Been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been really busy with school. Meaning, REALLY BUSY. Also, university applications have not helped. I think I’m stressing far too much over those.
Anyways, I saw this really beautiful image on National Geographic the other day and I thought I might like to write something inspired by the image. There are four points of view that I decided to take on here. I’m hoping they’re not too obvious, but still discernible…
She leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of the unknown below, knowing that with any wrong move, any moment could be her last. With her knack of tripping over herself, a powerful gust of wind may even do the job for her.
It wasn’t close enough.
Closing her eyes, she willed her pounding heart to ease. Deep breaths. A light breeze tickled her face, a strand of hair drifting into her eyes. She cringed, the breeze bringing the possibility of falling over––
She shook her head. What was the use of a hike all the way up here if she chickened out last minute? This was her reward. It was worth it. It was worth it. It was worth it.
Chanting that phrase in her mind, she cautiously unclenched her fists, released her gritted teeth, struggled to burrow her right foot into the rigid soil, and shuffled her left foot forward, millimeter by millimeter.
Not quite.
Almost there… The side of the cliff was starting to show…
Yes!
Barely an inch away from the edge, her heartbeat thumping out of her chest, her damp hands clutched onto the straps of her backpack, she finally got her wish.
And all the words forming on the tip of her tongue dissolved.
~
He groaned, his heavy feet impaled into the sand, the never ending nagging of the water chipping off his core.
Little. By. Little.
He often thought of the creatures who walked on his back. How were they so small, yet so much of his well-being depended on them? He couldn’t deny it: they treated him well. They massaged just the right places, as though they felt the tightness of his muscles in that one perfect spot. They routinely shaved his hair. They shooed away the troublesome pieces of debris that the wind spat onto his body.
Mind you, they were most likely the ones that fed the wind those polluted bits in the first place.
Sometimes, he pictured being in their position.
It would be rather unlucky, to be so miniscule, so vulnerable. The wind seemed as if it could whisk them all away in a matter of seconds.
Standing on the edge of his back was one of the creatures. If he could, he would have released one great, heaving sigh. How brainless they were. It was fortunate that the wind was so kind; otherwise, anyone else may have knocked the creature off already.
~
Creeping inch by inch down the layers, he paused. His asthma seemed to be worsening these days; it took him longer to complete the same small patches of territory.
Absolutely not.
It was not time yet.
He was halfway there. He need only endure two more feet of reaching out and folding his stalks around the jagged edges. The rock was icy to his touch, slightly damp from the waves’ persistent badgering, which––Ah.
Only now, it occurred to him that the rock may not have approved of this breach of privacy. It was such a routine in his life by now… He didn’t even think. A wave of shame swept across his leaves, rustling them a little. But how to apologize? Now that he had almost completed his path, there was no way to communicate.
His only hope was that the rock had forgiven this violation by now. There was no time to dawdle; time was a-ticking, and break time was over.
Taking a deep breath, he ventured forth.
~
What a naive fool, she thought, drifting in circles around the creature an inch away from the edge of the rock. She gave a little puff. The creature’s mane fluttered upwards a bit. It stiffened visibly.
Thank goodness she was in a satisfactory mood today; otherwise, she might have considered…
No!
She had to remember the promise she made to herself.
The mere thought of her actions, those weeks ago… It was horrifying. The absolute delight that filled her transparent heart, releasing great extravagant sighs along with her fettered emotions; the slow spread of panic at seeing the mass of creatures teeter and fall over the edge; the piercing screams that filled the air, echoing all the way down the pit; but mostly, the painful angles of the creatures’ parts as they lay on the rocks, red liquid oozing.
Suddenly aware of her breath getting increasingly labored, she bade herself to get it together. It would not happen again, she was sure of it.
This was boring. About time she left.
cratious mrrp *☮to #y@u~♫ 