I Dreamed at Night of Growing Wings

[archiveofarethusa]

The sunlight felt different today, like the first spring rays breaking through clouds after a long, dark, and bitter winter. Kristen felt like she could close her eyes and wake up with the same peace curled around her, having missed nothing. There were no pricetags on her anymore, she realized for the first time since her escape. She wouldn't ever have to catch herself feeling kinship towards store merchandise again. Even her laugh was surprised when it germinated from her throat, but she didn't bother trying to stop, and when it woke Cliff and Cyprian, she neither apologized nor gave explanation for it. She fell back into the grass and stared at the clouds as they drifted by on their way elsewhere.

"Is - is she...okay, do you think?" Cliff said, almost from miles away. Cyprian sighed, and said, "I stopped trying to figure out what was wrong with the both of you nearly the moment I met you."

I'm alive, Kristen marveled. And I really don't mind.