I am a nameless molecule of carbon, the basis of all earthly life. My kind is the reason why you exist. We deserve far more respect, so to leech some of it out of you, dear ignorant human, I will tell you a story. It shall be a tale filled with adventure and tragedy, the tale that never ends! Feel free to listen for eternity.

I can't say this is how I began, but on a certain day I happened to be part of a beautiful jade-green leaf worn by an ancient maple. I, the carbon molecule, happily resided there in the knowledge that without my siblings (and me), the majestic tree would not live.

Autumn crept upon us, and my host, turned beet-red, shriveled into brown and fell for the winter, branches left bare besides. The leaf disintegrated (it was horribly sad) and I became a part of the soil.

Do you know how much time passed then? Millions, more than your measly mind could imagine. I was compressed vastly, the weight of the world upon me. Gradually, I turned into a source of energy: crude oil. Then I waited, for my aerial trip would take another couple hundred thousand years to achieve (I think). But I did get to fly one day, part of a carbon dioxide molecule, free as fire.

But wait! There, below, was another green flash. A tree! A certain stomate drove me in; photosynthesis was in the making. Now part of a valuable glucose molecule, I wove through the phloem of the trunk. My life had new purpose (though brainless me hadn't a clue).

One morning a nose sniffed at my home (I was in the vein of a leaf at the time). There was a strange, damp sensation, then a burning one. The tired animal had converted me to adenosine triphosphate (or for the common folk, energy). Now I was a part of the creature, wholly underappreciated.

It was a happy life for him, but he got hunted down and eaten by a bigger creature (I would have cried, but I didn't have any H2O to spare). Just when I got over the tragedy, I was exiled from the kingdom. Breathed out, just like that. Animals have an unreasonable grudge against CO2 (it's not our fault that they die from too much of us).

On the bright side, I could fly again.

That is, until I was kidnapped by another beastly plant. Photosynthesis, yada yada yada, glucose... The plant (sunflower this time) cycled me through itself. At one point, I was within its roots. My life, as it were, continued.

I never saw my siblings again.

The End
The Beginning
The Continuation