When the colours change the people cry,

The world’s insane, you watch your brothers fry.

A poet dies in candlelight,

A velvet demon flies through the night.

You better chase somewhere to hide,

You better skate the ocean’s eye.

And now the hunter’s through the gates.

Surely revenge shall take its place?

No direction, just a victim to find,

Fear by his side and death in his mind.

You better chase somewhere to hide,

You better skate the ocean’s eye.

You’d better tame the spirits tonight.

Angelica bleeds trying to feed the damned,

Moonstones are washed away in the sand.

Confusion’s hand holds a wisdom,

Pluto looks on at his crushed kingdom.

You better chase the place to hide,

You better skate the ocean’s eye.

Fire eats a silver flame.

Earth erupting, concealing it’s fame.

Water is leading those who came.

Air filled with death has driven insane.

You better find a place to hide,

You better skate the ocean’s eye.

Can you tame the spirits tonight?

People have a strange idea about women and their choices:

"Don't do that. You won't make any money."

"Don't wear that dress. It's too short on you."

"Don't cut your hair. You'll look bad with that haircut."

You can say no to these people. These words. You're allowed to express yourself. You're allowed to live life in a way that makes you happy. You can say no. And say yes to everything else. The things that actually matter to you.

I was always taught by my parents to make my dreams happen. Yet I never could, I blame the undecisive seasons. They never aligned with my dreams.

But I’m done listening to the silence of the seasons changing.

So here I stand, ready to jump as the swift fall breeze gently tugs me back and forth from the ledge. Maybe it’s telling me to back down or maybe it’s giving me a nudge forward. It must not know that I made my decision already.

One foot hovers off the ledge, and I tell myself that it will feel exactly like missing a step when going downstairs. But unfortunately, I know better than that. I’ll probably feel a drop in my stomach, the same drop I get when a roller coaster plunges steeply towards the ground.

I gather my thoughts and look down to prepare myself for what’s to come. There’s no going back now. I can’t be a coward forever.

And with that last instigating thought, I jump. Diving forward, my feet are practically sewn together. In the same second as a blink, I hit the water. I didn’t prepare myself for the sting on my skin the moment my body broke the barrier between the air and the water, so it came as a shock. Not a “screaming eyes wide open shock”, but a “wow I didn’t expect that shock.”

I swim with galloping strokes towards the shoreline and realize there’s no one around. My body is covered with goosebumps and all my hairs are standing. I just continue to walk until I make it home, in my wet clothes just dripping with every step as if I’m leaving a trail of my melting cowardice.

Shivering, I step into my room and strip off everything but undergarments and my goosebumps. I pull a blanket over my shoulders and it kisses my body with warmth. I lay back on my bed with my legs straight out and my arms on my sides.

“Did I really jump?”

And I’m silent again... as I see from the corner of my eyes the window curtain dancing in a rhythmic pace.

My sight starts to darken and I begin to give in to the blissful temptation of sleep, as it creeps onto my bed and hugs me tightly, not letting go and I don’t want it to.

Slipping deeper and deeper into darkness all I can think about is how I forgot to close my window and how the autumn breeze may take this as its chance to nudge me forward.

But I know it won’t because winter kills, autumn just frightens.