The adrenaline was starting to kick in.
She could feel the sweat trickling down her forehead and the familiar strain in her muscles. She was pushing herself hard today. She didn't listen to headphones. She never did. The music just felt like another distraction, something else for her mind to focus on. Her mind was supposed to be silent, just silent for a little while, and allow her body to do all the work. She just focused her gaze forward and ran; pushing her body as far as it would go.
She was still in great shape, but she didn't run to burn calories or to tone muscles. And she never ran at a comfortable pace. The only way to get what she wanted from this, the beautiful silence in her mind, was to push herself and push her body, focusing her entire being on this task.
One foot in front of the other.
Faster and faster.
Almost like flying.
Almost.
She finally reached the woods. The woods that everyone said weren't safe to run in. Especially if you were a young girl alone at night. Not every girl could morph into a grizzly bear and eat a rapist if she had to.
But this girl could.
This girl could do a lot of things that were impossible and crazy and terrifying and wonderful.
One foot in front of the other; she focused on the bird. She pictured its feathers and its beak and its claws in her mind as she raced up the hill.
She started to change. Lips became beak, skin became feathers, hands became claws.
She smiled not with her mouth, because she no longer had one, but with her heart.
This girl could fly.