02-11-2017, 07:28 PM
So much changed in one little moment, or in what turned out to be one little moment for Momma and Uncle Kade and everybody else but me maybe. Like I stepped outside of time for less than an instant, but it stretched into minutes and hours and days, long enough to travel through what feels like a dream now, or almost at least. It would, I think, if it weren’t for the ending. I didn’t get to stay until the end. I think she wanted to spare me that much, or he did.
I could have tried to save her.
But I didn’t.
I’ve had a lot to think about, so much that for the first time ever, I snuck away from Momma and Daddy and even Uncle Kade, taking some time all by myself to let the thoughts rush around in my head faster than I can even think them. Just this humming cloud in my head of what ifs, fighting for attention and drowning each other out before I can quite hear any of them.
I found myself a nice, cozy-looking tree to hide out under, buying myself time to think-not-think in the shade of its big overhanging branches. Except one of the humming thoughts is louder than the rest and actually reaches my ears. “Hello! My name is Luster.” I blink, tilting my head and turning to look in the direction the sound came from even though there’s nothing there but shadows.
And then suddenly there isn’t nothing anymore, there’s--well still mostly nothing, but there’s a hip and a hind leg about the same size as mine. I lean a little closer, looking at the leg, staring at the darkness of the shadows to try to see the rest of the person as she asks, “Do you live here?”
“Oh hi, Luster. It’s nice to meet you,” I reply, talking to the place the voice is coming from instead of the leg because probably it’s rude to not talk to somebody’s face even if the face is invisible and all you can see is a leg. “My name’s Rora. And goodness, no, this tree’s like a hidey hole I snuck away to. I live in Sylva with my momma and my daddy and my uncle uh-KADE-ee-an. Uncle Kade. Where d’you live?”
I could have tried to save her.
But I didn’t.
I’ve had a lot to think about, so much that for the first time ever, I snuck away from Momma and Daddy and even Uncle Kade, taking some time all by myself to let the thoughts rush around in my head faster than I can even think them. Just this humming cloud in my head of what ifs, fighting for attention and drowning each other out before I can quite hear any of them.
I found myself a nice, cozy-looking tree to hide out under, buying myself time to think-not-think in the shade of its big overhanging branches. Except one of the humming thoughts is louder than the rest and actually reaches my ears. “Hello! My name is Luster.” I blink, tilting my head and turning to look in the direction the sound came from even though there’s nothing there but shadows.
And then suddenly there isn’t nothing anymore, there’s--well still mostly nothing, but there’s a hip and a hind leg about the same size as mine. I lean a little closer, looking at the leg, staring at the darkness of the shadows to try to see the rest of the person as she asks, “Do you live here?”
“Oh hi, Luster. It’s nice to meet you,” I reply, talking to the place the voice is coming from instead of the leg because probably it’s rude to not talk to somebody’s face even if the face is invisible and all you can see is a leg. “My name’s Rora. And goodness, no, this tree’s like a hidey hole I snuck away to. I live in Sylva with my momma and my daddy and my uncle uh-KADE-ee-an. Uncle Kade. Where d’you live?”
pic by Qinni