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January 23, 2020 The sound of . . . .

PROMPT: January 23rd ▼

Finish this story:
A girl, sitting alone on a rock at the edge of the woods, jumps when she hears…

She was told not to come here. She had dreamt this might happen. But here she was anyway. She was a girl, sitting alone on a rock at the edge of the woods, who jumps at the sound of a twig snapping. She came here to sort out her thoughts, get away from the pugilistic noises she called her life. But the woods were off-limits, there had been odd sightings, and rumors of ghostly encounters, she was just a girl. She scrunched down a little, making herself smaller, less visible. Was it really so unbearable at home that she risked being ravaged by a predator or abducted by an alien? She took a moment, then laughed at herself at that thought.

Pushing rumors and nightmares to the wind, she willed herself to straighten her body and breathe in the cool, clear air of the mountain, filling herself with its pine-scented essence. In the silence that surrounded her, she could hear her own heartbeat; she was alive, capable and relevant. This was her mantra, she would repeat and repeat. At home or in the forest, the sound of a twig snapping would not send her into self-doubt again.

pink monsters
giggle under the bed
without malice
                   ~~jvg