Part Five

Her Broken Wings (Part Five)
by Phoebe Lee Mathius

"You've got to walk that lonesome valley,
You've got to walk there by yourself;
And no one here can walk it for you,
You've got to walk it by yourself."

There it was again.

She cautiously peered around her. She could've sworn she heard something. But she had been hearing things all day, and each had turned out to be nothing at all.

She hobbled forward but stopped.

She heard it again.

"Who are you? Show yourself!"

Suddenly, a foul odour gripped her nostrils and a fierce wind blew all around her. The grass withered away into charred ashes as if a fiery inferno had burnt the entire area, save the small patch of moss that she was standing in.

It was then that she heard it.

A horrific shriek; as of a screeching banshee -- only much more terrifying. It grew louder and louder; hitting decibels in volumes unimaginable. Falling to her knees, she cupped her ears with her dirty hands. She was crying.

"No, Lord! No! Not again!"

And then, silence.

Like she had just been placed into a little vaccuum container.

Her ears were throbbing madly. They were sore and still reverberated tiny echoes of the shriek. She laid very still for a moment or two, listening. Nothing.

Very slowly, she looked up - hoping against hope that she'd see nothing. That she would wake up. That it would all just be a silly nightmare.

She was wrong.

"You've got to stand one day in judgement,
You've got to stand there by yourself;
And no one here can stand there for you,
You've got to stand there...

...by yourself."