Audrey Rose felt like dancing in a field of golden grasses. She wanted to raise her arms and let her body move until her body remembered how to spin and turn, until everything else in the world fell away except this moment.

If I fail someone who has failed me, am I a failure? thought Audrey Rose. The wind gusted around her, carried her words far away before they could poison her. Audrey Rose had become tired of people talking about her, telling her what she could and couldn't do, where she could walk, that she needed to wear clothes - which she didn't. City mentality was trickling into Steamboat. Everything had to be controlled. No longer could Starbucks give out dog treats because it was a health hazard - but the bank still did. No longer could you ride your horse into a bar and have a drink. Today, you'd be arrested if a horse hair fell into a beer. Dogs must be on leashes but kids don't have to be - yet. The city came in the hairs, in the soles of people's feet. It traveled on their skin and had seeped into their blood. And as they began to crumble, unable to co-exist with a natural world, all that was left was fury - fury at people, fury at animals, but never fury at oneself.

And so Audrey Rose began walking. She walked far away from trails, far away from people, far away from rules. It was one of the few sunny days Steamboat had seen in weeks. The frost melted away at the touch of her toes. Grass was growing and the tips of the trees were starting to bud, leaves wanting to burst from winter's hibernation. It was time for the spirit to unfurl.

When Audrey Rose found a meadow of grasses stripped to gold before last winter had settled in, she shed everything. Her sparkly skirt fell to the ground in a pile, the flower in her hair was placed upon it. She allowed her feet to root into the earth for a time, finding their place, connecting with the heart beating below. She rolled down like a ragdoll, letting other people's anger fall out of her body. She hung like that for a while, letting the blood drain to her head, letting her arms reach down, her fingers touching the moist earth.

When she finally started putting her body back together, where waist sat over hips and ribs sat over stomach, neck holding up head, her body began to move. Her arms swayed above her and her body found an ancient rhythm that pulsed and pounded. As her body relaxed, she was unaware of anything around her.

In the grasses, predators preyed. Lives were taken, creatures were foraging. It was an existence filled with pollination, stimulation, copulation, death. But here everything happened in a moment - in that moment. There was no guilt, no questioning of oneself. You did or you died. Sometimes you did and you died anyway.

Audrey rose continued to dance. She danced until she puked and dance some more. She spun until she was dizzy and saw stars. As she danced, the wind picked up around her, sweeping around her bare skin, twisting her hair, pulling her into its sweet embrace. Audrey Rose felt her self tipping, felt her toes tingling, wanting to go, but her heart sunk into her feet and weighted them there. Words swirled around her - grow, whisper, wander, confess, treason. The wind wanted to carry them away, but got sucked around Audrey Rose, spinning with her, until they both finally collapsed with exhaustion.

As Audrey Rose slept, the ants wandered over her body, a fox touched noses with hers and still she slept. An owl swooped down, the feathers caressing her face before the owl thought twice about this girl as a meal. It was not time for Audrey Rose to be eaten.