hiding from reality . cato

"I close my eyes and I can see

The world that's waiting up for me

That I call my own
Through the dark, through the door
Through where no one's been before
But it feels like home."

The trees swayed around her. Branches like fingers, pale and cracked like the discarded bones of those who rotten in the cemetery. Her mind imagined the wind to be howling through the barren branches, causing shivers to run down her spine. The air laced with the chill of a winters day. She didn't wear a lot, her thin dress exposing her to the chill. She allowed it to wash over her, to caress her body with its icy touch. She liked that it added a realist element to her game. She wanted to feel like the distressed warrior that crowded her imagination, the one who had fallen from grace and had no choice but to flea.

Her feet made little sound on the foliage as she raced through the looming trucks of dying trees. They could not hide from the weather, the bark dry and weathered to the touch. Her fingers brushed against one of them, her eyes flashing to observe the terrain behind her. Alone. Her skin numb from the could, her hair wild from the air which interlaced with the dark strands. Her heart in her throat she comes across the familiar hollowed out trunk of a tree. It stands taller than those around it and with hurried steps she takes shelter in its depth.

Since leaving this place as a child she had often returned, each time brining something new to make it more and more a picture of her imagination. Pot plants that were sheltered from the weather littered the floor, a small chest placed in the corner filled with so many papers that it was almost over flowing. That chest contained everything that she had written, it contained the numerous world which she had created. Character who she loved, who she hated, who she envied. It was something of upmost importance to her.

Sheltered in the hollow of the tree, she allowed her imagination to run free once again. She imagined she heard yells in the distance. They spoke of finding the traitor. They called to one an another to capture her, to chain her and to lock her away for a lifetime. She felt her blood rushing, warming her chilled skin. Her heart once again pounding in her hears. She heard the footsteps come closer, but the yells faded. The scuffle of boots, the foliage that coated the earth rustling beneath foot.

She peaks from one of the creases in the bark and her eye spies movement. Suddenly her mind blanks, her like parting into an 'o' shape. Wait, had she just imagined that movement, or was there actually someone out there? Pausing she stopped to listen again, this time her mind anchored to reality. There it was again, the steps closer this time. Frowning she moves to the entry way, her eye scanning the surroundings once again. Now that her mind was no longer focussed on fantasy, her body shook, the chill of the morning air biting at her skin. "Hello? Hello, is anyone there?"