Souls - Chapter 7: Call
Jun. 3rd, 2017 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subliminalcircles posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveBut where's the reply?
Chapter List: http://subliminalcircles.dreamwidth.org/1116.html
The girl’s torn shoes glossed over dried mud. The forest glided by like a dream with the sun hanging perpetually overhead, the leaves drowsily swaying, and the glittering water trickling by. Along the way, certain things would grab her attention like when a shining black salamander with yellow stripes and a blue tail crawled onto the wet rocks. She had crouched down and put her hands and knees to the riverbank, but it scurried away in between the cracks. In the distant branches, a bird flash by in the branches with blue wings, but it always flew too far for her to see.
Eventually, the girl’s feet scraped along the ground as her stomach churned. Her left arm finally relaxed after setting down her heavy basket on a dry rock. She took the other fruit she carried and cracked it open on the rock with a gushing pop.
Only after she sat down did the forest really seem to come to life. She listened to the contrasting choruses of birds. A small group of robins pecked along the bank farther upstream. A nearby squirrel gave chase to another one up a tree. By staying perfectly still, life continued as normal.
A shrieking caw broke through the leaves. She peered through the canopy to see a black dot perched on a tree’s highest branch. The crow cawed again, and this time it received a distant reply. For minutes, she distantly picked at the fruit and watched the transaction going on above. They rang inside her head like bells, and she looked back down, scraping the fruit’s flesh with a finger imagining it to be something more worthwhile.
Soon after, the crow cawed again, this time much louder, and she looked back up to see two spiraling down to the river bank. They both landed feet away from where the girl sat frozen still and pecked around.
She sat paralyzingly still and watched them turn their backs to her. She looked down at the mostly-eaten fruit. When she sat up, the crows flew a little farther away, but they still stayed. Kneeling in front of the rock, she put pressure on the two halves on the rind and split it in half. She did this until the bottom parts with the pink fruit were torn into small chunks.
Sitting back down, she took one of the chunks and tossed it far ahead of her. It skidded through the leaves and made the crows take off a short distance off the ground, but they landed again, and very cautiously, they stalked towards the rind. One grabbed it stiffly in its beak, and it quickly flew away. The girl threw a second rind, and the second crow took it and went in the direction of the first.
She took a breath and smiled. She washed off her hands in the bank and looked at the remaining scraps of rind on the rock as well as the second half of the fruit. She picked up the bits one by one and tossed them in the woods, and she placed the half fruit securely at the base of a tree. Satisfied, she picked up the basket with both hands, and she continued down the river.
~~~
The shadows of the forest gradually grew long as the sun sank left. The trees erupted with the sounds of night. Chirping crickets quieted down at the sound of the girl’s footsteps only to return when she stepped out of range. Sunset turned the leaves orange, but dusk cast darkness in the canopy. Though the embers of the sun died, smoke smelled fresh on the horizon, so she didn’t stop.
Squinting through the darkness, she continued along, but then gradually, she spotted a warm glow in the branches. Ignoring her aching feet and arms, she picked up her pace. Stumbling through the trees, the light became brighter and brighter, and finally, she broke out of the forest into a clearing. The circle grew about as big as her own, and perfectly in the center sat a small-scale bonfire protected by a crude barrier of stones.
The heat and orange glow splashed against her body. Setting down her basket, she approached, but she immediately froze when she heard a disturbance in the brush, and out of the forest came a man carrying a thing of firewood. They both made eye contact, she staying rigid and him stopping in his tracks.
They both stood still for what felt like forever, the girl darting her eyes around the clearing watching for ways of escape, and the man just raising an eyebrow.
He spoke up, his voice clear. “Thought you’d show up much later, but here you are. Sit down. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Chapter List: http://subliminalcircles.dreamwidth.org/1116.html
The girl’s torn shoes glossed over dried mud. The forest glided by like a dream with the sun hanging perpetually overhead, the leaves drowsily swaying, and the glittering water trickling by. Along the way, certain things would grab her attention like when a shining black salamander with yellow stripes and a blue tail crawled onto the wet rocks. She had crouched down and put her hands and knees to the riverbank, but it scurried away in between the cracks. In the distant branches, a bird flash by in the branches with blue wings, but it always flew too far for her to see.
Eventually, the girl’s feet scraped along the ground as her stomach churned. Her left arm finally relaxed after setting down her heavy basket on a dry rock. She took the other fruit she carried and cracked it open on the rock with a gushing pop.
Only after she sat down did the forest really seem to come to life. She listened to the contrasting choruses of birds. A small group of robins pecked along the bank farther upstream. A nearby squirrel gave chase to another one up a tree. By staying perfectly still, life continued as normal.
A shrieking caw broke through the leaves. She peered through the canopy to see a black dot perched on a tree’s highest branch. The crow cawed again, and this time it received a distant reply. For minutes, she distantly picked at the fruit and watched the transaction going on above. They rang inside her head like bells, and she looked back down, scraping the fruit’s flesh with a finger imagining it to be something more worthwhile.
Soon after, the crow cawed again, this time much louder, and she looked back up to see two spiraling down to the river bank. They both landed feet away from where the girl sat frozen still and pecked around.
She sat paralyzingly still and watched them turn their backs to her. She looked down at the mostly-eaten fruit. When she sat up, the crows flew a little farther away, but they still stayed. Kneeling in front of the rock, she put pressure on the two halves on the rind and split it in half. She did this until the bottom parts with the pink fruit were torn into small chunks.
Sitting back down, she took one of the chunks and tossed it far ahead of her. It skidded through the leaves and made the crows take off a short distance off the ground, but they landed again, and very cautiously, they stalked towards the rind. One grabbed it stiffly in its beak, and it quickly flew away. The girl threw a second rind, and the second crow took it and went in the direction of the first.
She took a breath and smiled. She washed off her hands in the bank and looked at the remaining scraps of rind on the rock as well as the second half of the fruit. She picked up the bits one by one and tossed them in the woods, and she placed the half fruit securely at the base of a tree. Satisfied, she picked up the basket with both hands, and she continued down the river.
~~~
The shadows of the forest gradually grew long as the sun sank left. The trees erupted with the sounds of night. Chirping crickets quieted down at the sound of the girl’s footsteps only to return when she stepped out of range. Sunset turned the leaves orange, but dusk cast darkness in the canopy. Though the embers of the sun died, smoke smelled fresh on the horizon, so she didn’t stop.
Squinting through the darkness, she continued along, but then gradually, she spotted a warm glow in the branches. Ignoring her aching feet and arms, she picked up her pace. Stumbling through the trees, the light became brighter and brighter, and finally, she broke out of the forest into a clearing. The circle grew about as big as her own, and perfectly in the center sat a small-scale bonfire protected by a crude barrier of stones.
The heat and orange glow splashed against her body. Setting down her basket, she approached, but she immediately froze when she heard a disturbance in the brush, and out of the forest came a man carrying a thing of firewood. They both made eye contact, she staying rigid and him stopping in his tracks.
They both stood still for what felt like forever, the girl darting her eyes around the clearing watching for ways of escape, and the man just raising an eyebrow.
He spoke up, his voice clear. “Thought you’d show up much later, but here you are. Sit down. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
