Sabra
I am still staring at my own face, until I no longer recognize it in the shimmering water. It's a stranger's face, one that belongs to someone brittle and lovely, spun of glass and eggshells. I am watching from the outside, and so don't realized I am no longer entirely alone until the voice breaks through my reverie.
The scream is choked off quickly, but I have already leapt to the side, the spear shaft swinging sickeningly in my breast as I jolt to face the newcomer. Her voice had been quiet, but it felt like a physical blow, and I'm quivering all over when I look at her. Simple. Refined. And with revulsion painted across her face. Breathing ragged, I shake my head viciously from side to side, trying to rid myself of the vision. She remains.
"Not a tree," I whisper, throat husky with my recent tears. "A monster. The dead. You're not dead, are you? Because I must say I've had quite enough of the dead and I wish they'd just leave me ALONE!" The words climb until I'm shrieking, snapping at the shadows on the corners of my sight. "Go away, little girl, go away!" I hiss over my shoulder, the childish giggles of my dead daughter ringing in my ears.
Other voices mingle with hers, spiteful murmurs. They build in my head with migraine pressure. I stamp the wet earth violently, wings shuddering. It's bad bad bad today. Its not always this bad, but I can't shut them out forever. Sometimes it's like the inexorable path of a sandstorm. Powerful, painful and I can't outrun it. Can't fly fast enough. Can only hide myself away until it passes, and the Voices give me a moment's rest.
She's there. I remember she's there, and she's said nothing bitter. Not yet. Only watched as I bite and rage at the ones who claw for my heart. It's already broken beyond repair, can't they see that? But they won't stop. Not until they've devoured the weeping organ from the inside out, or forced out back down my own throat.
I wanna be Immortal, like a God in the sky
I wanna be a silk flower, like I'm never gonna die
Photo by Kareva Margarita
@[aletta]