Freedom

Petals blew in the wind, freely frolicking and dancing. She grumbled to herself about the lack of freedom and tossed in the long blades of grass. No one could find her here. It was probably the freest she could be, though temporary. She turned again, and stilled for a moment as she willed herself to be less anxious of the world moving past.

The wind was in her ears; but she could still hear the rippling and gurgling of the stream below. She closed her eyes and listened closer. They were singing a song to her; the nymphs in it were happy. That made her happy too. Her heart soared at the orchestration of nature. Chirping from birds caused her to open her eyes again, temporarily blinded by the rays of the sun. Orioles flew around; so golden they seemed like they had came directly from the sun itself.

Her restlessness forced herself up; and she took a tentative step towards the slope. Slowly, step by step, she approached the river. Reeds waved welcome to her; and a headache pressed in her mind like deja vu. A girl and a boy in clothes old as day sitting by a river; reeds hanging loosely from their mouths. Grins wide as they could go. Freedom from sneaking out into the wild.

As quickly as the headache came; it went away. Her brow furrowed as her fingers nimbly played with the stem of a nearby reed. It danced a slow dance with her fingers. The wind continued blowing and she was it the midst of dancing reeds and dancing grass, delicate as well as glorious examples of freedom. Her eyes closed once more; savoring the smell of the wild; of fresh air and flora and of the running stream.

"Cashia!" was all that was needed to break her out of her bubble. Yes, that was her name. She only found out recently. Her eyelids fluttered open and shut a couple of times enough for a portly man and woman to slink towards her; arms outstretched. Zombie-like she reached out towards them and they pulled her out of the grass; and out of her reverie. As they walked back to the vehicle; them talking animatedly in front and her sulking silently behind them; unwilling to leave the haven she found, her heart stayed behind in the grass and floating petals and dancing nature.

"You know that she still can't remember anything; why did you not keep an eye on her?" They whispered heatedly amongst themselves as slowly, her freedom was drawn back and she was a caged creature again.