Theea
sometimes we gotta risk
it all to chase a dream
it all to chase a dream
The moment stretches, held taut between us as we stare—so close I can feel his breath between our mouths, goosebumps rising under all my layers. By the time he looks up and I look down, the thread snaps—whatever that was. An idea of what it was, what all those moments are, has begun to settle, shifting something in me I don’t quite understand.
He says we don't have to keep following, and I'm relieved. The scare was enough, and I'm ready to be on more solid ground. I've always been so confident in my own balance, and it's shaken me to lose it like that - to be afraid enough to lose it like that.
I watch his face in the dawn a moment longer as he steps away, and I manage a smile when he brushes the snow from me, a small act of care. I nod, agreeing, and watch him in silence as he plucks up a piece of a claw. Not so large that it had made the beast bleed when it came free, but large enough to remind me what claws like that feel like, to have no small amount of surprise flicker that I had survived those.
He pockets it, because of course he does, and I just watch him until he smiles faintly, making one appear on my face too. When he nudges his head toward where the leopard had gone, I follow his gaze, squinting hard. I'm determined - the shame it would be not to see what's there would be too much to live down.
After a moment, the side of my mouth quirks up, and I do point. "There, hopping just up that ledge to the left of the pass."
My hand lowers, and I just watch, breath curling white as its faint shape jumps, a brief flash of silver against dark rock before blending into the snow and ice again.
"He'll be okay, won't he?"
He says we don't have to keep following, and I'm relieved. The scare was enough, and I'm ready to be on more solid ground. I've always been so confident in my own balance, and it's shaken me to lose it like that - to be afraid enough to lose it like that.
I watch his face in the dawn a moment longer as he steps away, and I manage a smile when he brushes the snow from me, a small act of care. I nod, agreeing, and watch him in silence as he plucks up a piece of a claw. Not so large that it had made the beast bleed when it came free, but large enough to remind me what claws like that feel like, to have no small amount of surprise flicker that I had survived those.
He pockets it, because of course he does, and I just watch him until he smiles faintly, making one appear on my face too. When he nudges his head toward where the leopard had gone, I follow his gaze, squinting hard. I'm determined - the shame it would be not to see what's there would be too much to live down.
After a moment, the side of my mouth quirks up, and I do point. "There, hopping just up that ledge to the left of the pass."
My hand lowers, and I just watch, breath curling white as its faint shape jumps, a brief flash of silver against dark rock before blending into the snow and ice again.
"He'll be okay, won't he?"
if we dive in headfirst,
all or nothing kinda thing
all or nothing kinda thing
