Chapter Text
Under moody skies he pushed and punished himself. With every painful pedal stroke his legs screamed their protests, but he ignored them. His lungs burned and the humid air he grabbed in greedy mouthfuls offered little in the way of relief. It clung to his skin enshrouding him in sweat till his hair and jersey dripped with it.
At the top of the climb he paused, raised his face to the darkening clouds above and screamed. Screamed in frustration at the unfairness of it all, only stopping when he had no breath left. He stood panting as the last echoes of his cry dissipated over the mountain tops. It had been a cry loud enough to reach the heavens themselves and for a mad moment he wondered if God might scream back. But the only reply was the distant rumble of thunder.
It was going to happen again.
All the signs were there. The slight tremor in his fingers. The hollowed out feeling inside that left him longing for completeness. The restless nights that offered no relief. The way his eyes lingered hungrily on those around him.
He had tried to distract himself, screwed his eyes shut against the lure of that gentle curve of a neck. Run his fingers through his cat’s soft fur, to ease that tremble. The melodic murmuring of her purr distracting him from the emptiness that was engulfing him. He could pretend for a few brief moments that he was normal.
But there was nothing he could do to quell the scratch that festered at the back of his throat. A relentless, persistent itch. With every hour that passed it grew stronger. Not water, or coffee, nor even wine could shift it. It plagued his days and was even worse at night. This thirst; his curse.
And that’s why he was on a mountain top screaming at the skies at a god that wouldn’t answer because he knew it was going to happen again.