The Journey Part 4a

#ThursThreads Week 24
Word requirement: 100-250
The Prompt: "The whir of wings broke the silence."
No picture, but I picked the one above to go with the story.

My entry: The Journey Part 4a
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Huddled, Jessa reached for the leaf, easing it from the rusty old fence. Brown and sere, it could crumble to dust in her hand if she weren't careful.

How could she get it back to the Colony intact? Her pack was filled to bursting with the precious cargo she'd traveled so far to find. But the leaf, if indeed that's what it was, could be even more precious. She had to get it back to the Leader. He'd know if it was a remnant of the Before or if it meant life was returning to the planet.

It might make him notice her.

Her heart bounced, then steadied. Not likely. Her sigh was invisible in the moaning wind as she resumed her trudge, gentle fingers curved to shield the leaf.

Always watching, ever listening, she sniffed the acrid air, seeking a first sense of the Colony. The ruined road would lead her there, she knew, and she prayed to the None to bring her home tonight, before full dark made traveling too dangerous.

The whir of wings broke the silence, and Jessa dropped to the ground, just one more rock in the rubble. Only her eyes moved as she squinted to discern. Was it a Ravager's raptor or a dove from the Colony? Had it seen her?

The bird landed nearby, and she sighed in relief. Gathering herself, she rose to finish the journey. She looked for the leaf. Crushed brown fragments blew away on the breeze.

247 words

Week 24 Winner
Dee | @Dee_768
Claire says: I loved this one because the focus was on this old leaf she found, something so irrelevant to a reader now but incredibly important to this girl and the world in which she lived. That world was vividly portrayed for me in just a few sentences. I even loved the sentence about her wanting to be noticed, that passionate sense of hope. The prompt was ancillary to the story but the trigger for the tragic ending. I read this one and it really scored with me and stuck with me as the day wore on.