10-15-2020, 09:56 PM
despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came
“It’s so hot,” I complain to the world at large. Indeed, the late summer sun beat down through the trees, stifling the air around me. The flies were murderous, swarming around my eyes and ears, where the fur is thin and sparse, and the skin easy to access. I don’t want to move, but they force me to shake my head every so often as they gnaw into my flesh. I snort, not a casual sound, but the sound of distress and annoyance. I was already sad by the missing presence of Yanhua, I didn’t want the annoyance of the flies and the heat on top of that.
Indeed, I had been sad since the stallion had left. It felt like forever, but it couldn’t have been that long, could it? Well, no matter how long it was, it felt like an eternity, and I felt alone, more lonely than I had felt in a long time, because I knew that he existed, and I also knew that he wasn’t here. A sigh escapes my lips as I shake the flies away once more, and I give a longing look into the distance. When would he return?
With another sigh, I decide I’ve had enough of the flies. And the heat. So I turn down the familiar path that I had traveled many times already this summer, back to the special place in which he had shown me. As I pass the ferns, they brush gently against my legs, a cool relief in the heat. Then I reach the small river. I glance at the tree where Yanhua’s scrapes still cut into the tree bark from where he’s sharpened his horns over and over.
I move into the middle of the creek, and this is where I stop. The water feels amazing against my skin, though it is lower than it has been since I’d been here, it still comes up to my knees. Taking in a deep breath, I plunge my head into the waters. Oh, it feels so good. When I pull my head from the water, the soft breeze that moves through the trees feels even better. With a smile on my face, now, I start to paw at the water, splashing it up onto my belly. The movement invigorates me, and I begin to prance, at first in one place, then around in circles, playing–no dancing–in the water.
borderline
@[Yanhua]