Stavanger Bay Smoking Embers

Just as Andr was breaking free of the forest's grasp, something small tugged at him. 

Something he nearly missed, but now that it had ahold of him would not let go. 

A troubled whisper on the wind, a lingering perfume in the air.

Things that had slowly begun to fade but refused to be forgotten.

It pulled him along the edge of the forest, leading him like a passive tether on a leash.

It was not forceful but overcame his entire being. Hypnotized and lured in.

Then it appeared. The starry cosmic sky in the dark of night. Light frothy waves crashing on the shore of the dark sea. A melody of black and white. 

She trembled, hunched into the ground, shutting her eyes and herself from the great forest. 
At present, she resided between Andr and the woods. The mighty trees Andr's background as he looked upon her.

Visions of the fire so clearly entered his mind and heated his body from within. The glow of the flames reflecting off the light in her fur and burning it as clearly as it had that day.

Yet he knew there was no fire. That the smoke entering his nose and scratching his lungs did not existing... was she the same? Another figment of his imagination? Another part of this nightmare brought to life?

His approach was gentle and slow, stopping short a few lengths away. Afraid to spook the corners of his mind that had manifested her. It hurt him to see her in such pain as she once had been... but the thought of her vanishing and not seeing her at all... hurt him more.

There was so much he could have said, so much he wanted to say, so much that for a time nothing came. 

Then... "You're Okay..."

A statement. A question. For her. For him. All were true.