A tearing lightening flash drew the outline of empty, gnarled
trees across the horizon. She knew
their curves and twists well, studying them from her dormitory window on lonely
nights. The crashing metal sound
accompanying the sudden illumination of the thistly forest made her smile. She lived more in the horizon, now dead
for the winter, than in the dormitory, which had always been dead to her.
She started walking toward the forest, away from the
building. Grass crunched under her
feet. A growing heat collected
across her back. She may never
reach the line where the forest meets the sky but that was her home. Her home had never been that burning,
crashing thing behind her.
Another bolt of lightening sliced the sky. She counted the seconds until the sound
of thunder mixed with shattering windows and wondered if the fire would grow
strong enough before the storm arrived.
