When she slept, she wrinkled her forehead and frowned as if having deep conversations in her dreams.

the city stretched beneath them at a quiet remove, the headlights of cars gliding up and down the avenues like shooting stars,

Avery opened her eyes. Pale light danced far ahead. Her lungs ached. It was too much, this love. Then she felt it, her legs kicking out beneath her, turning her upright. Her soles sank into the mud, then pushed off. A thousand dark tugging tides pulled her back as she propelled herself, but she did not stop. Her palms thrust water aside, as though

Avery could see her now, streaking beneath the water’s glistening surface, a pale blur of limbs, her hair a serpentine thread.

Then she slipped beneath the surface of the water, of the world itself.

Down below, everything was quiet. Pond water, silken and thick as oil, slid over her skin. Liquid gulps and hisses curled around her ears. Tiny glistening bubbles pearled her skin, then drifted away like thoughts. Cones of light pierced the water above her head. She propelled herself deeper, the light retreating behind her. Swaying reeds brushed he

Around the pond, a leafy canopy of trees sighed and rustled as if politely rearranging themselves.

lone elderly woman swimming slowly, her neck jutting forward like a determined turtle.

Avery watched as the birds flew north. She watched until they were nothing but a tiny spot of green in the pale blue sky, until they were nothing at all.