Feeling sufficiently far away from the prison, she slows her run in the opposite direction, and finds herself deep within a forest. Various parties in various cottages have housed her along the way, aiding her with their warm meals and warmer hearts. Her pace on the path slows until she is nearly motionless, and she realizes that she feels safe for the first time in a long time. Even before she found herself locked in the depths of a cold and musty entrapment, it was a while before then that she had really felt safe. She found it strange that she should find her peace here, in a deserted wood with no one about to cheer her.
But slowing for the first time after years of running, she could finally hear.
She could hear the fallen leaves at her feet, and the breaking sticks when she decided to take one more step. She could hear her breaths- every inhale and every exhale. She could hear herself!... Her eyes filled with forgotten tears- whether of relief or of pain, she did not know. Nor did she care. All she knew was that it felt like the years were emptying from her eyes, and underneath their floods, she was finding that she was still there somehow. Years of scum and tarnish had left her with little faith that anything of herself remained. But there she was- young and... what was it... hopeful?
She didn't know where she would go, but she knew she wouldn't have to run to get there.
A chorus of birds and squirrels seemed to ring out, almost joyful to be heard by her. Had the squirrels always been this loud? Good heavens the forest is loud! And welcoming. So welcoming. She didn't know if she wanted to lay in the dirt and never move for hours, or if she wanted to go running in every direction off the path, just to make her mark. Just to say that she is here!
I'M HERE! I'M HERE!
I'm here.
Now she knew the tears were happy. She stumbled about as in an unpracticed dance, and eventually took a seat on the fallen tree beside her to rest. She felt the bark on her fingertips, and smiled at the vine growing down its trunk. The vine would help it return to the dirt. And out of that dirt would grow an oak. She was certain of it.
Oaks were her favorite. They had always been her favorite.
She looked up and glanced again down the pathway. It was early evening, and she would still have hours to follow the sun before finding a place to sleep. She didn't want to hurry anymore. She wanted to take it all in. All of it. If the moss was soft, she wanted to feel it. And if the briar stung, she wanted to sense it. There was life in her, and she was going to live it.
She didn't know where she would go, but she knew she wouldn't have to run to get there.
