In the Last Moments

    Snowflakes kissed her cheeks as the wind drew life-giving warmth from her naked body. Her clothes lay a few feet away, she simply stared at them, a remnant of her old life. The boots which she had stripped off at first sight of the Forest, the tattered winter coat when her naked feet touched the shadows contained within. Her summer dress she had parted with as soon as her bare toes and frozen arms made contact with the rushing Riverbed.

    The searing heat she had felt moments ago was fading, she was becoming numb with fatigue. As she stared at the tatters of fabric, she thought about why she had come here, rather what she thought was why she came here. She couldn’t really remember much of anything, but then she realized with a calm disinterest that she couldn’t really remember much of anything anymore.

    She turned over, watching the moon and stars, the tremors that once wracked her body gone, replaced with a few blissful moments of peace. Unconcerned about the world and its problems, a few blissful moments she spent staring up, listening to the wind, watching the world go by. Ringlets of ice filled hair encircled her head, a black hallo.

    She took a deep breath and closed her eyes spending those last moments of quickly fading bliss in the silence and comfort of her mind. The last tear she had left, frozen in time and place upon her cheek. She released that breath slowly, gently, never replacing it with another.

    The River ran past, never sparing a second to the girl. The River she had willingly waded and swum in. The Forest never awoke, even as the wind tickled its branches. The Forest which she had walked into with no intention of walking out. The Sky watched with cold disinterest, the only true witness. The Sky which she had bared herself under, seeking the icy apathy. The Wind listened to her cries and continued on its gelid path. The Wind she had listened to as her mind began to forget,

This nameless girl, who all had seen.

Frozen in time and place.

Her hair as a hallo, a small smile on her face.

She was buried by snow, and never missed.

In her last moments of peaceful bliss.