A Very Distant Shore

 

I knew she was there.

I turned around and I saw the beach. Where the white foam of the ocean would wrap itself around rocks and caress the face of the sand.

She was barefoot, I could tell. There was a steady, evenly paced trail behind her with indentations and toe marks all set in rows.

She wore black form fitting leggings, a white undershirt and a pink t-shirt.

My eyes saw her as she was walking to the water. She had a look of confusion about her, as if she was walking in a daze. Her nose was turned slightly upwards and she stared off into the distance as if she was listening to a song no one else could hear.

I had known she was there. I can always sense her. I felt her presence.

I can see her walking to the water, and I know, she isn't about to stop. She's about to drown, under the enchantment of some unseen delusion.

It isn't like the other times, When the beast man was chasing her. In the other ways, I would die so that she could escape and live. In this the darkness was not palpable like before. It was wispy and subtle.

My feet held their position at the moment my heart recognized the urgency of the situation. My mind summoned my voice, but it was caged too deep within me. I needed to call out a warning to her, but there was none to call. My hands stretched outwards trying to reach a place beyond my grasp. I parted my lips as drew in the breath that might free my words and I called for their utterance from my mouth....

...and my eyes opened, and I was staring blankly at the textured ceiling in my room.

...and play through scenes I'd never lived, in places I should have been, in protection could not give.Where threats echoed through pride cracked bonds of friendship, and family, and love.

...As blink my eyes awake, I think of the truth that love endures all things.

Foremost being, the weight and cost of itself.