The strength I need
by Gayatri Ketharaman
 
Eerie dawn. Unfriendly mist. Towering giants disguised as trees. 
I didn’t care. I needed to breathe. I needed a sign. I needed something to tell me to go on, to not give up the fight. I walked rapidly till I became one with the wind.
 
I stopped. My feet were rooted to the ground. They wouldn’t move at will. My subconscious had picked up something was screaming at me to listen. If I had continued walking at the same pace, I would have been in her path.
 
In the Queen’s path. With her stripes, her majestic stroll and her sharp vision scanning the landscape. 
 
In a second, she had moved on. Disappeared into the mist’s open arms. 
 
That half a minute with the Queen was all I needed. All the strength I needed.