Suffering (lear plot, open)

Eloise Miller made the trek to Thalia's tree one early morning. She wasn't the usual early riser, but this time she had incentive. She was expecting her girlfriend, Ari, to return at some point. She could've sworn Ari had said yesterday, but her absence led Louie to believe that she had misheard. She would've checked with Ari, but she hadn't been answering any of her texts or phone calls.

Nevertheless the prospect of seeing her girlfriend left Louie rather chipper despite the fact that she was exhausted and rather cold. She was beginning to regret her decision to leave her jacket on her bunk, as now goosebumps had started to form on her bare arms.

As the lone pine tree came into view something else caught her eye at the base of the tree. Someone, she couldn't tell who at this point, was asleep under the wide branches of the evergreen.

"Hello?" Louie called out, extremely confused at the fact that someone found the base of a pine tree comfortable enough to take a nap, let alone the fact that they were doing it at the end of fall. She stepped closer, the sleeping figure coming into full view in the ever brightening light of the early morning. Thats when she recognized the face.

It was Ari. She was posed peacefully under the protection of the tree, eyes closed and hands folded across her abdomen. It was almost as if she were asleep, "almost" being the operative word. The illusion was ruined by the paper like quality of her skin, something that wouldn't be found in any living person.

It took her a moment to register it. For a moment she stood in blank horror, trying to piece together what was going on. She didn't entirely feel like herself, more like a casual observer. Then it clicked.

The skin, the stillness that nobody would be able to fake. An ear piercing scream could be heard coming from Thalia's tree, followed by the sounds of beating feathers as the ravens that had gathered to witness the poor girl's experience took flight in an effort to escape whatever she had in store for them next.

Louie fell to her knees, silent sobs racking her body. Through the blur of her teary eyes she could see a sandwich sitting beside Ari's body. Something that she saw Ari eat weekly, ham and cheese, no crust, cut diagonally. Her mind couldn't even process what that meant, before seeing something else. A slip of paper, which had been blown away by a gust of wind, was settled on the grass. She reached out to it, hoping for an answer, an explanation, anything to help her understand what was happening. Instead, sprawled in block print handwriting, she found something that only deepened her confusion and hurt.