"Karina Whitefoot" (2014)

Thanks to a patron for noticing that this piece wasn't in the full-resolution files! I did a fresh scan of the picture so I can correct that. It's still one of my personal favorites, and here's the original story I included with the post:

"Her name was Karina, but those close to her began to call her ‘White Foot’ after the fine, dusty sand she gathered on her walks through the dry, worn away part of the desert just outside of town. She took these little walks to greet the wildlife and feel what must be ancient, ancient stone beneath her feet, communing with the earth as it was a long time ago. But more and more, spending time in the quiet white sand became a way to reflect, surrounding herself with empty space and giving her mind the sense of solitude it needed to return to what was by comparison a very busy world. She’d be out there for hours at a time, journal in tow, ready to release unedited thoughts, putting them on paper in a cathartic process she hoped would bring her just a little more peace, make the blood throb through her neck just a little more softly. Sometimes unbidden thoughts of loss and regret came straight to her out there in the sand and she would write them out—perhaps calmly, perhaps in shaking strokes—and maybe rob them of their strength.

"It was all a process, and Karina Whitefoot began to doubt that there was really an end to it but rather a continuation that one could hope gets easier with time. Animals are a help. They have a remarkable way of brushing off the pain of loss that we might carry with us for the rest of our lives. She caught a striped lizard in the house in a way that earned her some firm but forgettable reprimand from her parents, and the little frightened creature instantly became her companion. He warmed up to the jackal in the reserved and ambiguous way that lizards do and she pondered over just what to name this creature, this home intruder that was nonetheless lovingly accepted into her family. She piddled over the sound of ‘Extaberr’ and her little brother offered ‘Snapper’, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t end up being either of these.

"Some days nothing much is done and she lies in the shade or swims in the canals, staying out of the heat of the open desert. But she reminds herself it’s a long process and remembers her father’s encouragement that she’s been through a lot and she needs to give herself credit for coming this far. Still, she planned to get her feet dusty tomorrow, and maybe there wouldn’t be any breakthroughs, maybe she would have some trouble relaxing in the bleached sand thinking of what waited back at home, but it was something clear she could do, something solid she could stand on."