Poems

Live.

'Do you believe in heaven?' she asked. Her hair was shining in the sunlight like the golden barley. She looked like a goddess.

'I don't.'

'Hell?'

'No.'

'Then why are you so afraid to do all these things... to live?' She gestured her hands across the fields as if addressing the world. 'Why are you afraid to step up and stand up when you know there aren't any consequences in the long run?'

I bit my lip, traced circles in the palm of my hand like I always do when I'm nervous or I don't know how to answer a question. 'I... don't know.'

'I'll show you what true bravery is,' she said, and then she stood up, towering over me, a hand outstretched. 'Let's go.'

'What are we doing?'

'Living.'

She lifted me into my feet with a jump, and I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins, a flood. The streams of the feelings beneath my skin turned into rivers.

And then, hand in hand, we ran, two girls about to take on the world with no consequences.

-P.K.