Unbroken beauty

I watched the sun crawl its way into the December sky, chest heaving and determination on fire. The field of ice sparkled as the light gently caressed its surface and I could just hear the earth sighing with content and happiness as the sun’s tender touch carefully stroked the field. I stood within the confines of the trees, the ones that whispered good morning quietly to anyone who’d listen, and I was embraced by the openhearted wind, cold to the touch. It raised goose bumps on my bare arms, but the sun light softly touched me with its golden fingertips and its heat poured into my body like never before. I closed my eyes, feeling my mind walk off into an endless abyss, and my soul stretched out as though it finally awoke from an extensive sleep.

I inhaled, breathing in the crisp air, that which was so tangible and brittle, and did nothing to stop the cold air as it slid into my body, slipping through the cracks and wounds I was made of. It circled and circled, soon enough flopping down in any spot it could find, a melancholy puppy numb with sleep. I opened my eyes with a sort of sleepiness that teased me playfully while I looked across the field once more. I could remember the memories that seeped into the soft earth, underneath the ice, and, if I dug far enough, I would be able to find each and every single one with wounds only as bad as frozen fingers. I could pick off the roots and brush off the dirt and gaze down at the relics that were thought to be long lost.

Turning my focus to the crystal blue sky, I observed the sun stretch its gilded arms across the light canvas while I listened for the faint footsteps that I was anticipating. I hoped, that if I died this immaculate morning, that I could see the innocence of nature surround me before I stepped into the ethereal world of the next. I hoped that it was a wonderful, unbroken kind of beauty awaiting me.

The hushed tread, that which I had grown to never fear, was on the opposite side of the field and my heart fluttered with wings as acquitted as a humming bird’s. My eyes fell from the sky to the ground as I listened intently to the snow crunching beneath boots. I swallowed my emotions and left my head full of nothing but common sense and my burning wits. A needle took to my mind, scratching out a few plans out in ink on the most delicate part of my soul, and I stared across the field and in between the ominous trees. A dark figure stood on the very edge of the tree line, their sable outline prominent against the pure snow around it. It was a gentle silhouette, but I knew better than to think of anyone as purely innocent. The air around me lost its sweet touch and I felt the nature around me slip away. The sunlight, though, wrapped me in an embrace that I could eternally stand in and I felt safe, secure, in it.

I inhaled once more before I stepped out into the field, crunching snow beneath my numb bare feet, and exhaled with a plan settling in my head. I began to cross the meadow, my heart ready, and I kept my eyes on the figure advancing towards me. Nothing but adrenaline pumped through my veins like blood and anticipation seared across my body. My fingers twitched with a craving for vengeance as memories escaped into the air. They spun into a dangerous fog that I couldn’t see through. I quit walking and fought away the thoughts, but kept the anger that it aroused in my chest. I closed my eyes for a brief second and listened keenly for the footfalls that burned into the ground. They were just twenty…fifteen…ten feet away and I could hear their almost inaudible breathing. Their steps quit just a few feet in front of me and I didn’t dare to open my eyes.

I stepped to my left, feeling the ground change beneath my foot as my oppressor changed their stance. I could see, with my eyes tightly closed, exactly where their body lied and how they were standing. Without hesitation, I fell to my knees, but swooped my body around just before I crashed into the snow and I latched onto the masculine shoulders with ease. Still not daring to pry my eyes open, I followed his movements as he attempted to throw me off. I transferred my strength into my wrists and lifted my body into the air within a few seconds and swung down, pulling his head down. My foot found the back of his knee and I felt his strong stance falter.

I slid myself off his shoulders just as his knees crashed into the snow and my eyes flew open. In front of me was a man around my age adorned in a leather jacket and pants. He had short hair and an intricate tattoo of a feather behind his ear. I lowered into a defensive stance as he picked himself up impassively. He revolved around on the heels of his boots and his dark eyes found mine. His face was covered with a strong look, one that showed that he knew what he was doing, and his insipid lips were drawn into a smirk that made my head spin. In a second or two, he his pale hand around my neck, his fingers digging into the side of my throat. The ground was no longer beneath my feet and I looked down at him, my eyes meeting his. A snicker found its way to my lips and I grabbed onto his hand with all my strength. My fingers scraped against his skin as I oscillated my lower body up into the air behind me and I flung myself down onto the ground, hauling him along with me.

Just as I loosened his long fingers, I heard more footsteps originating from somewhere between the trees. I glanced up, but, at the same time, threw my hand around his neck and felt the blood pump beneath my palm. There was no figure I could see anywhere and it made me nervous. Despite that, I looked back down at him and leaped onto his heaving chest. His eyes were burning with a hatred I could scarcely understand.

In a blinding moment, a brilliant pain shattered through my entire chest and my grip on him broke as I crumpled. He flipped his body, throwing me off to the side, and my head spun with the immense pain that clouded my entire soul. My desperate hands fluttered to my stomach, where a dagger was pierced, and I yanked it out with a piercing scream that bounded through the trees like an excited child. My body writhed in the pink snow and I thrashed around, trying to find a way around the pain. Anger boiled in my chest as I forced myself into the air, my fingers wrapped steadily around the hilt, and I instantly closed the distance between he and I before he was able to even process it. His hand caught mine just as the point of the knife pierced his chest and he wrenched it out of my hand. Without looking, he hurled it behind him and I watched it disappear into the distance through my peripherals. His foot collided into my stomach and it sent me flying backwards. The pain blurred my vision and I crashed onto the ground, my mind ready to collapse into peace. My body limply morphed with the snow as the agony was growing too much for me to handle. I gazed up at the sky as I felt my soul sliding in and out of reality.

“Where is he? Where is he?!” my attacker yelled, his voice cracking with fury. “Where is he now?!”

He appeared beside me, gazing down at me as his entire body was quivering. He put one foot on either side of me and leaned in closely. Slamming one hand just beneath my collar bone, he poured his strength into his palm and lowered his body onto mine. I watched his soul dance in his eyes as he looked directly into mine and whispered, “That’s right. He’s dead. Gone for forever.”

My eyes fluttered to a close as a soft wave of death washed over me. My hands found their way up his muscular arms and to his prominent collar bone. I wrapped my hands around his neck loosely, listening to his laughter ring around the field. I forced all my strength into them as my fingers found a place to stay. In one jerk of a movement, his laughter ceased and a heavy silence fell around me. His heavy body buckled on top of mine and I flung it off just as the pain receded from my body. I sighed, opening my eyes, and sluggishly pushed myself back to my feet. The field around me swayed back and forth as I staggered in a direction I wasn’t sure of. The crisp morning still around me pulled me into a tender embrace as the sun caressed my skin once more.

Author's Note

Review it, pretty pretty please??? :D