The storm surrounding you shook you to your core.
Wind whipped at your feet, and rain pierced your skin like shards of glass.
Bare rock cut into your feet as your toes attempted to grip the uneasy surface.
Electricity filled the dark purple sky, briefly illuminating the angry, roaring sea.
You pinched your eyes closed, but the image was imprinted. Fear and pain filled your body as every ounce of your being told you to give in. A silent scream left you as you collapsed. Alone. Lost.
Suddenly, you saw her. Walking toward you as the storm somehow made her seem stronger and more beautiful than imaginable.
Her dress material danced elegantly, colour in the wind. Her amber bob framing her kind face, wise and wrinkled from life. There was no need to prove her genuineness, or speak words aloud, for your heart remembered her.
She was honest and loyal. She was safety. She was home.
She smiled at you with her eyes, the contagious type that bubbled in your stomach until it hit your face and your cheeks ached. She reminded you of a favourite grandmother and boss perfectly combined. Expectant of the best and not afraid to push you to your limits, but loving and gentle at the same time.
She was the type of woman whom you couldn’t help but talk to—not forcibly, more like a release, knowing there was a compassionate heart listening with no judgment.
So that is what you did: you let it all out, releasing the fear and giving it all to her, this woman you knew yet couldn’t remember.
She held you while the emotion worked its way through your body. She wiped your tears away. “Here, splash your face,” she said, signaling to a nearby rock pool. Her voice was like butter. The cold water stung like fire on your bare skin, pulling you into the present. You returned to where she stood, your chest aching and breaths catching in your throat.
She held your hand as you took a deep breath. “Ready?” she asked. You nodded, gripping her hand like a vice, and walking straight on in trust, bare feet in the sand, staring life in all its ugly beauty directly in the eye.
At some point on the long and tiresome journey, with your body numb with cold, your eyes blinked as if waking from a long dream. You realised your hand was no longer held, and you found yourself alone once more.
The storm had eased, and you could feel the warm sun like a hug around your shoulders. The sea had calmed, but the grey clouds in the distance and the rumbles within them reminded you of the change that may come.
It didn’t scare you, though. A small smile played on your lips, for you knew she had left knowing the strength you needed was no longer within her.
It was within you.
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AUTHOR: LOESHA CLARKE
IMAGE: @MUHAMMEDSALAH_ / INSTAGRAM
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