Chernobyl

He was such a peculiar color, though, she could imagine most residents here in Helovia were similarly painted. The bloodied stallion hadn’t done much in the way of introduction, but she could forgive him… these days were cold and certainly not ideal when it came to making “friends.” It was assumed that after such graces, she would see less of him than she did now, as the ice blue eyes that looked back were none that reckoned for friendship. His voice was gruff, almost wicked in a sense that it brought her no comfort, no desire to delve into his personality or soul. She laced a quiet gaze upon him, curt as it were, before looking once more upon the small bird that fluttered in the barren branches above. Something about him angered her, though silence was his only response. Did he know anything about the things she should and shouldn’t envy?

For a moment, she embraced the quiet quality of her loneliness before abandoning it in favor of the presumptuous stallion. However, reason and logic overcame her and she supposed that behind every effect, there was some cause. His was unknown to her and though, she didn’t care to ask, she assumed there was something in the way that she admired that small bird- wings, beak, and freedom, that ultimately nagged at some part of his heart. Though, still she remained quiet, black eyes indulging in the fine breeding of such a horse. Was there anything to be said to him? Anything that had even caused a small blip across her frequency?

Yet, nothing came, and perhaps nothing would, solely because she hadn’t the words to say to ease his certain dislike of the creature. It was obvious that he was a prominent member of the Basin, not because he held rank within the hierarchy, but more so from his sullen unease with all things airborne. Chernobyl certainly had no problem with her feathered brethren, but if asked, she would simply agree to the terms predetermined for the Basin inhabitants. After all, life was unfair no matter which way it was looked upon and this was surely only a matter of the mind and she was smart enough to realize that her acceptance into the herd depended on her rejection of the Pegasus breed altogether.

But the bird’s wings had nothing to do with her envy and had everything to do with the simplicity of what she couldn’t have, freedom. Freedom from her thoughts, freedom from the depths of heartache… these were all things that this bird, this creature, knew nothing of- other than the simple necessities of life that were required for survival. If she were a primal beast, she would have merely walked away from this stallion, favoring instead the isolation of being nomadic. But she was no barbarian and she certainly didn’t find the wanderer’s life to be of any real importance and with this thought, she looked back.

“Would you know something of my vexation?” The words were a mere whisper upon her lips, scraping past her tongue in such a way to suggest weariness. Upon his beautiful face she found disgust, and though she knew it was not meant for her, she couldn’t help but turn away. The expression was so fitting and yet so uncalled for that it was hard for her to face such conviction. She wasn’t sure if that made her weak or strong, but she had nothing much to say about it. She did not seek argument nor the expulsion of thought and word, but she had no qualms about letting him stay in her company. Maybe he would benefit her after all, though she couldn’t say how or why.

But oh, I'm staring at the mess I made
As you turn, you take your heart and walk away