MABEL
She could hear the calls.
They were like abominations, spinning witch sirens curling over her ears – and she knew what they were, and it didn’t seem to matter. They led her feet down cobblestones and alleys, along pathways she’d known since she was a child, mustering her forward, onward, trailing after the void and abyss. Haunting, luring, enticing, and she had no ability to fathom why.
To the Outskirts, to the Woodland, crawling over her spine and setting her foundations into the evening sprawl – and she stepped no further when reality seemed to ensue. The fumble of their rags, of the threads dipped in crimson, a trio of musical, abysmal quandaries – and somewhere deep inside her soul an emblem rang out. To join? To flee? To run? Instinctual or otherworldly? She didn’t know, she didn’t know, she didn’t know, and so she tucked herself against an oak, eyes widened, watching, waiting, a listless, lissome thing.
They were like abominations, spinning witch sirens curling over her ears – and she knew what they were, and it didn’t seem to matter. They led her feet down cobblestones and alleys, along pathways she’d known since she was a child, mustering her forward, onward, trailing after the void and abyss. Haunting, luring, enticing, and she had no ability to fathom why.
To the Outskirts, to the Woodland, crawling over her spine and setting her foundations into the evening sprawl – and she stepped no further when reality seemed to ensue. The fumble of their rags, of the threads dipped in crimson, a trio of musical, abysmal quandaries – and somewhere deep inside her soul an emblem rang out. To join? To flee? To run? Instinctual or otherworldly? She didn’t know, she didn’t know, she didn’t know, and so she tucked herself against an oak, eyes widened, watching, waiting, a listless, lissome thing.
I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out
and stretch my claws out
