Legs burning, full of pins; he felt without focus, surrounded by light. There was a tree at his back, solid and magnificent. He had been crouching at its base for some time, he thought. Long enough for the blood to leave his feet and a place to form, a hollow pressed into his back between shoulder-blade and spine where it met the bark. He picked up a leaf from the ground next to his feet and held it up towards a bright place where the sun must be. The veins spread out across its surface like a river delta and between them glowed a deep green. His head was full of noise, of words, sibilance and susurration; thoughts drifted past, turning over slowly, flashing momentarily, dazzling. Water rolled off his head from amongst his hair and disappeared into the cotton shirt at his shoulders. He wasn't sure if it had rained or not. Perhaps he swam. Yes, that was it. He had run, throwing his clothes off and his body forwards into rolling roaring surf. A wave had picked him up and turned him over, pushing his face into stones and shells, pushing the breath out of his lungs. There was a taste of blood in his mouth now from nose or tongue, and salt crystallizing on his brow. He let the leaf fall and watched as it span slowly around the axis of its stalk. The passage of the leaf through the air, its graceful descent, carried with it a veil of unconsciousness. As its saw toothed edge touched earth his eyelashes brushed together.
