Her Voice Like Lightning // guest story by A.Z. Louise

a guest story about a horse and a voice from the wild

When the tall one comes, she braids my hair with massive, dexterous hands. She smells of wildness that makes my skin prickle: creekwater-bathed hair, musky grit under nails, thunder in the throat. Her voice croons in my ear as she plaits, and I am unafraid.

The man unbraids my hair after she visits, and builds new fences that keep the tall one away. I miss her, but the fence bites and snaps lightning, and the man is watchful.

The next time he comes to saddle me, I crush the man's small, soft body against the side of the stall. I run to the paddock to leap the fence and find the tall one, but my back legs catch and tangle in the biting threads. A storm-bitten, eerie howl fills the night. The fence threads cry out in searing response and fall away like sugar cubes crumbling on a warm, wet tongue.

She’s here.

A.Z. Louise (they/them) is a lover of birds, a killer of houseplants, and a writer of speculative things. Their work has appeared in Lackington's, FIYAH, and Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World that Wouldn't Die.
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Short story written by A.Z. Louise

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Story prompt taken from a photo by Alex Glebov

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