Life could not always be filled to the brim, bursting with everything cheery and bright. Those who met Carys throughout any stage of her life would assume that was precisely how her story was told, for she was never far away from a smile and always held brightness in her big blue eyes. It had never been the case for her, though she’d never tell it. She’d come to the islands as a girl, no older than two, in order to run away from a past shrouded in darkness. She’d run away from the islands in fear that the darkness had followed her, in fear that the darkness would plague the friends she had made.

Running away; all Carys’ life was simply running away. She painted it as though she was on an adventure, but she never was.

Sometimes it wasn’t just passersby and companions that she fooled, but herself as well. She wanted to believe her lie so badly that she did, quite often in fact. She dreamed up a beautiful world filled with the next great adventure, the next friend, and ignored the darkness at her back for as long as she could manage.

He never found her but she could feel his breath warm and wanting at her back.

The sands hadn’t changed and that brought a smile to Carys’ lips. She stared down at their rolling dunes, the little granules of sand skipping along in a late morning breeze, and allowed herself to bask in a moment of comfort. She doubted her friends still lingered here, though she could remember their names and faces so well. Oh, if they were here, she wondered if they loathed her for disappearing. Guilt pulled the smile from her mouth.

If only she could tell them why.

Love me. Love only me.

No, she couldn’t.

Her ear twitched and she threw her weight to her hinds as she maneuvered down a sandy dune, still recalling how to maneuver through the desert even if her build was not made for it as other horses who called Salem home. She remembered still where one of the watering holes was and she made for it, thankful she’d spent time enough exploring Salem to know where to go.

The water was a welcome sight as she came upon it, walking as her front hooves splashed, standing on the sandy bed below until it reached up past her knees. She dropped her head and suckled deep, thick white tail flicking idly at her hind.