[private] followed by the ghost of what you can't absolve

[elio]

elio

Deep within the shadows of the Forest, a clearing stained by Elio's blood shines silver beneath fickle moonlight. He is there, now, in his mind. Where his hooves actually take root is merely a border, one he longs to cross but can't find the will to.

Or, ability, rather. Will isn't the right word when what holds him quiveringly still is the bloodied memory of his body breaking.

Why am I here? he thinks. Here being halfway in and halfway out of the river that lines the Meadow and the Forest. It is an uncharacteristically chilly night, the first whisperings of Autumn forming little susurrus on the breeze. Elio shivers, waves of gooseflesh rising and falling on the top half of his body. Water rushes powerfully around his legs, the consequences of a rain-laden summer.

Why am I here? he thinks again, taking one more step into the deepening water. Because I can do this, he answers himself.

"Because I can do this."

Why return to the scene of his near-death? One might ask him, where they to know what he struggles with outside of the obvious rushing water. Elio doesn't know why; and--if faced with such an inquisitive stranger, he might figure himself out.

But to know oneself is to allow others to know one and . . . He won't be seen anymore.

Not after Taiga. After Nash. After Celina. After his father.

The pegasus continues to battle with himself, occasionally falling to shadow as the cloudy night hides what light the moon provides.

i don't think i could stand to be
where you don't see me

@[Anonya]