She blinked. A whirlpool of a thousand milky threads blurred her vision. Her concentration astray and her feet unsure. A mighty mind laid bare in a crumbling body. Small, uneven stones pierced painfully through her pale feet. The torture scarred her weary body far less than the trails left on her mind by the years of unanswered questions. She blinked again.

The fire in her eyes burnt through the weak timber that blocked her way. A storm raged in her mind. Hurriedly, she bent down to rummage through thick rubble and gravel. She manically searched for the elusive. Clarity. She sought clarity, the eyepiece to her mind. Rough twigs bruised her arms. The thorns, gravel and coarse sand hurt her fingers. But the despair.. the despair hurt her soul.

An ominous wind blew her gray hair. A watchful darkness fell around her. The silence trembled in anticipation. She knelt down, shattered. As the last of her energies drained, she clenched her handful of earth. She lay in a heap and fell asleep. Watching over her was the night, her guardian. Her strength was the silence, her broken angel.

Troubled thoughts followed her into sleep. Dark dreams took over her soul, feeding at her fears and rearing their mangled heads. Thoughts, half-filled. Perceptions, unheeded. Her desolation and fears mixed into a burning ball of all consuming dread, wrecking her mind and tormenting her soul. The darkness that encircled her was mighty. The Night turned watchful, frowning slightly as he saw her writhing, still battling her way. The water from the nearby stream flowed effortlessly, ignorant of the war that raged among the elements of melancholy. Minutes passed and so did the hours. A precursory, calm breeze took over.

A sudden chill rent the air, just as a hopeful glow lit up the edges of the horizon. The Night and the Silence glanced at each other, sighing in unison. As the first rays of the orange Sun hit the dew soaked ground, Night disappeared only with a promise to return again.
The woman slept motionless, as Silence took her palm and tended her forehead. Respite. Blackness replaced her murky, troubled thoughts. A persuasive calm she attained.. colorless and bare; comforting and fair. The warm sunlight touched her face, even as she reached out to the blackness inside her mind.