Frayed

She peered out the window and looked as far as she could, deep into the windy winter storm that lay in front of her. As the snow danced and twirled in front of her baby blue eyes, she saw a deer wander through the white openness of her thirty-two acre backyard, complete with a massive oak tree and wire fence surrounding it. The deer seemed to be confused as it looked in all four directions and back again, contemplating its next move. As she watched it decide whatever it wanted it to do next, her tea kettle whistled, causing her to step off into the kitchen to take it off of the burner.

As she footed through the walkway, multiple decorative pieces of birds draped the walls. Each laminated piece featured a different bird, but the one that stuck out most was from a French artist named L. Alvront. His vision consisted of a red robin sitting on a birch, chewing on an orange berry. The floor was hardwood, and sent a cold chill up her back as she made each step. Her phone rested on the marble counter, and she grabbed it to check just how cold it was outside. It was negative twelve with the wind chill, and she could feel it in her bones, even throughout her pink cotton housecoat.  

She dropped her phone into the pocket of her coat and retrieved a white coffee cup that had her name printed on it in bold yellow letters. Her husband had a matching cup that bared his name in the same color and font that rested right beside hers. She wasn’t expecting him to be home any time soon, but still took his mug from the cupboard and set it on the counter, next to the tea pot. As she poured her tea, she moseyed her way to the pantry to grab the honey that she’d religiously flavored her tea with. After shaking the bottle from left to right, she remembered that she used the rest of the honey last night and had forgotten to toss it in the trash.

Just as she was about to do just that, she heard a loud rustling coming from her backyard and walked over to the window, cup of tea in hand. The deer had gotten tangled in the fence and was struggling to make its way out. The deer kicked all four of its legs simultaneously in a futile effort to free itself. One front leg and one hind leg was caught underneath the fence, and would realistically be an easy rescue for the most simple minded individual. With her being a professor at the local community college, she knew full well that she’d be more than capable of freeing this animal.

She removed her housecoat and draped it over the wooden kitchen chair, still gazing at the trapped deer growing more agitated by the second. The snow kicked up and sprayed across the top of the fence that was lined with a thin layer of barbed wire to prevent any potential crop thieves from a simple get away.

Grabbing her jacket and fitting her arms through the sleeves, she grasped the black leather gloves that rested nearby the centerpiece on top of the kitchen table and put them on. As she opened the door and stepped outside into the frigid temperatures, a familiar but uncommon scent filled her nose. The smell of freshly cut grass taunted her as she stepped through the heavy snow that accumulated over the past month and a half.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out two capsules that resembled m and m’s and took a deep breath before dry swallowing them. The deer acknowledged her presence and calmed itself as she approached her breath visible after trudging through the lake effect snow below her. As she knelt down next to the deer, a sharp, brisk wind roughed against her exposed face, but she felt neither cold nor wetness against her knee. She was taken back to realize that the entire thirty two acres of land had been freshly cut, and the deer was roaming freely, leaping over the thin barbed wire with ease.

Once realizing but not comprehending what was going on, she stepped back and felt herself brush against a tree. As she turned around, she was face to face with the longest, thickest branch she ever laid eyes on. It stuck out from the tree at a peculiar angle, almost begging to be broken off. She placed her palm around the end of the branch and it snapped with little to no effort.

She had no idea why she was carrying this branch, but she walked with it, dragging it against the soft green grass until she had reached the fence to marvel over the deer that was sprinting along the open fields that were only recently cropped. She heard the engine of her husband’s car rumbling as he pulled into the driveway. She called him over without taking her eyes off of the deer, extending the branch through the fence and getting a huge laugh every time he’d brush up against it. Her husband looked on in horror, pure disbelief as his wife was stabbing away at this poor, helpless deer with the thickest, most sharp icicle he had ever seen in his life.

A nudge on her shoulder snapped her out of her state and snapped her back to reality.

“Mrs. Jameson, your husband is here to see you, but first you've got to take your medicine. A stocky male nurse handed her a Dixie cup with two capsules inside of it that resembled two m and m’s. She dry swallowed them and kicked her chair back, rising to her feet at once.