Within

She danced on the edge of a cliff, slowly. Softly, lithe, catlike movements. Smooth. The waves beneath roared, the thunder grumbled. Lightning flashed, and she could smell the burnt air. Otherwise water and wind danced around her, whipping her face, sometimes caressing it. The grass was soft to her bare feet, the mud beneath it cool and calming.

Her hands met on top, she spun around eyes closed, dancing to a music only she could hear. The grand thunder and wave spectacle background dancers to her concert.

Eyes closed, inside her, there was joy. Pure happiness as the water caressed her face, her long hair. Wind dancing alongside her, as if holding her hands. Her eyes were closed, her music was internal.

Her joy was absolute.

Her toes lithe, barely stepping on the grass, all her weight, numbly placed on them.

Her life had been a series of hard challenges, honestly whose is not? But she had found the one thing that gave her joy: herself. She had learned to laugh at herself, to love herself. And that was all that mattered.

A smile curled wider on her lips, rivulets of water streaming down her cheeks, some from the rain, others were salty and came from her eyes. Her heart was pounding speedily but at peace.

Her eyebrows which for the longest time had been close and pulled down, in a frown, they were where they should be, her forehead unlined, and relaxed. Her hands moved through the wind as if there were none. She moved on the power that came from within to a music that she was the music box for. And no force could change that. Time could make the music box rust, could even cause the music to stutter and stop, but would only be when she were dead. People could cause the music to stop with their negativity, with their silence, and their harsh, hoarse shouts and cries. But that would only be when she was dead.

Right now though, she was alive. And oh, it felt so good. She could feel every beat of her heart, and that was the tempo she danced to. That was the beat to her life, that was the beat of her life. More importantly, she was emanating happiness like an angel does light.

The thunder grew louder, angry, she could not tell. The waves impatient, she could not tell.

Watching from afar, he scratched his beard, combing through it with his fingers, confused.

He saw angry thunder, whipping waves, a cold hard ground, and a woman dancing on it, unaware. She seemed crazy. She seemed powerful, and he was a little scared. Something inside him was shook. Something inside him made his heart pound faster, made him nauseous, made him feel sick, as if his body was trying to sweat out the toxins. He got up from his bench, shook his head, trying to get that uncomfortable feeling out of his head and his heart, he frowned, and went back inside his hut to his sad life.