By Katie Arminie

The rough hand built stairway plunges down the cliff 300 feet. The full moon guides her along, each step is a murky thought contrasting with the shining, almost supernatural orb. The primordial lake is pitch black and more dismal than her ponderings. She is alone with only the consciousness of the wild. With her shoes off, she slips into the lake. It is not the coolness of the water, but a premonitory chill which racks her body. Was she serious about this act of defiance?  Her party dress floats up away from her waist, black like the water, making her limbs look dismembered. She is tempting God. Death or Renewal? Atheism is her constant companion, and yet, the intrigue of nature worship, predating time; intrigues her. She prays to the windblown trees for answers. 

Earlier, unforeseen circumstances made hope seep in, breaking her open, making her desperate to reattain what was lost. For countless years, any emotion was a betrayal to self. As the water laps at her skin, the pungent lemon of sorrow slides through her throat to her chest, pooling unshed tears burn at her eyes. Life gushes headlong into a stone. 

Amongst this soul wrenching humanity, the wilderness remains indifferent. 

The city girl’s nature beliefs mock her now as a bullfrog bellows doubts from the shore. How naïve! Nothing and no one cares! All at once, an eerie sensation seeps into her being, she is not alone. Childhood remembrances of lake folktales flood her brain. In her mind’s eye, children whisper to each other with wide staring orbs. She imagines the abandoned town beneath, a church steeple points up at her pale form. Next to the holy relic are antiquated houses, forgotten as she will be.

Thoughts of suicide are gone, she wants to live! Terror stabs her heart as something brushes her left leg. Are those fingertips?  Has evil been called out by unnatural musings? A decision has been made for her.