Faith

The girl with bare feet and moonlit hair walked closer towards a mound of fresh earth. She stared for a moment and felt anticipation crawl over her skin (maybe it was just the dirt falling off of it).
“I’m here,” she said, her words flat. She waited for something, someone, and looked about her, as the wind whispered for her hair to tickle her jaw.
“You hear me? I’m here.” This time she spoke louder, her words breaking through the air. She watched the mound of earth at her feet. “Can’t…can’t you hear me?” she said, sitting, pulling her knees into her chest.
She waited a moment, expecting an answer, but one did not come. She traced her fingers across the top of the dirt, barely breaking the surface.

Hours later, she found herself strewn alongside the mound, and the waxing moon baring down upon her. She stood and sighed, flared her nostrils and as she opened her mouth to speak again, she felt the ground underneath her shift. A whimper of excitement left her lips. She fell to her knees and immediately began clawing at the earth like a furious rodent. She listened for a sound, and she felt for more movement, digging and digging anxiously.
Suddenly, a pallid, grimey hand broke through the surface, like a drowning man in an ocean coming up for air.

She smiled.