Iskra
Follow me when it's dark out
Sand sprayed up around wet paws as Goose shot down the shoreline at full stride. A terrible sound pursued him, like the keening of a wounded animal lost in the throes of rising peril, unable to do anything more than forfeit its final breaths to terror. Iskra knew better though. That was the high-pitched keel of excitement, the kind only born of truly unbridled happiness. He smiled as he watched the dog glide across the shore, the frenzy of his body unable to properly expend the exhilaration coursing through him, and so he sang to the skies like an untrained bard as he flew.The ball Iskra had thrown rolled to a stop in the sand, already forgotten behind the paws that carried the husky onward. "Damn dog begs to play fetch and can never uphold his end," Iskra complained into the mouth of the tequila bottle, shaking his head after taking a sip, as much to rid himself of the bite the drink gave back as exasperation at the animal. He swirled the bottle absentmindedly between his legs as he sat in the sand, hunched over his knees, arms lazily draped across them with two fingers barely holding the bottle steady as it hung limp, nearly an extension of him at this point. Nearby a fire merrily chewed on logs that Iskra had collected this morning, though the wood was new and resisted the flame, resulting in a bluster of smoke as the fire struggled with its meal. The light was barely noticeable beneath the brilliance of the setting sun, but soon it would be the only beacon out here, and the warmth it provided promised he'd live to see the coming sunrise. As if noticing the chill just then, Iskra pulled his coat closer over his shoulders.
At the waterline Goose and the sea chased each other back and forth, barks and teeth brandished at salted bubbles and straggling kelp strands. The tide roared its might, its power evident with each wave that broke into a spray against the sand, and its endurance unmatched as it hypnotically rushed in and slithered back out. Each wave break threatened to tumble a memory loose onto the sand, its dredged-up body left to gasp and grow glassy-eyed while the water receded. Iskra frowned and hoped the buzz from the liquor would conquer the ocean.
It normally could, but the ocean was loud. It reminded him too much of her.
Damn dog loved the beach though.
