Work Text:
Lone
by Anne Marsh
He doesn't know me anymore.
The words pound in my head as I run. I have no destination, and the woods are dark and deep and I know them of old.
He doesn't know me anymore.
The pain burns in my chest as I run. It's not the exertion, but that one truth, neither plain nor simple.
He doesn't know me anymore.
Tears sting my eyes as I run. We used to be together, side by side against the world, tumbling, laughing, making love...
I have to stop, to catch my breath or my racing mind. I went back, to the place that used to be ours, I didn't know he would return as well. I hoped in that moment he might welcome me. I hoped he might love me. There was no recognition in his eyes, he looked at me like a tresspasser. I had no words to speak, he would not have listened.
A movement to the side freezes me, and I turn oh-so-slow, still braced against a tree. Someone else panting, breathing, someone else there.
The wolf eyes me with slight interest, gold eyes burning. I don't know what to expect, don't know if I've run into his territory, if he'll attack, if I could hope to fight...
After an eternity of staring, he turns, tosses his head in dismissal as he trots off into the trees.
I sink down to the snow-covered ground of the clearing and feel the need to sob, to laugh, to cry, to scream. Half relieved and half still heartbroken, I can only stay as I am, until the cold and damp force me to move on. To where, I don't know. I only know where I cannot make my home. Where I am not wanted.
I only know he doesn't know me.