Faith Wood

Lacy hadn’t taken this trail before. It was a novice walk in the nature reserve that bordered her upmarket suburban home. A gentle stroll was what she had decided on, though usually she preferred something with more of an effort. Where sweat would be broken, and where limbs would ache with the acid of accrued activity. She enjoyed that gentle pain, but what she enjoyed even more was the morning after. It was that stiffness that made her feel alive – worthy of a life. An effortless existence wasn’t an option for her. In fact, she detested it.

At the slowed pace of the stroll she began to notice her surroundings with more of an acute sense for the detail than as per usual. This time it wasn’t just the moss-covered stumps and leave-littered trail that vied for her attention. This time it was more. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a sun-licked vertical sparkle. Hanging delicately by a single thread was a spider of some sort. To her, usually an eight-legged creature of horror, yet today it seemed quite beautiful. It’s web was strung between two arched leaves. An island of solitary. She wondered how long it would take for something to get trapped. In nature it was the mistake of prey that fuelled the spiders existence. An invisible thread that should have been seen. A random act that had been meticulously planned. “You can’t see it, but it’s coming”, she thought. And for her it had already come.

Now sitting beside a small stream she thought about Robert. It was he who had caught her and had somehow let her go. An act against nature. An act against her. Two and a half years had ended in an affair. With his secretary. How predictable she thought. Nature wasn’t supposed to be predictable. Her grip on the idea that everything was completely random was waning. It wasn’t a belief in God that was brewing. For her God would never really be an option. Sitting beside that stream, on a rock, pants damp and bum cold, she leaned towards faith. Faith in a force that would once again make everything all right. She didn’t care who or what it was, all she cared about was her heart and right now that heart was tethered by a rope. Slowly making its way down-river. That rope would eventually run out. The end of the rope. She bear the thought.