4 The Search

Sweat poured from every pore in her body.  The heat of the sun and the miles of walking were wreaking havoc on her body.  She was exhausted.  Every muscle in her body ached, but she continued on following the tiny little creature in front of her.

"Not far now."  She stopped and took a sip from her water bottle.  It was warm, but still it provided relief.  "Just over the next hill."  With renewed focus, she twisted the cap back into place and almost ran up the hill.  Her heart sank as her eyes scanned the terrain.  She looked at the wolf she had been following with dismay.  "Over there."  As her gaze shifted in the direction, she barely noticed the wolf bob its head and disappear back in the direction they had come from.

She moved slowly toward the area that was crowed with hawks.  Her breath caught in her lungs as her brain made sense of sight that stood before her.  She sank down to her knees.  Her mind traveled back to the first time she had met him.  She had been intimidated by his robust form, put off by his easy charm.  She would have dismissed him right away, but the way his eyes feasted on her had sparked something inside her that she didn't know existed.  There had been no doubt in her mind that she would love him until her dying breath.

As her eyes glassed over at the memory, the voices cut into her train of thought.  "Quite tasty really."

"Yes, nicely marbleize meat.  Very tender.  An exquisite robust flavor, I must say."

She felt the bile rise in her throat.  A hand rose to her mouth, while the other tried fruitlessly to cover her ears.  When her brain finally kicked in, she grabbed the charm that hung around her neck, tore it off and throw it away.  The air was filed with the sound of squawking birds.  After a moment, the ability to breathe seemed to return.  She bit at her bottom lip as she breathed slowly through her nose--a mistake she realized as the smell penetrated her facilities.  One of the hawks raised its head and looked at her.  With a small hop and flap of its wings it rose and landed on top of the pendant the crazy woman had given her to help her locate her husband.  The hawk tilted its head as though it were studying her.  "You're welcome to join us, if you're hungry."  Again she found her hand covering her mouth.  She shook her head.  The hawk shifted its head and wings in a odd looking shrug before it returned to its circle of friends.  She turned her head away as it once again began to feast on the dead carcass.

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As I explored yet another Three Word Wednesday, I thought I would break away from the use of poetry, suppress my negative feelings and insecurities of conquering prose, and maybe allow some of my untapped creativity to surface.  Along with being inspired with three interesting words [3WW=>charm, feast, robust], this post found additional fodder in a rerun of Reba were Barbara Jean uses the phrase, "feast on the dead carcass of our financial ruin."  (Side note:  I did not get around to creating anything for last weeks Three Word Wednesday [3WW=>break, negative, surface], so I thought I'd make up for it twice over--once here and by posting a short story today.)