Those horns calling out to me,
melody rings in my ears as I stand still
listening attentively, waiting.
It’s time to go.
Rubber touches dirt, sinking and leaving craters on the earth
now scarred but I hear no complaints,
tripping over hard steel I reconsider as something below me vibrates--
that sound… the horns again.
It’s coming.
As my feet move forward my mind goes elsewhere,
her face appears next to me;
a blurry image of her beauty
and then I feel it.
The ground below me is shaking.
Her smile vanishes into thin air.
I notice I’ve kept walking--
I am now further away from where I started.
In that moment,
I hear it.
Those horns once more
like trumpets from an orchestra
calling out seeking a response,
but my mind ignores them.
Reality is punctured by memory yet again.
She reappears walking beside me.
She holds out her hand reaching,
mouthing words I cannot make out,
confused, I stare at her.
So she screams.
Intensified by the horns her voice becomes distorted,
loud and deafening it’s now pure noise.
I reach out to her but her body turns to
ash, I wasn’t quick enough.
I’m sorry.
My instant response is a mirror image,
opening widely my jaw stretches
but only a gasp covers the air.
And then the horns.
Those blasted horns.
I feel my stomach drop at the sight of her,
a sick feeling engulfs me.
Noticing the wind carrying away the dust
I realize how further away my feet have carried me.
Reality.
But it doesn’t stop.
It keeps coming faster,
the horns become a reminder that--
she’s not here—I still want her.
Then it hits me.
Eyes open slowly and a bright light is upon me;
realization that I’m awake is presented.
“Ash…” I whisper.
I can still hear the horns.