The shadows fold over me, but they are not cast by the trees. The light is smothered, put out too quickly for it to be anything stationary. My eyes flutter upwards, turning from the earth where they had rested trance-like. Blinking silently at the form that blocks the sun’s rays, I find no surprise, if I were to expect anyone it would be him. Kernick, I think simply to myself, the young, silvery shadow blots the hollow. The boy reminds me of my mother, favoring her color with his dark base and fair hair. The only difference was mother would forever be vibrant, and dear Kernick would fade, much like myself.
He chomps away at the drying grasses, making a hardy effort to fill his too young belly. The unfinished, chewed-up stalks fall heavy, and limp to the ground. My nose threatens to turn away, to crumple at the sight of the spit covered, green wads. Somehow, I manage to not empty my stomach.
His mother is rarely fit to care for him, and even still, he is rarely around to care for. Sporadic comings and goings, fill the youth’s life. The child is oft absent and this fact does not escape my notice. Little did. Little in the way of things I could see, things I could feel and experience as a silent observer.
I watch him as he hovers, inching my way and his feet do move back and forth, unsure. Attempts at speech do not come easily, instead his efforts barely rewarded with soft whispers that aren’t even words. My ears are ringing too loud to hear him anyways, the dull disquiet numbs me, makes me wish I could gauge them and take out my frustration. I sigh and let it file gently out my mouth in greeting, one of my ears turns lazily forward and I look up at him without much raising of my dial.
”What? Do you want to lay down?” Perhaps I speak too harsh, too loud but I have no way to discern these things. I offer a gesture with my words, turning my sooty head towards my stomach before my coppery stare finds its way back. ”You’ve been missing a lot Kernick.” I relay this knowledge like it is no big deal, some common everyday conversation.
