THIS IS HOW IT’S GOING TO BE
If I am guilty of anything, I am certainly guilty of enjoying a nap from time to time. Usually right around midday. This time of year, it’s especially comfortable, because the air is cool and the sun is still warm. The trick is to find the right spot; I have very specific qualifications. I need somewhere discreet, not easy to discover, and surrounded by lots of noisy leaf litter so I can hear anyone or anything that might pass my way. I don’t drop my guard just anywhere – that kind of stupidity is better left for fools and those with a death wish. I am neither.
I am Boleyn, and I don’t fuck around.
This afternoon I’m searching for a good place to nap. I like the woodlands, even on a bad day, and I move through the trees on quiet paws. The branches have been shedding their leaves for a season now, and the sun reaches warm, tempting fingers through the open canopy. The heat touches my coat like a lover, drawing me forward. I know where I’m going. I rarely sleep in the same place twice, but it’s been so long since I was last here that it’s worth the risk. I really want this nap.
Less than an hour’s walk brings me to the edge of a creek, and I check the damp earth for tracks – wolf or otherwise. I don’t mind detouring for a quick meal. But I find the mud quite untouched, a good sign, and so I make my way upstream. When the creek rounds a bend, I turn away, disappearing back into the trees, and moments later I’m at the edge of a small clearing. Here I stop. Here I wait.
My dark coat blends well into the shadows thrown by the saplings and thick underbrush around me, my green eyes could be two leaves. I listen hard. I test the air. I circle the clearing to be sure that I’m alone. And so I am. Finally, I move into the sunshine, closing my eyes to the warmth as it envelops me. A boulder, rounded and smooth, waits for me, already toasty from sitting in the afternoon sun. I pounce gracefully to its center, circle once, twice, and then stretch myself out.
I sigh heavily, close my eyes, and wait for sleep.
B O L E Y N
covet x fathom
four || temptation || destiny || loner