She said



She was stretched out on the floor. Arms out straight above her head, toes pointed and back slightly arched off the ground. She was trying to clear her mind. Of everything. Of work. Of the bitchy brunette in accoutning. Of him. As she drew her arms down to her sides and let her feet flop, she closed her eyes and tried to expell them all with one long hard exhale.

Outside the wind whipped the small branches of a plum tree against her bedroom window. The candles in her room flickered despite there being no draught. And a chill went up her spine making her contract her shoulders and arch her back. She pushed that feeling way down into the pit of her stomach and expelled her breath with all her might. Calm enveloped her. Hugged her. She drew her knees to her chest, flexed her feet and rocked back and forth until she was sitting upright. She opened her eyes slowly, almost afraid of what she would see. But when she opened them all she could see was the flickering shadow of the plum tree dancing on the wall in the wind.

And she answered the voice that spoke in her mind as the plum tree scratched her window with it's bare fingers, " Yes. the wind may lie, but then, so too do you..."

2003-06-30 8:32 a.m.