The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Beyond Recovery
by Amanda Worthington
A good hunter knows when to attack
And when to hold back
Wait, watch
Relax into the aged wood of her defenses
As some wayward man who thinks too highly of himself
Finds his way to her grove
Abandons his senses at the sight of her dark beauty
Woven through with danger and duty
.
His steps slow as he approaches
Every muscle tenses
.
She stands tall and spreads deep as the questions
He’ll never think to ask
Sees the mask fall and the struggle manifest
In the worried lines of his face
Like flaking bark giving way to the tender flesh
.
He shrinks without knowing he does it.
Drops to his knees, hands along the north side of her trunk
Like she is a map that will lead him back to nonchalance, to peace
.
But there is no moss here to tell her secrets
.
And whether he’s chosen her or not
They will be alone together
Naked as truth laid bare after
Years spent in a hall of mirrors
Not a reflection but the thing itself
Not distorted, but as it is
.
Cold and cutting as the dawn with its long litany of regrets
Its renewed breath, its willingness to go beyond
Appearances
.
You can see the places where some other, lesser creature got to him first
He’s bleeding. Notices the nearby stream as if in a dream
Administers water to his wounds
And still she watches
Not with something so sinister as joy
Although her sisters would not begrudge her that
.
He trembles like something that cannot get warm again
But to his credit he does not scream
.
It’s clear the beast that came before her
Landed a killing blow
And that it wasn’t expected
It’s the ones who love us most that
Have what it takes to end us
And this one was likely riding some high
When he was laid low
.
His hurts are grievously out of proportion
To his hope for recovery
And her roots just beneath where he now lays
Motionless, not breathing, in a word…reclaimed
Take in the shape of him
The bravado and pain, the hope and the lies
As she mourns in her own way that it could not be otherwise
.
.
Fiction © Copyright Amanda Worthington.
Image courtesy of Pixabay
