The Quills
Author: keppiehed
Word Count: 391
Prompt: “end of the road”
A/N: Written for the_quills.
As a child she used to dream of the end of things and hide her head under covers until the terrible darkness passed. It was change that scared her most, and in her sleep she would wake, trembling, from visions of nothingness that she imagined awaited her. She did not like to contemplate forever.
The glow of the nightlight was little comfort then, an insignificant beacon to conquer her fantastical terrors. So she would breathe herself calm and begin to trace the lines of her future, the bright roads that would lead her from this place into anywhere. They were the ribbons of a life that hadn't happened yet, a possibility glimpsed from the goosedown.
When she got older she scoffed at what used to scare her; she stuffed down the fear and skated the thin veneer of false courage. She dipped her fingers into old warnings and tried them on like patchwork coats to impress her friends. But in the end she was left standing in the shadows with her heart still cringing from the things that had long troubled her. She didn't want to shine a light into the corners and so she stepped onto one of those ribbons with a confidence as made up as the make-up she applied every morning in her mirror.
One day blurs into the next and she forgets who she was so long ago. The fever of life burns away her memory and the blur of motion around her wears her down. She doesn't remember what she was afraid of. She doesn't remember happiness. She sits and looks out the window and tries for stillness as things fall past her too quickly to be caught. She sees that the weep of the willow leans every year, with the bend and snap growing ever more pronounced. Will it break? Will she? She wishes she could dream again, even if it scares her.
And so she tries, with closed eyes, and finds that her ribbon bright has not forsaken her. It is ever growing with twists and turns, and it leads not to the end of the road, but to you. It was nothing to be afraid of all along, but waiting for her to understand. She opens her eyes and looks to the south, where love waits for her to wake up.
Wake up.
Word Count: 391
Prompt: “end of the road”
A/N: Written for the_quills.
As a child she used to dream of the end of things and hide her head under covers until the terrible darkness passed. It was change that scared her most, and in her sleep she would wake, trembling, from visions of nothingness that she imagined awaited her. She did not like to contemplate forever.
The glow of the nightlight was little comfort then, an insignificant beacon to conquer her fantastical terrors. So she would breathe herself calm and begin to trace the lines of her future, the bright roads that would lead her from this place into anywhere. They were the ribbons of a life that hadn't happened yet, a possibility glimpsed from the goosedown.
When she got older she scoffed at what used to scare her; she stuffed down the fear and skated the thin veneer of false courage. She dipped her fingers into old warnings and tried them on like patchwork coats to impress her friends. But in the end she was left standing in the shadows with her heart still cringing from the things that had long troubled her. She didn't want to shine a light into the corners and so she stepped onto one of those ribbons with a confidence as made up as the make-up she applied every morning in her mirror.
One day blurs into the next and she forgets who she was so long ago. The fever of life burns away her memory and the blur of motion around her wears her down. She doesn't remember what she was afraid of. She doesn't remember happiness. She sits and looks out the window and tries for stillness as things fall past her too quickly to be caught. She sees that the weep of the willow leans every year, with the bend and snap growing ever more pronounced. Will it break? Will she? She wishes she could dream again, even if it scares her.
And so she tries, with closed eyes, and finds that her ribbon bright has not forsaken her. It is ever growing with twists and turns, and it leads not to the end of the road, but to you. It was nothing to be afraid of all along, but waiting for her to understand. She opens her eyes and looks to the south, where love waits for her to wake up.
Wake up.