The ripples of the lake waved like hands, and as we floated above them, the animals stood on their hind legs, howling in wild celebration at our approach, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like a failure or some poor excuse of a man, but a superhero ready to save the world and get the girl. Not that X needed saving. I was certain that she could hold her own in just whatever situation she found herself in. I could feel it in my coat of fur and in the bones of this body that felt more natural than the one I had lived in for over three decades. Spiralling to the ground like leaves, the fox let go of my tail and dropped a dozen feet to the shore. Plunging his feet into the mud, he shook himself and shrieked before drinking from the lake. Falling next to him, I looked up at the sky and saw only stars, and yet I knew there was so much more to see than what was there. Lowering my head, I stuck out my tongue and followed the fox’s example and took a drink. The cold water hit my belly almost immediately and gave me brain freeze, but my thirst was soon quenched. Looking at the fox, I searched his eyes and saw fear and wonder in equal measure. There was no time for contemplation, however, for the music called to us even louder now. It was coming from deep in the woods, and upon inspection, we could see the animals moving towards it. They hurried along without delay, drawn to its magic. The music of the great beyond; it had been calling to us our entire lives, and now here we were, so close to coming undone in a place without darkness, for through the trees a white light shone illuminating all. Nodding at the fox, he nodded back, and so we joined the animals, and as we moved ever closer to the source of the magic, so it felt that at long last the moment of arrival was almost at hand.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US