Scratching for Something

There was a man who struggled with a gritty sensation in his stomach. It was not so much painful as it was strange. The skin in that place began to arc up and extend outward, hardening and transforming into woody bark. This outgrowth became so substantial that the man could no longer stand or move about. He was forced to lie on his back and spread his arms to keep from tipping. The tree also grew inside his body, slowly taking it, making roots from his veins, transforming his spine into a thick hairy tuber and sending it down into the earth. Finally, the tree covered over all traces of the man. No one looking could see that its sap was bloody red and there was a tiny heart, still pumping inside the concentric rings of its hard wooden torso.