The caged bird

Her bare feet whispered across the cold rocks at the edge of the cliff. The air around her was electrified with the presence of an oncoming storm. Cold gusts of wind whipped her thin night gown around her, lifting her white blonde hair to float around her in a ghostly halo. She spread her arms laughing up at the darkened sky. Let the storm come. Let it wash over her. Strip her down to her barest soul. Let it cleanse her of all the evil around her. She could handle anything it could throw at her.

Leaping from rock to rock, she imagined her arms were wings that would carry her away on the wind. Carry her away from the turmoil and the violence. Away from all the bad. Carry her towards paradise. The smell of rain blanketed everything around her. She called for the rain. Her golden brown eyes sparking with the shouted challenge. Let it take her. She wanted it too.

She flitted along the edge, ignoring the drop that would surely kill her if she fell. Ignoring the male voice in the distance that called out to her in concern. She felt nothing but the energy of the storm pulsing through her. Nothing but the winds caress on her raw skin. Nothing but her own clawing need for freedom. Need to fly. Fly away from it all.

The rain started to fall as she pirouetted to the edge, spreading her arms and turning her face up to the sky. The cold water plastered her hair to her head, neck and shoulders. Rendering her nightgown all but see through.

She could feel it.

Feel it.

Feel the rain seeping into her skin, bringing with it all the power and might of the storm. She let it drench her, not feeling the cold or the wet, just the power. The danger of being on the edge of the cliff. The feeling of dancing on the brink, flirting with death.

Sucking the electrified air into her lungs, filling her being with the particles of power, she screamed. She screamed for the fallen. For the broken. For the fighters. For all the loss and blood that surrounded her. She screamed for him. The one who loved her. For their newborn daughter, tucked safely away from the storm. She screamed for herself. For the caged bird that she was. Her screams mingled with the sound of the thunder as lightening ripped the sky to shreds. She screamed until the last of her strength left her and she stepped back from the edge.

Arms still outstretched, she let herself fall backwards toward the soft grass behind her. She didn’t care if she hit the ground. She didn’t have the energy left to care. She never hit it though. She never even opened her eyes as he caught her, his warmth seeping into her white blue skin. She curled instinctively into his chest, absorbing his strength. He carried her back to camp. Back to the so called home that drained her and kept her caged. She didn’t fight.

Her strength was gone.

She’d screamed it all to the sky.