-Frozen

A random picture that tugged at my mind and said, "Write me." So, I did]

Gloria sat on the cold hard ground and gazed into the frigid north wind. It was cold, more brutal than she. She had sat so long that ice crystals had formed at her clothing and began to connect their fabric to the frozen earth. She gazed, continually, but saw nothing. There was nothing on the horizon that offered warmth or hope. It looked bare and arctic. Yet she looked.

She dreamt of a day when the air was warm. When the skies shown bright and the sun warmed her skin. But this was not today. Today was cold. And lifeless.

She remembered times that she had forgotten. Stories that weren't important then. But they are to her now. Now, they could possibly offer warmth against the unforgiving blast of the northern wind. But do they really? Or, are they just a memory of where she was and a reality of where she is? Still, she looks.

The wind blew and fogged away at her eyes, hazing them over till it was difficult to see. Yet she tried. The view forward showed her what was available to her, but nothing looked familiar. It gave her options of what it offered, but nothing looked warm. It was frigid and heavy. Coating her eyelashes and weighting them down. She fought their pull as they attempted to close her eyes. But she could not stop. She had to continue to look for something, anything. But it wasn't there. What she hoped she would see never came. What she wanted was no longer available to her.

A simple turn to the right would give her the sun's rising, if she only would. It might give her warmth, if she would only take it. The morning light might shine on her clothing and melt the bond between fabric and earth. Releasing her from her game of stare and rose. If she would only turn and receive it. Nothing was colored in this wasteland of black and white. It was wind and crystals, cold and colder.

Gloria refused to look away from the north. And because of this, the north owned her now. Bound together by ice. Bound together in a hopeless hell without any heat. Gloria stared.

Look away.