Blackfoot Forest superstition

dated 16.09.19

her heart is in her throat, and her claws scrabble at rock that seems to melt away beneath her paws. she's tossed sideways and there's lancing pain across her side and then she's on the ground again. utterly disoriented, she attempts to surge to her paws, only to collapse as the grounds surges downward. the scent of urine, primal fear, and she's scrabbling sideways as debris thunders to the earth beside her. 

her eyes snap open, and it's twilight. the woods are eerily silent; this is the first thing she notices. next is the crushing hurt around her chest, the smell of old urine and fear, the rock and earth scattered around and in her fur. 

she wakes up, unaware that she'd ever slipped from consciousness. it's dark all around, and she's profoundly alone. carefully, slowly, she moves to her paws, trembling all the while, unable to contend with the solitude, the terror. her breath is shallow, gaze flickering all around at the debris and strangeness of this place. she's still for a long time, until the distance clatter of stone startles her into laboured motion and she makes her uncertain way through the trees.