the salt and the sea, aeris pony

[kensley]

i took the poison praying you'd feel it, too i wrapped my neck and prayed that you'd feel the noose He hadn’t expected it to hurt to be here. He had expected to find some relief in coming home. But this is not his home, not really. It is different and so is he. It has been days now since he swam back to the island and the exhaustion is just now beginning to dissipate. He wanders now, through the meadow and the forest and down by the river, the only parts of this world that remain largely unchanged. He doesn’t dare stray toward the places he once lived because he can tell even from a distance that they are not the same. He carries the hurt and the grief and the longing with him as he ventures down to the edge of the river. The sun is relentless, merciless as it bores its heat into his skin. He does not hesitate before he casts himself into the water, cold and wild. He closes his eyes and tries not to think about how alone he is or how that aloneness translates into loneliness. He stays there a long time, braced against the vicious current, until the muscles quiver and he has to drag himself from the depths. He lingers on the riverbank as the water beads and drips from his skin. He shackles his thousand-yard stare to nothing in particular as the sun continues its beating and the water does little to insulate him from it. He is lost in his thoughts until the sound of a branch breaking arrests his attention and he casts a glance toward the forest’s edge. shattered son of jarris and plumeria