Jess
June 29th, 2011, 03:06 PM
I sit, quiet and still, smelling that sharp scent of grass under my nose. Even now, completely still, my heart pounds, as a breeze ruffle my fur. As I lower my head to nibble on some clover, my finely tuned ears pick up a sound. My heart sped up as I sensed a predator nearby. I leap and land in the sinuous body of a snake. Twisting around obstacles, weaving through foliage, I sense an animal up in a tree a few feet away. I wrap my limbless self around and start to climb. When I reach the branch, my body contracts into something small; I am a frog, a limber coil of tension, ready to spring. I sight myself on a higher branch and extend my legs in a wild leap. In midair, my back legs shrink and my arms reach out to further catch the breeze in my feathers. I soar above the treetop and let out a screech; this is joy. The ground rushes beneath me, stopping abruptly at a great expanse of water: the ocean. My keen eyes sight a splash and I dive to satisfy my hunger. I slow under the surface and my feathers become scales. I control my direction with side-to-side motions, propelling myself in a school of millions of silver jewels. We change directions unanimously and weave through each other in a silent dance. I break away from the rest of the school and feel myself growing larger. My side-to-side motion becomes up and down. I am the biggest fish in the sea and I swim faster, angling upwards to the surface. I break through the waves and fly above, then land on the beach as a wild horse. I leap again over some driftwood racing with my fellow herd along packed, ocean-washed sand and then I become closer to the ground, muscles bunching and releasing like elaborate machinery. Faster than any animal and still accelerating, I close in on my quarry. I pounce but it bucks to the side and I land as a startled deer. I veer off into the forest, leaping over fallen trees on a path invisible to all other creatures. I zigzag and leap again then slow when I hear water. I follow the sound to a stream, more silent than the rustling forest around me. I lower my head and drink; it is cool and clear. There is another noise; in a flash I am darting around trees and again slowing into a clearing. I am still yet again and my pounding heart slows. I lower my head to taste some clover once more...