Dark eyes glared at her through dusty glass, the small red flecks bringing to mind a source of fear that had been embedded in her unconscious for some time. For a while she stared back, longing to ask what was desired of her, but no words could escape her strangled throat. Air was coming quick, but no relief was found as her lungs burned with the lack thereof. She felt constricted and yet so free, nearly there, as if she could feel him inside her. She pressed her face to the window, eyes closed, life leaving, heart stilled. He whispered words through the frame and they traveled across the wood like smoke, caressing the sill until finally making its way to her hungry mind. Fail me no more they cooed, repeating and repeating until the phrase became indecipherable, just singular letters that held no purpose like an empty promise she had given so long ago. The glass had shattered now, shards falling slowly to the ground as she opened her eyes to find him gone. Gone. Tears stung dark eyes but would not surface and she relished the pain, a reminder of her life, a reminder of his death. As the air grew thin once again, she struggled to resurface from the nightmare before wishing him one final parting gift. "You cannot fail what had never been."

In the sunlight she was calm, searching for meaning in the words that were not her own. Time seemed to pass by slowly, an eternity of life that she would never deserve. Inside, the emotions churned, thoughts of anger and fear and then, silence. She was done mourning what would never be again and with that she fled. Her feet did not move with the thought but instead stood still. Her eyes were unseeing as she stood amongst the trees of the forest, barren limbs hanging overhead like a canopy of skeletal remains, reminders of what spring had left and winter had come to rule. There was no solace for matters of the heart here except dark crevices hiding smiles of small demons with white teeth ablaze. She invited them forth, though nothing appeared.

Up ahead a small deer floundered across the clearing and this forced the mare to remove herself from the surreal and focus on reality. The young doe had paused to look at her guest with wide eyes that held no understanding of the mare’s woeful plight, but instead looked on curiously as if the two creatures had stumbled upon each other from two different worlds.

The small deer flicked her tail idly, enraptured by the horse that made no move to negate her presence. Around her muzzle, the fur was matted and dry as if she had salivated there, surely due to grazing upon yellowed, brittle grasses. She was thin and gangly, obviously in the midst of her first winter. The little mare felt a connection to the doe as both appeared to understand that from the other they would learn of the lives around them, prospering in spite of hardship. In this small stretch of eternity, both creatures were nothing more than an essence of what made the world go round, but it wasn’t long before the doe moved on, bored by the ceaseless gaze of a dying heart. Then she was alone, the horse. Her only company being a discordant tune echoing through the treetops from a bird she had never heard before. Silence then consumed her, all else becoming the background of a painting that was left unfinished.

The night's on fire

For a moment, she could see it, a mere fluttering of the imagination that brought him into the light from the depths of the trees. Agony crept through her stomach, bracing itself there until the entire organ twisted from the pain. His face held no emotion while deep brown eyes gazed mercilessly upon her. The mare’s eyes grew wide and small tremors worked their way along her spine, prickling her skin and causing her to turn away. However, when she looked back, it was not the dark shadow of her past and instead a small mare, whose stature was similar to her own. She was much younger than the dark mare and much more naïve from the looks of it. Her voice was exuberant and paled to compare to Insanity’s own monotonous drone.

“I’ve no problem with your company…” This was said curtly, as the mare had yet to recover from her former reverie and it left her reeling with emotion. The small roan was a pretty young thing and the older mare could remember when she had been just that- beautiful. However, over the years, devastation had tainted her. It had thinned her skin, aged her bones, and colored her eyes with a red, hot passion that flamed when thoughts of Jackal arose. It was times like these that it was easy to pretend that he had never scarred her heart with his rejection, with his hurt. If only he would return to the hell from whence he came and lave her thoughts entirely, though she knew this was a futile wish that would never come true.

Glancing back to the blue, she inhaled deeply, finally welcoming her fully. “I’m Insanity, Foothills Shadow. For what reasons do you wander the Forest?” Her lips parted as if to say more before clamping shut, obviously fearful of saying too much, of seeming so little and lost despite her powerful countenance. Above, the clouds darkened the sky and the mare welcomed the rain; she could almost relish the feel of it upon her dry skin and smell the fresh scent that marked the approaching spring. This was no time to fall prey to the demons of her past, in fact, it was her chance to move forward and embrace this new life. If only it were that easy…

The night's on fire