You-are A-live - Kathryne Lovell
Editor's Note: Flash Fiction
Without grabbing a jacket I ran outside. The brisk fall air stung my bare arms and face. The heat of his glare still burned into my vision. The pierce of her screams still ringing in my ears. I was running, my body resting on two mindless machines. Down the driveway, across the lawn, into stalky field of a thousand dead wildflowers sprinkled with frost. They whipped their frozen, petal-less buds against my legs. The adrenaline still pumped through my veins, my fuel. I will run away forever. A line of trees marked the line where the civilization stopped and wild life began. The small opening in the thick brush grew nearer but my pace did not slow. A place hidden from it all awaited me. I stopped once I arrived behind a wall of thick brush and browning autumn leaves. The air was still. My breathing was loud and prevalent in the empty world. I felt my heart in my chest and heard it in my ears. You-are a-live. You-are a-live. The deep breath of cold dry air I drew in though my nose burnt my skin. You-are a-live. You-are a-live. I scanned the forest. It was all so irregular, no visible patterns, just a cluttered mess of life. Unorganized harmony. Check and balances. Predator and prey. Seed and scat. My breathing slowed. The world felt clear through my eyes. Here I am world. And slower, calmer this time, my heart responded with You-are a-live.
Without grabbing a jacket I ran outside. The brisk fall air stung my bare arms and face. The heat of his glare still burned into my vision. The pierce of her screams still ringing in my ears. I was running, my body resting on two mindless machines. Down the driveway, across the lawn, into stalky field of a thousand dead wildflowers sprinkled with frost. They whipped their frozen, petal-less buds against my legs. The adrenaline still pumped through my veins, my fuel. I will run away forever. A line of trees marked the line where the civilization stopped and wild life began. The small opening in the thick brush grew nearer but my pace did not slow. A place hidden from it all awaited me. I stopped once I arrived behind a wall of thick brush and browning autumn leaves. The air was still. My breathing was loud and prevalent in the empty world. I felt my heart in my chest and heard it in my ears. You-are a-live. You-are a-live. The deep breath of cold dry air I drew in though my nose burnt my skin. You-are a-live. You-are a-live. I scanned the forest. It was all so irregular, no visible patterns, just a cluttered mess of life. Unorganized harmony. Check and balances. Predator and prey. Seed and scat. My breathing slowed. The world felt clear through my eyes. Here I am world. And slower, calmer this time, my heart responded with You-are a-live.