We get out of the car. Daddy bends down to check if my shoelaces are tight and ready for the long hiking journey ahead of us. A leaf falls on his head and remains nestled on his hair. I pick it up and make a wish, willing the universe to make it come true through the force of my hand until it crumples and the sharp points dig into my palm. I unfurl my hands as daddy gets up and we both watch the fragmented pieces get lost in the wind.
--
'You need to relax and let it go,' daddy says.
I've been getting really stressed at work, coming home each day with my eyebrows more furrowed than the day before. He noticed, even though my eyebrows immediately jump up in excitement when I see him and I hurl myself into his arms. And every time, he has to gently extricate me from him when he can't breathe anymore.
--
His hands tighten around my shoulders, pulling back slightly to inspect me and makes sure my jacket is zipped up. He nods as a silent sign of satisfaction.
'Come on princess. Follow daddy's lead.'
The evening sun draws long shadows of our bodies. Daddy's shadows are soft in the edges and a stark contrast to his sure, definitive steps. The gravel crunches under his boots, nature's symphony playing the shaker for me. I take my first step, alternating with his heavy ones. I try my best to keep the rythm going.
We wander deeper into the hiking trail and the orange sky gets obscured by shades of green and brown. Daddy moves particularly large branches apart to let me pass through unscathed by their prickly fingers like he's jealous of anything else touching me. Every time I brush past him I feel like a matchstick being pushed against the matchbox, lighting on fire.
Along the way, daddy makes me drink water and doesn't let me stop until he thinks I've had enough. The water does nothing to dampen the blush that tinges my cheeks as I feel him watching me, not letting a single movement of my lips and throat go unnoticed.
Daddy lets me go first whenever we reach rocky areas that require careful scaling. His eyes hold me safe but they also bore into me from behind and push my hips to sway for him. I bend and fold into origami like shapes - each movement a different masterpiece as I scale the hill in sections. One being my hips jutting out. Another with my ass presented in the air. Yet another crouched down, with my ass straining my pants and hands moulded around the rocks. All snapshots taken out of his fantasies. The flickers of the fire inside me moves in time with the wind, only spreading it further instead of extinguishing it.
Every time we take a break to catch our breaths, we also catch the ever changing sky gradate from the orange, purple and magenta of the sunset to the navy blue of the night. I smile every time.
'Good girl,' he says when he watches me enjoy myself. And every time he kisses my cheek, which is pulled taught from smiling harder in response to his praise. My chest warms, almost like the warm colours from the sky are resting in me for the night.
When we reach the top, daddy and I make a fire. He is only satisfied once it starts roaring like the fire crackling loudly inside me. If only he knew we don't need a fire because I have one. One that's more important and that he should tend to instead.
Daddy heats up some water in a pot until the water roars with the fire too.