I found you in the woods after days of searching. Your eyes stared sightlessly at the metallic sky. A sky whose gray color reflected your skin. If you were flying, it would have encompassed you, like camouflage. You would have enjoyed that… To leave the bounds of gravity and become one with the sky. I wondered if you could now.
It’s strange, the thoughts that fill your mind when faced with the worst case scenario. Perhaps it was a function of shock. I’m not sure. I was numb and tired from days of searching. It took me a few minutes to find my phone and make the call.
I didn’t cry. I already knew, when you didn’t come home on time. I stayed by your side, refusing to leave the site until the coroner zipped you in, covering your face with a shroud of black plastic. My heart felt like it too, was encased.
I knew you too well, though. I knew you flirted with death like it was an old girlfriend you couldn’t get over. I hadn’t expected to grow old with you. You were too restless for anything so mundane and I guess I am too.
Tomorrow I’ll go climbing, because I can’t go to your funeral. I can’t watch you be placed in the ground, so far from the sky you worshipped, your adrenaline all dried up. I’m going to ascend in the exact same spot I know you were attempting to climb when you fell. Maybe I too, can become one with the sky.
Natolie Webb 