And overhead the aspen heaves



The abysmal torrent from the skies begins quickly and I lament my decision to stroll through the cloud covered night. You accursed fool! I hurl insults at myself in time with the ones from my mother’s raspy voice inside my mind. She rants and raves and for just a moment I think I see her swirling form pacing on the path before me as she tosses venomous words my way. Oh how many times have I heard the voice of my vanished dam rattling my brain? Far too many to even begin to count and pitch features twist in a grimace. Mud splattered limbs hesitate in their next step at a particular barb from my mother’s mouth but I push through it. I know she is not truly here with me nor can she project her voice into my thoughts but for the first eight months of my life her scratching chords were all I heard. Correcting, shaping, creating. The words whisper across my tongue but I do not speak them; her intensive lessons before she disappeared all bore the same purpose in mind.

Blackened lids seal off cerulean pools from the rest of the world.

The erratic thoughts bouncing around me fall away then and I turn my sight back to the skies. The downpour shows no signs of stopping which is just as well since I have no intention of going home tonight. The ache in my chest pains me the most when I am there, surrounded by equines referred to as my herd family and I am not eager to return to the place where my loneliness is inescapable. There are many there, I have stumbled across their scent trails and even witnessed some of them gathering but no one there save two have spoken to me. Truthfully, their reluctance to engage me and my resulting turbulent emotions surprise me.

A carefully crafted and perfect mask of serene neutrality descends upon inked features.

The mask is comforting, peace giving and my sole ability to cope (properly ignore) uncomfortable emotions while in the presence of others but lately I bear it even while alone. Gracefully sculpted legs lead me to a thicker section of trees where the overlapping canopy provides much needed shelter from the night-chilled rain. Sensing no other souls nearby I lean into a evergreen and my eyes drift close before I can convince myself it is safer to remain alert. The dawning light, grayed out and hazy, draws me away from fitful dreams of unfulfilled and broken promises. Cautiously I pick my way back to the main trail I was following during the night but it quickly becomes apparent that I chose incorrectly; this path nothing like the one before. It is denser, overgrown and scarcely used I surmise as branches and leaves scratch against my mud covered hide. I ignore the sensation however when cerulean eyes spy a familiar form lurking under a tree. “Sean?” I breathe in a whisper and amble his way. The ever present mask is firmly in place, but my eyes betray how glad I am to see a face I know and knows me in return.



It’s rainy-sounding silver leaves



"speech"

OOC:  It's finally up, I'm sorry for the wait! <3