The Waters of March

by Bandy

Friday Evening

That first night, Dash found herself wandering the beach in near total darkness.

Rarity had fallen asleep as soon as they got back to the cabin. Dash wanted to join her, but an entire evening of not flying left her wings in need of a stretch. She waited until the clouds overhead had passed and the moonlight lit up the coast, and took to the sky.

it’s clear, it’s black, it’s a hole in the night, where the lights shine through, where you think, where you’re right, it’s asleep, it’s a hope, it’s a trap, it’s a knife, it’s the sound of a bird in the dead of the night, it’s nice, it’s juice rolling down off her chin, and you won’t wipe it off (though it did make you grin), it’s a flash, it’s a hoax, it’s a cloud moving slow, it’s the look of a friend when you’re stuck feeling low, when all that you want is to be next to her, but the fear twists your hopes until they seem absurd, so you leave in the night and you fly and you fly and the clouds kiss your face and the tears that you cry, it’s a feeling of hope like balloons made of lead that carry her to the clouds, where you sleep, where you bed, where you tell her the things that you’re meaning to say, it’s an animal part deep inside of your brain, it tells you to speak, it tells you to hunt, it tells you to mate, it tells you up-front, the thoughts of the heart and the beats of the brain, they swaddle you up like a cool summer day, but the sun’s gone away and you’re left with the night, the moon way up high and the stars and their light, and the sight makes you wonder if you’re here at all, the first moments of flight always feel like a fall,

Dash settled on a thin cloud floating above the island, kept in place by the thermals coming off the mountain. It wasn’t stable enough for her to sleep on, but it would hold for a few hours. From here she could see lights from both sides of the island, faint glowing oranges and yellows suspended on the water.

All around her there were sounds, too. Below her there were waves crashing onto the beach and the midnight chatter of a tropical forest. Above her, the jetstream roared a single uninterrupted note.

She lifted her head. Stood up on the cloud. Hovered a few inches. Came back down. She could hear the sea and feel the wind and see the light, but it wasn’t enough. She had to go further. Always further.

The cloud disintegrated beneath her as she took off. Once again there was nothing beneath her, nothing at all.

The first few moments of flight always felt like a fall.