[open] here i am, i'm not really there [any]

[stevie]

you knew it still hurts under my scars
From when they pulled me apart

Stevie cannot begin to comprehend the sadness of others.

The young woman has lived through her fair share of loneliness and hurt, but she has never let it drive her to sadness or depression. She had witnessed her mother beating her sister near to death, then turn those seafoam eyes on her as if daring her to step a toe out of line. The witch had yearned to tear into her daughter’s flesh, to find the monster lurking beneath the surface, but Stevie isn’t like her twin. Eva had been shifting almost uncontrollably since being born; Stevie’s shifts are much less common, and her mother has never seen the demon burst from her skin.

Even Stevie is unfamiliar with the monster under her skin.

Most days for the girl are all the same - stay awake until dawn, sleep through the sunlight hours, and remain awake throughout the night. She tends to keep herself fairly isolated since abandoning her twin, but could anyone blame her? Eva’s shifts were terrifying and uncontrollable, and the girl would come out of them shaking and sobbing and begging for forgiveness. Eventually, Stevie had been forced to leave her sister behind, as much as it had broken her heart. And still, she doesn’t let the sadness settle. It is but a fleeting feeling, she would tell herself, and like everything else, the emotion had faded.

Her eyes are heavy as dusk approaches, but she shakes off the looming possibility of sleep and weaves her way through the forest. She had found herself unable to rest for a long period through the daylight hours, and exhaustion looms as the sunlight begins to fade. She needs to find a more populated area, to force herself to stay awake through the night; the demon sings to her as she moves, and she knows that resting for too long will be to surrender control of her body.

She doesn’t want to awaken in the morning with no memory of the night before.

So focused on her journey, she doesn’t notice the grullo stallion until she rounds a tree and nearly stumbles into him. “Sorry,” she mutters, and goes to move along, but she glances up and her seafoam eyes meet his blue ones that appear so troubled. So she doesn’t leave but tips her head curiously, her shaggy forelock nearly falling into her eyes. “Are you alright?”

— Stevie

@eddie