Silence

Remembering those we once chose to forget.

Silence

 

I lay on my side, still - gazing out across a lake on a clear summer afternoon. The sun beats hard against my skin, digging into my legs under tight blue jeans. A torturous pleasure.

My eyes follow the edge of the lake, around to the verge on the other side. Surrounding the lake the grass glistens fluorescent, charged by the midday heat. I am surrounded purely by nature, without another soul to witness. I am alone in my thoughts. A sense of enjoyment fills me.

A breeze wanders in; it feels gentle across my skin. I think I hear a word softly spoken through the wisps of air as they pass my ears. Your voice. You.

Has it been so long? How are you? I wonder for a brief moment and then the wind carries on.

I peel my left shoulder from the grass, feeling the relief as my muscles relax. Sat upright, I listen for your words. But they do not come. The wind is faintly a whisper - then no longer. Only silence in the void.

I smile. About time, I think.

The water of the lake begins to ripple and change shape, rising from its foundation. I sink back to the ground and close my eyes, grasping the earth with both hands as the water caresses over me.