Flicker

A flicker of swirling blue cloth in the corner of your vision grabs your attention. It stands out against the stark winter landscape. Spent leaves litter the ground, and now that your senses are heightened you can hear footsteps crunching in the leaves behind you. You turn, eyes following the sound and focusing in on its source. A person? They are humanoid in shape aside from three small horns which protrude in a vertical line above each eyebrow. Their eyes scan the arid terrain with something akin to wonder, inspecting each leaf before gazing up again to peer at the noonday sun peeking through the pre-snow haze. Their gaze shifts again to a cracked twig, an indentation in the mud, a scent on the air.

If they hadn’t been robed in that cerulean shawl, you would have sworn they were tracking something, the childlike wonder giving way to something more intense. A hunt perhaps? What could they be hunting with such lack of camouflage?  They stood out like a hummingbird whose glistening wings betrayed them as they moved from flower to flower, more prey than predator. You stand, trying to make heads or tails of this creature when it turns to meet your gaze, as if it was aware of you all along. Wide-eyed but unafraid its brown eyes hold your stare, daring you to look away. But of course, you don’t. How could you? It blinks and as if on cue, you follow suit.

Your eyes open staring at the empty space between the trees where something once stood. The sunset rays filter fuchsia and violet through the arid winter landscape. You dust an inch or so of snow off of your shoulders and continue your walk.

©2022 Nerdy Black Mom