She looks into the trees, their arms reaching out and up as if in praise. She walks deep into the woods until she finds a clearing, and it’s as if she’s walked into church—the arched wooden doors flung open, the music from the organ loud, rising from the pipes and filling the vaulted room with sound. The sunlight through stained glass, illuminating saints carved in color, golden halos around their heads, slants of golden light suspending dust and smoke from incense in the air. The sound is golden too. She feels the hum in her body, in her bones, reverberating in her skin. And she knows, somehow, that she is this light. She is this sound. She is this place, holy and home.
Passage is a small excerpt from the forthcoming novel written by Melissa Faliveno