The Sound of Mercy :1:

I collapse into the dirt. My body convulses, but my mind is at ease. I dig my fingers into the cracked, dried earth. Digging my heels into the ground, my back arches. My shirt becomes thread, my jeans disinigrate. Naked, my body burns. Hot coals pushing their way out of my spine, I roll over onto my knees. My back twisting, my shoulders going weak, blood dripping from my gritted teeth. 1

Artemis was born. 2

I wake up, naked on a muddy river bank. How long had I been running? The sun had yet to rise, but by the smell of the dirt and the air, I knew morning would come soon. As I stand, a sharp pain volts across my forehead. Reaching, I feel a gooey mess of blood. My body tingles. I walk into the river, I become instantly numb. Washing the blood from my face, I watch it disperse and disapear down the river. 3

I submerge. Under the flowing water I feel peace I have never felt. Silence was perfection. Whether my heartbeat had slowed, or stopped- it was no matter. To die in this moment would have been ideal. Death would bring freedom.4

But I wasn't free. I was alive. 5

I held myself under until my body ached to breathe. Slowly, I let myself float to the top. Like a baby emereging from the womb for it's first breath, I emerge wishing it were my last. 6

I walk out of the river, looking into the sun as it rose. Eyes burning, I look away. I disapear into the surrounding woods.7

I run aganist the sun, twigs and leaves crushing beneath the souls of my feet. Nothing around me has meaning or color. I am alone.8