The green rush of summer has given way to brown. The frozen ground beneath my back has set a chill upon me. Using what strength I have left, I grip the cold tentacles of a tree and pull myself underneath. Resting my head against the trunk, I'm able to see the silver sky cast before me. The clouds have turned to ash and ember; a ruby shimmer sets them on fire for a fleeting moment. Is it the sun? I'm not able to tell anymore.
I place my hands over my chest. My breath has slowed its pace.
In the distance, a single star falls from behind a cloud. A tail cast aglow in the brightest blue and violet; oh how gorgeous it is. Then another star falls, and then another. Before long, hundreds... no thousands of stars rip through the fog and smoke. I notice that dead leaves have begun to spin down from the tree. I can feel a trembling, much like a thundering herd of buffalo racing towards me. As the vibrations become more violent, the falling leaves increase in number.
A vicious gash tears through the valley. Rocks, dirt and dust; they all crumble away to a bottomless void. Even the stars, they too are sucked into nothingness. The heavens descend upon my head. A typhoon of energy has shred the silver sky apart.
Like a mask being torn from the face of a stranger, I see the hollow suspension of the unknown.
And there I am... floating in a pool of onyx.
No earth or sky; no up or down. I have just bear witness to a great unrendering. A world completely stolen away from me... and here I rest with no power to have stopped it. With icicles for fingers, I feel for my chest once more. Yes... the pace has almost come to a halt. And then... my breathing has stopped. I am no more.
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I awake to you kissing my forehead. A cold sweat has set in my flesh. I inhale a large gasp of air and regain my senses.
"Wake up silly-head."
There you are, racing towards a clearing in the trees. I can't see your face, but I know it's you. Your feet carry you as if wings have burst forth from your ankles. Hair as black as the night sky wraps your figure in a contrast of wonder. I know I'll never be able to catch up to something so graceful, so completely magnificent. I let you glide away and watch in amazement. Though I can't run with you, at least I can see you one last time -- happy, alive, without any sorrow.
Your figure skips towards the far end of the clearing. Dusk has set in and my sight has grown weary. Suddenly, you dart back into the brush like a frightened creature of the forest. As quickly as you were here, you're now gone. Forcing myself, I rise from the comfort of our old tree and brush off. It's time to go, I lie to myself.
And with that, I return to a world -- fully formed with the earth, the sky, the clouds and stars above. Everything is as it should be... except for one missing piece.
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“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.” -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
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