Falls

He dozed quietly on the edge of the copse of trees that had become his makeshift home, through their naked branches the sun splayed warmly across his back. It was a rare treat that the warmth of the sun shone so brightly upon the world in the heart of winter that seemed determined to grip the land with no end. Within his mind however, hovering in that blissful realm of near sleep. Where, as the bare limbs swayed gently in the breeze dappling the suns rays, he was transported to that place where the boughs were thick with foliage and towering high overhead. The wind still cool against his face but tempered by the warm bodies gathered around him. They were blurry and in his peripheral, vanishing like the ghosts they were if he tried to hard to focus on them so instead he stopped trying and appreciated the familiarity of their presence.

Time tumbled onward and he could not tell how long he was blessed to dwell in that heavenly daydream built upon memories long past. Not until the sound of a raven keening loudly overhead pulled him from that reverie with such force that his emerald eyes snapped open, heavy head raising sharply as his startled snort lingered in the air. His heart pounded heavily within his chest as if he had just raced headlong across the meadows that splayed out before him. The bright world around him was a blur as he blinked furiously trying to adjust to the abrupt transition and drag himself from the memories that so desperately sought to swallow him. His breath still came in heavy, shallow gasps as he sought to quiet the raging in his heart and his head. Perhaps coming back here had been a mistake, he still did not know what had driven him to it or compelled him to stay in the place that seemed only to give those ghosts that lingered on the edges of his minds new life. Perhaps this was just the penance he deserved to pay for his failings, and that was the thought that finally allowed him to find a bit of serenity once more.

How long had he lingered here now? As if expecting something to change or for some new life to present itself. Yet the life he had allotted for himself was not something he would be allowed to just adjust on a whim, he would not get off that easily. He had met a few kindred spirits here by happenstance, others with woes of their own but it didn’t change the facts of his life. So why was he still here, that was still the question that rang between his spotted ears.