As she dances, her soul falls from the hills, followed the ravens in the night. I love her, but there is nothing left for me to love.
"Fleur?"
Gone, in the misty morning I look for her along the grass; I trod upon a freezing carpet, as yet untouched.
"Fleur, come out from behind the trees, I've been after you for ages."
Wind, off the surface of the lake. That is when I know she is not here, but still, I look.
"Fleur," I breathe. "Come out, where've you gone?
I search for a whisper in the wind, a silhouette against the sunrise, but she has left us.
"Please, no, don't."
Not a corpse, but a memory.
"I can't, not without you."
"But cherie, you must." Red, on a borrowed cotton blouse.
"I promise."
Sunshine on the hills, below a limitless sky rolls on, but the rain comes, it always comes.
I have not escaped.