Wren
Even as Wren slipped away from the cluster of voices, the festival seemed to cling—music too loud, laughter too sharp, the heat pressing in like a second skin she couldn’t peel away. She moved toward the food stalls, barely seeing what she passed, the bright colors smearing together into something indistinct and dizzying.
Those eyes, and everything they held behind them.
The thought returned without permission. It threaded through everything, tightening her chest until each breath felt shallow and deliberate. Her fingers drifted to her hair again, and she wished she had sleeves to tuck over her hands.
For a moment the ground didn’t feel steady. The crowd pressed too close, strangers’ shoulders grazing hers, voices overlapping until the words lost meaning. Someone laughed nearby and the sound made her flinch. She couldn’t stay here.
She didn’t think. Thinking meant remembering, and remembering meant that man’s face. And her eyes. No, his eyes. No, her eyes. ahead, there was a skyship. Wren climbed aboard before she could second guess herself, slipping past with the quiet invisibility she’d learned since waking up in the clinic. There was no destination asked. None offered.
And, frighteningly, she didn’t care.
Wren out!
Those eyes, and everything they held behind them.
The thought returned without permission. It threaded through everything, tightening her chest until each breath felt shallow and deliberate. Her fingers drifted to her hair again, and she wished she had sleeves to tuck over her hands.
For a moment the ground didn’t feel steady. The crowd pressed too close, strangers’ shoulders grazing hers, voices overlapping until the words lost meaning. Someone laughed nearby and the sound made her flinch. She couldn’t stay here.
She didn’t think. Thinking meant remembering, and remembering meant that man’s face. And her eyes. No, his eyes. No, her eyes. ahead, there was a skyship. Wren climbed aboard before she could second guess herself, slipping past with the quiet invisibility she’d learned since waking up in the clinic. There was no destination asked. None offered.
And, frighteningly, she didn’t care.
Wren out!
Here I am, a rabbit hearted girl
Frozen in the headlights
Frozen in the headlights
