thought i could fly, so i stepped off the golden

A scattering of small rocks and pebbles tumbled down along the rocky face of the cliff side as her ebony paws stood at the edge of the precipice. Tamsyn’s mint eyes watched them fall into the darkness, never really hearing them hit the bottom though - she didn’t really expect to. The faint moonlight from the half moon above her glimmered on the waters down below... far, far down below. The drop was so steep that she could only imagine how such a formation might have come to be. When she had been wandering aimlessly though the dense foliage she hadn’t expected to find such a place at the end of it, but that had become a common theme in these lands. She knew so little about this place, but it was interesting enough to make her linger.

She inched closer to the edge till her toes began to curl around the break on the rock. It felt like if she leaned her full weight onto her front paws then it might just crumble beneath her and send her rolling head over heels into that darkness and emptiness ahead of her. The temptation of what could happen to her if she were to fall, of the awaiting emptiness and darkness... the temptation of the freedom that would come if she just closed her eyes and tipped forward... It was a temptation that she had thought and dreamed of for longer than she could remember. Her body ached with the memories of the scars that littered her skin, the abuse and the degrading words and teachings of her past... All the words that had seemed like truth at the time and made her feel like she was defective and broken as she looked at all the other female wolves around her with their peaceful lives and caring mates.

A rustle in the leaves behind her and the sound of a bird taking flight into the night broke her trance and she took a generous step back from the cliff side with a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding escaping her aching lungs. She gave the steep drop one last longing glance before she turned away and began to walk slowly along the cliffs, her mint gaze turning to look at the stars glimmering above her. Sleep felt like a distant memory and something she probably wouldn’t seek out this night. The promise of nightmares felt too real after this encounter with her mortality so an examination of this new area and the patterns of the night sky seemed much more welcoming.