Carpe Diem.

I once walked down to a lake.
A beautiful song was sung here. It was sung by the birds, by the wind, and by the slow rippling water. This lake was peace. It was the calm before a storm. It was peaceful and the reflection of the sky in the rippling lake, made me feel warm.

I found a coin here. A coin I had never seen before, a millimetre thick, outlined by words. 'Trust is in your hands, i trust you to bring me home'. With latin traced marked words entombed to the symbollic metal. But, the birds. The wind. The ripples. They all stopped as I looked at the young face I could see. An early portrait of a young woman, outlined by carefully cut lines, an latin words. It was identicle on both sides.
Heads and heads.

I left this lake. After I did.
I could never hear the wind, i could never see the ripples or the washing water of a lake, i could never see a bird. I could never see beauty. It seemed to have left me.

I carried this coin for weeks at a time.
Like I was drawn to it, and the more I wore it, the closer I'd become to death.
I once almost got stuck in the middle of a car accident, crossing the road. A snake was in my bed as I slept. Death seemed to be drawn to me.

By the end of the weeks I carried the coin. It was months. And after a year I couldn't even put it down. I'd take it from my pocket, and fiddle with it between my fingers, while I changed my clothes.

I dropped the coin once and heard it hit the soft carpet with a light thud. I dived for it, and it almost shed a tear at the frightening scare of the almost loss of the coin.

I opened my window to see the sun. It didn't bother me, it didn't entrance me like it used to. So I pulled out my coin and played with its reflection in the sun. The more it shon, the more attracted to it I was. The more I wanted to hold it tighter and tighter. Again i read the words imprinted in latin 'Carpe Diem'
As I was entranced into these words, as I was lost in this moment of pure beauty, the young face and the bright sparking reflection of the sun.
Claws cut my fingers, beating air filled my ears and it was gone. In the air, all I could see was the creature that used to sing me lullabies down at the lake. It was a bird. But it had my all, it had my woman. It had everything.

I could feel the sweat drip off my face, as the chasing of this bird kept me panting. It came to a stop. On a tree. The tallest tree I had seen in this district. Halfway up, perched on a thick branch. My beautiful princess, printed on a coin, awaited me.

The climb was a struggle. Although I can barely remember it. Small twigs almost finding my eyes, small cuts on my legs and arms. But the worse part.
Was waking up winded, with the coin in my hand, and no remembering the fall.
Annother close call to death..
The sun beats down on me. As a shivers run down the coils of my spine. This coin, this love. It has to go.

I walk to the lake. In pure silence. I walk to the same spot i found the coin.
I stood there for hours. I stood there, until the chills of the night flourished within my seeping cold and foggy breaths. I figured that I had so many close calls to death, that I couldn't die from anything, not even the darkness and all of my fears hidden within its shadow.

Dusk. Morning. The red sun rises. Silence beckons, over the lake, over the wind and birds fly over with no sound. Silence.

Tears begin to fall from my red cracked eyes. An imprint from the coin where I picked it up, layed in the dirt. In the rocks and shells. I place it down. I look at it once more and close my eyes.

I stand back up.
Back straight, and my ears prick up.
I hear a call, i hear a splash and I hear the wind. I begin to smirk.
'Trust is in your hands, i trust you to bring me home'. I finally realise what i've learned.

As I walk away, I stop. I listen. I take a deep breathe, and begin, to cease the day.