Deer Ballerina

Part 3

I woke up before she did. I couldn't say what time it was but it must have been early since there was this calm in the air. She laid next to me, curled up into a tiny ball. I looked at her in awe. I had certainly fallen for her, even though I didn't even really know who she was. But with her concepts like obligation, time and civilization just didn't exist. There was a different world inside of her and I remember how honored I felt that she let me see it.

A strand of hair had fallen in front of her nose and I lifted it away. She was up instantly, her eyes filled with utter fear. But as she recognized me she calmed down and even a smile appeared on her lips.

She opened them to say something. But as she moved her mouth, nothing came out. She cleared her throat and tried again but there was still no voice.

"Maybe it was too cold tonight, I should have..." I said but interrupted myself. The fear in her eyes was back and turned into utter panic. She tried to get up but her limps didn't seem to listen. She tripped over her arms and legs. I couldn't help her as she was out of reach in the blink of an eye.

It was a horrific spectacle. She tried to get up again and again, failing and falling to her knees. I tried to follow her and screamed at the top of my lungs that she should just sit down.

Her limbs seemed to be too long for her, each of them moving separately like they were attached to strings and moved by the cruel and invisible hand of a puppet master.

I remember the moment in a frozen picture. Her gaze shot over to me one last time before her balance failed for the last time.

I don't know if I screamed, I am pretty sure I did. When I reached the edge of the roof she was down already. Her yellow dress was pushed up high, her leg twisted and her head thrown back.

Like a maniac I rushed down the stairs, crying for an ambulance. I didn't reach her first but made my way through, falling down beside her.

I had never seen a face so full of piece before. Her eyes were open but they had changed. The dark brown iris had pushed away all white and her pupils had become square.

I didn't see or feel the blood when I put her head onto my thighs. While I stroked her, I noticed little bumps on her skull. As I pulled her hair back I saw something no one saw after me. No doctor, no mortician.

Little antlers, freshly broken through the skin crowned her.