sunrise to sunset (ryan yellowstone).

where are you going?

Laurel Cassidy started off in the world with very little and by the time she turned left down the dusty side trail, she felt she had even less.

Hiking the pack higher across her back, she fiddled with the straps and debated if she wanted to stop and tighten them again. The tighter they were, the closer it would hug her body. The closer it hugged her body, the less of a chance someone would snatch it away.

But who would really do that? Especially out here in the middle of no where Montana?

Assholes, that's who. Dumb redneck assholes.

Laurel grit her jaw if only for a second before the pain of the bruised bone shot up to her teeth.

Relaxing it again as much as she could, she continued further up the dirt road, kicking loss rocks as she went.

If she were to consider her luck, today had been a pretty okay day. She hadn't seen a soul since she turned off the main highway that lead into town and for that she was grateful. She needed the silence the open land had to offer her, even if it was continuously interrupted by the shuffle of her boots against the gravel. 

It felt calm, right even.

Laurel sucked in the biggest breath she could muster and let it out through her nose. It burned a little but she hoped that would go away with time. Broken noses set on their own right?

Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her worn carhart jacket, Laurel decided not to dwell on things in the past. It didnt deserve her energy. She was here to push forward into the future, what ever that maybe.

And she sure as hell didn't care because anything was better than the past. 

Anything.

She sniffed again, this time to fight the chill she felt settling in. It wasn't cold, in fact she would even consider it pleasant. This spring had been a wet one but the land around her could always do with a good soaking. Just as long as it let up enough for the fields to be planted and the cattle to avoid injuries in the mud.

The sun's light was starting to fall behind the mountains to her west and the sight of it stopped her in her tracks.

Laurel loved a good sunset. 

She lived for them and that special moment when the last bit of light was about to leave the sky and be replaced with the blanket of darkness, only for everything to stop as it stretched out in a burst of colour.

It was nothing short of magical and like any magic in the world, it only lasted for less than a minute.

Like every night, since the first night she could remember she found her self leaning casually against a fence post on the side of the road. Ensuring that none of the barbed wire was behind her and just the feel of the solid wood, she slid down to lounge in the grass and wait for the end.

Fireworks didn't even compare as edges of the clouds still hanging low in the sky swirled to tinge with streaks of lavender and lilac. They bleed out into blue before fading to orange and then a soft red.

The sky was on fire, burning brighter than a raging forest fire. And just like the fragility of any flame, it was snuffed out into nothing.

Well not nothing, as remnants of its last light curled into a smoke that would soon become the encroaching night.

Laurel exhaled with the world as the darkness creeped in. 

She placed her hands on her knees and pulling herself back up into a standing position. Her left hip ached with the movement but she knew  with the night now at her doorstep, she needed to find a spot to rest. Once settled she could deal with the pain.