3 // 365

 So, before you think I cheated and skipped a day, I didn't. I really did write this yesterday. I just had a really rough time and didn't get a chance to post. I'll have another one up later this evening. Thank you, ladies and gents! <3 Enjoy.

From the garden window of Nora's ballet studio she could see autumn beginning to take over the deciduous forest. The eloquent green leaves had begun to transform into vivid reds and golds. Nora aimed for perfection as she spun pirouettes, but the colors had become such a distraction. The colors blurred as she turned in tight circles until they became a watercolored mix in her mind. She came to a stumbling halt and tried to catch her breath; her eyes never leaving the revolutionizing leaves.

"Nora!" The voice of her instructor broke into her thoughts. "What are doing? Rehearsal isn't over. I guess we're going to have to begin from the top, ladies." The entire class groaned behind Nora. The music began to play again, and Nora took first position. Just as the queue for the first motion sounded, Nora broke from the group and darted outside.

"Nora! Nora! Where are you going?!" Her instructor called after her, but her question fell on the deaf ears. As she ran, Nora began to question herself. When had dance become so mundane? She could vividly remember a time when the gracefulness of the art had spoken directly to her soul and caused her to body to respond in fluid movements. Her pink ballet slippers pounded against the ground as she sprinted towards the glittering forest.

Nora burst through the tree line and instantly felt the magic of the forest consume her. She slowed to a walk and continued her journey deeper into the woodland grazing her fingers across the bark of the tree trunks as she went. After a while, Nora felt at home in the woods. She settled down on the grass and began listening to the sounds of the world around her. Somewhere in the stance was a stream of rushing water and closer to her was a woodpecker creating a tempo against the outer husk of a tree. Gradually the rhythm began to move her body and she began to dance.

                                                                

Nora started slowly, keeping pace with the sounds around her, but eventually the sound of her own heart beat became her music and she began to spin.  Her circles got tighter and faster until she was creating a swirling vortex in the dirt that was swallowing her from the ground up. She spun so quickly that it felt to her as if the earth had stopped moving. Finally, Nora fell to the ground and drifted to sleep.

When she awoke, the air was brisk and the leaves had all fallen from the trees. Nora sat up, startled and confused as she took in her surroundings. There was no color, no life and briefly Nora found herself pondering whether or not this was death. Nora stretched her legs and then arched her stiff back before standing. She tried to retrace her steps through the forest to find her way back home, but the more she walked the more lost she became.

After what seemed liked hours of trekking through the thick, dead trees Nora fell to the ground and began to cry. She hugged her knees to her chest and it was then that she realized that her once pale, rose colored slippers had been replaced with golden ones. Her fingers gingerly traced over the fabric. Instantaneously, memories of the glistening harvest forest flooded her. She watched in her mind as the gold, red, and orange left tumbled from the trees and rained down her as she leaped and twisted beneath the trees.

Suddenly, the urge to dance again overwhelmed her. She started slowly, but when she gave into the quick sound of cracking winter limbs and the brisk wind her body began to contort into sharp angles; all around her tufts of green cracked through the gray ground. Emerald green buds appeared on the trees and then blossomed into flowers. Nora danced until her body collapsed from exhaustion. She lay on the warming ground and realized that she had found love in her movements again. She reached down and touched the golden slippers one more time and they comforted her as she drifted to sleep. Nora never noticed the way the trees seemed to smile down at her performance or how the forest creatures gathered to watch as Nora welcomed a new season into life.

1 // 365

Sophia’s bare feet felt chilled against the cold hardwood floors of her Seattle apartment, gray rain pounded steadily against the window. She stared briefly at the outside world; gray on gray on gray, she thought. She pressed her back against the neutral colored wall and let herself slide to the floor. Come on, Sophia, get it together. She tried coaching herself to no avail. For two days now she had tried to ‘be strong’ and remember that ‘things will get better’, but the promises of people: family, friends, coworkers, even strangers, had proven to be meaningless when she was alone with herself and her memories. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face into the fabric of her husband’s shirt. The familiar smell pulled her back to better days and she didn't bother trying not to cry as fresh tears brimmed in her eyes as memories flooded her.

Warm, golden rays of sun slanted in through the window shade and crept across the floor until it fell onto the ocean blue bed spread. Sophia was barely waking, blue eyes peeking from behind fluttering lashes. She stretched until she felt the edge of the bed and then drew back. The warmth of her husband next to her was more than inviting and she curled into his side. She watched the rise and fall of his chest as he slept; counting the breaths. Sophia felt him waking and she lifted her head to kiss his cheek. She smiled as the small hairs on his face tickled her lips. "Good morning, my love," she breathed into his ear. He grunted in response and pulled her closer to him; fighting off the oncoming day. "Let's stay here, just a while longer." he spoke softly. The couple lay in bed, tangled in one another as the busy morning passed by them outside. "I love you, Sophia." 

The words broke over her like a wave slamming into the coastline. A sharp intake of breath shook her body and she sobbed. Sophia lost track of time as she cried into the white button down. Three short taps on the door drew her back from her despair, briefly. Blue eyes scanned the dark door of the apartment. A small piece of hope slipped into her mind, and she ignored the impossibility of it being him on the other side. She stood and crossed the room; she placed her hand on the silver door knob and paused before opening it. She rested her forehead against the wooden door; regaining her composure. Two taps, and then a third sounded again. She opened her eyes and turned the knob. 

"Oh, Soph, you are an utter...mess," the shrill voice of her mother bit into her ears. The use of the nickname didn’t lessen the blow and Sophia sighed before falling into her mother’s arms. The mother’s wrinkled hand stroked her daughter’s hair, but there was not comfort for Sophia in the touch.