Max Richter: When The Northern Lights

Thump-thump
Thump-thump

I run so fast that I feel like I'm flying.
The world and its colors speed past me until I recognize nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing.
The voices that called after me faded long ago, but with every step I gain I pump my heels harder into the ground as if I have someplace to be, as if I'm being called somewhere.
But really, I have no idea where I'm going anymore.
I run blindly, cutting my legs and arms and face upon jagged earth, until I finally fade into the background, until I finally can't feel the fire in my lungs anymore.
Until I realize that I'm lost, and that I've finally left everything I've ever known in exchange for this freedom I've wanted for so long.
And so I slow down, stumble around unbalanced, and stop.
I shed my heavy bag and jacket, hearing the thud as it hits the grass.
My lungs strain and shatter under the pounding of my heart, and for some reason, this strange sensation wells up deep within the pit of my stomach.
Even with this- this freedom- the hole inside of myself eats me away, and I suddenly feel so alone and so far away from the world.
Because I am, because I always was, because I never wanted to be around the world that would finally give in and break under the weight of it's own self. Implode. I'm not a part of that, I never was, I never will be.
I gasp and fold in on myself, holding myself, because it's the only thing I've ever had, the one thing that can't be taken from me.
The sounds that escape my throat are new ones; my lungs force them out into powerful groans as the tears from my eyes sting the cuts on my face.
But then I look up, startled by the sudden crunching of leaves. My heart crashes against my insides as I fixate upon the creature in front of me.
Golden like the sun, like a God, it blinds me. Its antlers intertwine above a face so similar to that of my own, too complex for any human to trace individual tines.
I find myself reaching out...
Calling, wanting... I give in to the warmth if it's fur.
Please don't leave me here.
It moves closer, almost cradling me, it's crystal eyes unmoving from the darkness of my own.
I arch my neck to stare in awe as it speaks to me in unfamiliar tongue.
Soundless. I can barely make out the words...

.? y o u a.re n//ot a--lone//