Nancy Tribe
There was only darkness, and the fall.
Falling I went and falling I was, and all I felt was the rush of the dark. But to fall meant to land, surely? I thought, and after a long time I found myself on ground, my hands splayed out in the dark.
I was in a great square, my body fallen across paving slabs, and the sky was grey as slate. In the centre of the square was a sundial. Weeds grew across it. I tried to scrape them away.
"But how will I know what time it is?"
"Doesn't matter, the sun isn't shining anyway," said the sundial, its voice a smirk. "Why do you need to know what the time is?"
"I... have to be somewhere."
"Do you remember where?"
I thought.
"No."
"Then how will you get there, stupid girl?" The sundial laughed, a wheezing sound of crumbled stone. I backed away.
I was in a wood. The trees were thick and dark, crowding around me. Yews wept black leaves onto the ground. Thin paths of trodden grass passed through the trees. Who had made the trails? I supposed it was best to follow them.
In the distance, wolves howled.
Falling I went and falling I was, and all I felt was the rush of the dark. But to fall meant to land, surely? I thought, and after a long time I found myself on ground, my hands splayed out in the dark.
I was in a great square, my body fallen across paving slabs, and the sky was grey as slate. In the centre of the square was a sundial. Weeds grew across it. I tried to scrape them away.
"But how will I know what time it is?"
"Doesn't matter, the sun isn't shining anyway," said the sundial, its voice a smirk. "Why do you need to know what the time is?"
"I... have to be somewhere."
"Do you remember where?"
I thought.
"No."
"Then how will you get there, stupid girl?" The sundial laughed, a wheezing sound of crumbled stone. I backed away.
I was in a wood. The trees were thick and dark, crowding around me. Yews wept black leaves onto the ground. Thin paths of trodden grass passed through the trees. Who had made the trails? I supposed it was best to follow them.
In the distance, wolves howled.