Prompt: After accidentally setting a forest fire, a retired ballet dancer wakes up in a strange house

Courtesy of Jay Sacher’s The Amazing Story Generator

Nicola tread lightly over the deep leaf litter. She carried herself with a dancer’s poise even after all these years. A mourning pigeon burst from the ground cover, startling her, and her arm flung up in a graceful curve, fingers outstretched, then curling into a wistful wave. She still dreamed of flying.

It was Nichole, of course. Her mother had insisted that an exotic name would be more attractive on playbills and marquees. As a girl, Nichole loved the idea. As a rebellious teenager, she was reasonably certain her name wasn’t the source of her fame. But it was too late by then.

Around the trail’s curve, she was stopped by a fallen tree. Her hand fell to her hip. She rubbed against the old familiar pain. The congenital dysplasia that eroded her bones until she could no longer dance, no longer walk. The doctors insisted she shouldn’t feel anything with the titanium skeleton that supported her now. They said the pain was imaginary, in her head…a ghost, like amputees who still feel their missing limbs.

She crouched and pushed up, jumping easily over the tree, arms and legs outstretched in a grande jetée, landing in a glisée and turning into a pirouette. Ah, how she missed the stage. Heat raced from her core, shooting out through her arms and legs. She moaned and clenched her fists, swinging around until she hit the nearest sapling. Sparks flew around her, and the dry leaves underfoot began to snap and curl as they burned. Nichole ran…

Note: This actually took me by surprise, because I had thought of a fantasy-style version, where Nichole placed her hands on the tree and her anger flowed out in flames. Where did the science-fiction skeleton come in?!

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And so, with a loving heart, I offer you

Namaste

I’ve heard many translations. Here’s my favorite:
The light of the universe that shines within me recognizes
the light of the universe that shines within you.

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