Rain whips my cheeks, cooling my fiery skin.
Ten steps. Ten short steps, and I’ll be encompassed in the shelter of our cottage.
Home.
My feet stay rooted to the ground. Shirt sleeves sticking to my arms, hair soaking my back. I breathe in and out in quick bursts, willing my muscles to move.
She was just beside me. I felt her fingers relax in mine as we fell asleep. Heard her exhales by my neck, smooth and steady.
Nothing makes sense. How could I know her so little? How could she keep something so significant from me? Did she think it wasn’t my business? That it wouldn’t affect me?
Anger grabs me by the throat, crushing my windpipes.
It is my business!I want to scream.You can’t just decide something like this without talking to me. That’s not how this works!
Throwing my head back, I stare into the rain, but that only brings her words back to haunt me.
I see the sky tonight.
It’s too much, almost blinding.
My heart chokes me at the sight,
and I’d cry a thousand silent tears
just to be a part of it.
My stomach lurches as I turn and face the forest’s opening in the opposite direction, peering into miles and miles of towering trees.
Heartbeat roaring in my ears.
I kick off my drenched shoes without thinking. The second my bare foot lands on wet leaves, I take off.
I opened my eyes.
Opened them wide.
I just forgot I wasn’t supposed to blink.
I run as fast as my legs will carry me. The rain vanishes as I brush past the same trees I’ve seen countless times before. The deeper I go, the harder my lungs constrict.
I’ve never seen them so angry. Looming over me, thousands of branches like bony arms outstretched above my head, determined to hide the sky. Gasping, I shoot my hands over my face, trying to block them from view.
The woods aren’t supposed to be angry like me; this is supposed to be our happy place.
I have this clock,
inside my heart.
It ticks and it tocks,
so deep it shakes my bones.
It’s like a secret,
just for me.
A silent bomb,
