Words...

“But why?” she gasped between heaving sobs “Why do I have to hurt so much? Why must I always be alone in this dark, cold space, hurting so much? Why?”
For a moment, God said and did nothing. Then, extinguishing his cigarette and shoving a hand in his pocket, he turned to leave that dark, cold space. As his last footsteps echoed endlessly around the girl he tilted his head back and chuckled out, “There hasn’t really been anything on TV lately.”

 There once was a Magpie who lived on the outskirts of a city. The city was dirty and crowded and full of things that scared the Magpie. The Magpie had once lived in a small wood out in the countryside and had been very happy, even though it had only been for a short time. Shortly after coming to the city, the Magpie’s wings hand been clipped and she could no longer fly as she once had. Sometimes, if she tried very hard, she could flip and flap for a few moments, but no more.

Even though the Magpie could no longer fly, she tried very hard to work for and learn from the other birds in the city. Most paid the Magpie no mind, for now she was hardly a bird without her wings. But then one day, very unexpectedly, a dove came and perched right beside the Magpie.
                “Oh, my,” thought the Magpie, “what a beautiful dove, and what beautiful wings! This dove must be ever so happy.”
                “I was just admiring your wings,” said the Dove, “I wish mine were as beautiful as yours!”
                “Oh!” exclaimed the Magpie, not actually expecting the Dove to speak to her. “You are mistaken! My wings have been clipped and ruined, while yours are so soft and white. Surely, you cannot admire them.”
The Dove only laughed and took the Magpie by surprise as she continued to converse with her. The two birds spoke of many things and quickly came to find that they enjoyed each other’s company very much. It was not long before the Magpie and the Dove found themselves perching together side by side as often as they could. Though for the Magpie, this was never enough. The Magpie had never met anyone quite like the Dove and no other bird had ever decided to perch beside the Magpie before. Soon, the Dove became very precious and important to the Magpie. But the Dove did not realize this, for she had perched beside many birds before, and many birds had perched beside her. While the Magpie was indeed very precious to the Dove, she was not the most important bird in the Dove’s life. The Magpie knew this, but only hoped for the Dove’s happiness.
As the seasons changed in the dark city, the Magpie realized the Dove did not seem to perch beside her as often as before. It was very difficult for the Magpie to search the city for the Dove, and by the end of each day, her wings had grown tired and hurt ever so much. Soon, the Magpie began to accept that maybe the Dove would not want to spend any time with a bird that could no longer fly. There were surely other birds that the Dove must know who were much more enjoyable to fly and perch with.
                “I hope the Dove is happy, wherever she may be,” the Magpie thought, sadly. “I do not wish to trouble her with my clipped, broken wings any longer.”
                Unbeknownst to the now very lonely Magpie, the Dove was burrowed away deep in her nest, very sad and lonely herself. The Magpie had believed that the Dove had many other wonderful birds to fly and perch with, and that the Dove had simply lost interest in her. But the Dove was far more similar to the Magpie than the Magpie had ever thought. The Dove’s wings looked soft and white, but in fact hurt very much. It was very difficult for the Dove to fly and most days now, she simply lay in her nest.
Even more seasons passed, and the Magpie and the Dove saw each other very little, sometimes only in passing. The Magpie’s loneliness grew, now that she knew what a life without loneliness was like. Her wings began to wither and her once beautiful feathers began to fall out. She too took to her nest and stayed there for many days and nights at a time. Soon, the Magpie did not want to eat, did not want to preen, did not want to perch, did not want to watch the other birds at all. And though she still longed for the days when she perched with the Dove, she knew it was for the best that the Dove had left her. The Dove deserved happiness, and the Magpie now knew no bird could be happy with her, a bird without wings.
Eventually, the Magpie had grown very tired and weak, and almost all of her feathers had fallen out. A neighboring crow had spotted the Magpie after some time and screeched and cawed to her during all hours of the day. The Magpie tried her best to be polite and kind to the Crow, a bird to whom no other birds wanted much to do with, but it was not long before she found she no longer had the strength to handle the Crow’s constant screeches and desires to fly.
                “I will never find another bird like the Dove. I am not worthy of ever finding another bird like the Dove. I will hide from the Crow and never leave my nest again.”
                And so the Magpie hid from the Crow, and never left her nest again. Featherless, exhausted, hungry, and alone, the Magpie found she only had the strength to think of her times in the countryside and with the Dove, even though it hurt her very much.
                But still, even as her last feather fell, she hoped the Dove was happy.

After hours of searching, we finally found the hole. It looked unassuming and fairly average.

“I thought it would be bigger.”

“Everyone does.”

I shuffled close to the edge and peered down, unable to see the bottom.

“You ready?”

“Mmm.”

“Oh for the love of…you saps are all the same. Beg and plead me to show the way, and when I finally do, you go and get cold feet on me. You going to go or not? Because I’m not doing this again. I hate coming out here.”

“I am…it’s just…”

I could see sharp rocks and bits of rotting tree roots lining the walls. I knew there was no way I wouldn’t be scarred on the way down.

“You told me this is what you wanted.”

“It is. I mean…I just didn’t know it would look like that. How deep is this thing?”

“Don’t really know, it’s different for everyone. I’m not really in charge of these things, I’m just the guide.”

I took a step closer.

“Will the fall kill me?”

“If you’re lucky.”

Marquise Seafoam