(no subject)
Name: Searching for paradise
Fandom: Original
June 1st, 2012: 1. death's shadow grows
Rating: T+
Warnings: Suicide attempt, death, weird afterlife stuff, general suckiness
Author's note: I'm sharing this today because I resolved to post something to 31_days every day this month. For now, this sucks big time. I'll be editing/rewriting parts of it later.
1. death's shadow grows
Marissa stood at the end of the pier, the waves roiling and clashing against the concrete at her feet. Mist sprayed against her face, in the lake's attempts to touch her. 'Would it pull me down?' She wondered silently. 'If I reached out to the waves, would they hold me and caress me and keep me tucked within their embrace forever?' It wasn't a frightening thought, as it should have been. The young woman didn't fear death, provided it was the water that dragged her under. Maybe, she wondered absently, 'If I just jump, I'll find adventure down there, or peace or solace.'
She was unaware, as she mused quietly to herself, of the picture that she made. Her dark hair whipped behind her, dancing in the fingers of the wind as it combed her locks into tangles. Her bright red shirt, glowing scarlet against the dark backdrop, clung to her body. Her skirt fluttered behind her, showing an indecent amount of thigh with the occasional flash of the blue bikini bottoms she had on underneath. Her skin shone, tear streaks running down her face and leaving red behind. Yet she was calm. Her countenance was that of a cat sitting on a windowsill in the sunlight.
She wondered, absently, how her disappearance would effect her family. She refused to call it death. She wasn't dying, just moving into a more natural habitat.
She didn't feel like she had a family anymore. They were always busy, always gone.
Lightning flashed, the storm allowing her a brief glimpse of what she could be a part of. The power rolled around her, enveloping her. She shuddered in ecstasy, her eyes closing in favour of the feelings that surrounded her.
Stepping forward, she made her decision, unaware that anyone was there to see her transformation.
- - -
Sarah felt like an idiot. She had lost her bracelet at the beach, rushing to get away before the storm hit. It was her grandmother's, and the old woman had been Sarah's best fried. The eighteen year old backtracked to where they had been earlier, cursing to herself when she began shifting through the sand and couldn't find it.
A flash of red caught her eye.
Looking up, she noticed a young woman, perhaps a few years younger than herself, standing on the very edge of the pier. The girl's eyes were closed, her arms spread out beside her like wings. She was a vision, and the artist in Sarah thought that she was hauntingly lovely even as lightning flashed dangerously close to the beach.
"Hey!" She screamed, waving her arms about to get the girl's attention. She was fixated, still, on the dancing of the water. "Get down from there!" She began running towards the pier and the girls, waving frantically and yelling at the top of her lungs. "It's dangerous!"
The girl stood steal, and Sarah raced towards her, her arm outstretched, fully intending to pull the girl back from the edge. She was only halfway down the pier when the other girl's back straightened and she stepped forward, vanishing into the dark, churning waters.
Allowing fear to propel her forward, Sarah jumped.
The water was a shock to her system. She hit the bottom when she jumped, and used the ground to propel herself back up to the surface to where she could breath. Pushing her short hair back from her face, the blond searched frantically for the other girl, thankful that she had taken the lifeguard training her mother had wanted her to learn, even if she hadn't properly used it.
A flash of red further out caught her attention, and she pushed off from the pier, trying to catch up with the drifting body of the brunette ahead of her.
The girl was barely conscious, and didn't bother fighting as Sarah reached for her and began kicking them back towards the shore with great difficulty. The entire world had gone gray, and the darkness loomed over them. Sarah didn't register it as Marissa tightened her arms around Sarah, clinging to her like she was the paradise the girl had been seeking.
Though her eyes were unsteady and her breathing shallow, she memorized the look of exhaustion on Sarah's face, the determined clench of her jaw, her eyes which were rimmed in red. Her short, dirty blond hair clung to her face, her earrings glinting each time she turned her head. She felt the power of her breathing, giving her life and the strain of the muscles in her arms as she held Marissa to her. Tired, Marissa closed her eyes and spent a moment with another human being, suddenly terrified of being left alone in the water.
A wave, larger than the ones before, hit the girls, dragging them under and separating them. Marissa came up gasping for air. Her bones felt heavy, but she stayed adrift, her eyes surveying the water for the other woman. Her eyes, finally, locked on Sarah, her body rolling in the water, bobbing up and down with the waves. Summoning her strength, she began to swim towards her, grabbing her saviour's arm and pulling her until she felt sand brush against her feet. Choking for air, Marissa clutched the stranger to her, before collapsing to the sand.
- - -
The couple that found the girls, lying side by side on the beach after the storm, assumed that they were both dead.
Sarah's hair, filled with sand, had curled around her face in messy little ringlets. She was lying on her back, her arms spread out like she had been trying to fly. Her shorts were covered in sand. Her skin had grown pale, milky white. Her mouth was open, a silent call spouting from her dried lips.
Marissa was tucked under her arm like a child, on her side with her arms curled around herself. Her long hair cushioned her head, but it was also full of sand. Her skirt was wrapped around her legs like a mermaid tail. She, too, looked unnaturally pale, though she took long, rasping breaths and her eyes fluttered beneath her eyes. Upon awakening, she would claim that she had seem paradise.
---
The ambulance that the couple called took a half hour to arrive, the paramedics picking their way over to the girls as quickly as they could. They lifted Marissa onto their stretcher, pronouncing Sarah dead on the scene and leaving her for the police in case an investigation needed to be done.
There were no more storms that summer, at least none so powerful. They had taken a life, a single soul the sacrifice to make them happy. Sarah's spirit was alive, and though her death remained with Marissa, growing more and more prominent as guilt ate away at her every day, she herself was free, her true self lost to the wind the way that Marissa had dreamed of being one with the sea.
Marissa saw her in her dreams, though she was uncertain as to what the girl wanted. The artist rejoiced over the other girl's newfound life, though she seemed happy. She had had no family to grieve her, her friends had grown distant when she moved. She had been more alone than even Marissa.
The younger girl contemplated suicide, but something told her that she musn't. Death was looming ever nearer, each day a day closer to joining her saviour in paradise. Until then, she was the only one alive to grieve the passing of Sarah. She clutched a sketchbook to her chest, quietly vowing to live the life that she had unwittingly ended.
Her newborn sister cried in the next room, and Marissa went to look into her eyes, grey like the storm that had nearly swallowed her whole.
"Come on Sarah," she whispered softly. "I've got a new painting to show you."
Fandom: Original
June 1st, 2012: 1. death's shadow grows
Rating: T+
Warnings: Suicide attempt, death, weird afterlife stuff, general suckiness
Author's note: I'm sharing this today because I resolved to post something to 31_days every day this month. For now, this sucks big time. I'll be editing/rewriting parts of it later.
1. death's shadow grows
Marissa stood at the end of the pier, the waves roiling and clashing against the concrete at her feet. Mist sprayed against her face, in the lake's attempts to touch her. 'Would it pull me down?' She wondered silently. 'If I reached out to the waves, would they hold me and caress me and keep me tucked within their embrace forever?' It wasn't a frightening thought, as it should have been. The young woman didn't fear death, provided it was the water that dragged her under. Maybe, she wondered absently, 'If I just jump, I'll find adventure down there, or peace or solace.'
She was unaware, as she mused quietly to herself, of the picture that she made. Her dark hair whipped behind her, dancing in the fingers of the wind as it combed her locks into tangles. Her bright red shirt, glowing scarlet against the dark backdrop, clung to her body. Her skirt fluttered behind her, showing an indecent amount of thigh with the occasional flash of the blue bikini bottoms she had on underneath. Her skin shone, tear streaks running down her face and leaving red behind. Yet she was calm. Her countenance was that of a cat sitting on a windowsill in the sunlight.
She wondered, absently, how her disappearance would effect her family. She refused to call it death. She wasn't dying, just moving into a more natural habitat.
She didn't feel like she had a family anymore. They were always busy, always gone.
Lightning flashed, the storm allowing her a brief glimpse of what she could be a part of. The power rolled around her, enveloping her. She shuddered in ecstasy, her eyes closing in favour of the feelings that surrounded her.
Stepping forward, she made her decision, unaware that anyone was there to see her transformation.
- - -
Sarah felt like an idiot. She had lost her bracelet at the beach, rushing to get away before the storm hit. It was her grandmother's, and the old woman had been Sarah's best fried. The eighteen year old backtracked to where they had been earlier, cursing to herself when she began shifting through the sand and couldn't find it.
A flash of red caught her eye.
Looking up, she noticed a young woman, perhaps a few years younger than herself, standing on the very edge of the pier. The girl's eyes were closed, her arms spread out beside her like wings. She was a vision, and the artist in Sarah thought that she was hauntingly lovely even as lightning flashed dangerously close to the beach.
"Hey!" She screamed, waving her arms about to get the girl's attention. She was fixated, still, on the dancing of the water. "Get down from there!" She began running towards the pier and the girls, waving frantically and yelling at the top of her lungs. "It's dangerous!"
The girl stood steal, and Sarah raced towards her, her arm outstretched, fully intending to pull the girl back from the edge. She was only halfway down the pier when the other girl's back straightened and she stepped forward, vanishing into the dark, churning waters.
Allowing fear to propel her forward, Sarah jumped.
The water was a shock to her system. She hit the bottom when she jumped, and used the ground to propel herself back up to the surface to where she could breath. Pushing her short hair back from her face, the blond searched frantically for the other girl, thankful that she had taken the lifeguard training her mother had wanted her to learn, even if she hadn't properly used it.
A flash of red further out caught her attention, and she pushed off from the pier, trying to catch up with the drifting body of the brunette ahead of her.
The girl was barely conscious, and didn't bother fighting as Sarah reached for her and began kicking them back towards the shore with great difficulty. The entire world had gone gray, and the darkness loomed over them. Sarah didn't register it as Marissa tightened her arms around Sarah, clinging to her like she was the paradise the girl had been seeking.
Though her eyes were unsteady and her breathing shallow, she memorized the look of exhaustion on Sarah's face, the determined clench of her jaw, her eyes which were rimmed in red. Her short, dirty blond hair clung to her face, her earrings glinting each time she turned her head. She felt the power of her breathing, giving her life and the strain of the muscles in her arms as she held Marissa to her. Tired, Marissa closed her eyes and spent a moment with another human being, suddenly terrified of being left alone in the water.
A wave, larger than the ones before, hit the girls, dragging them under and separating them. Marissa came up gasping for air. Her bones felt heavy, but she stayed adrift, her eyes surveying the water for the other woman. Her eyes, finally, locked on Sarah, her body rolling in the water, bobbing up and down with the waves. Summoning her strength, she began to swim towards her, grabbing her saviour's arm and pulling her until she felt sand brush against her feet. Choking for air, Marissa clutched the stranger to her, before collapsing to the sand.
- - -
The couple that found the girls, lying side by side on the beach after the storm, assumed that they were both dead.
Sarah's hair, filled with sand, had curled around her face in messy little ringlets. She was lying on her back, her arms spread out like she had been trying to fly. Her shorts were covered in sand. Her skin had grown pale, milky white. Her mouth was open, a silent call spouting from her dried lips.
Marissa was tucked under her arm like a child, on her side with her arms curled around herself. Her long hair cushioned her head, but it was also full of sand. Her skirt was wrapped around her legs like a mermaid tail. She, too, looked unnaturally pale, though she took long, rasping breaths and her eyes fluttered beneath her eyes. Upon awakening, she would claim that she had seem paradise.
---
The ambulance that the couple called took a half hour to arrive, the paramedics picking their way over to the girls as quickly as they could. They lifted Marissa onto their stretcher, pronouncing Sarah dead on the scene and leaving her for the police in case an investigation needed to be done.
There were no more storms that summer, at least none so powerful. They had taken a life, a single soul the sacrifice to make them happy. Sarah's spirit was alive, and though her death remained with Marissa, growing more and more prominent as guilt ate away at her every day, she herself was free, her true self lost to the wind the way that Marissa had dreamed of being one with the sea.
Marissa saw her in her dreams, though she was uncertain as to what the girl wanted. The artist rejoiced over the other girl's newfound life, though she seemed happy. She had had no family to grieve her, her friends had grown distant when she moved. She had been more alone than even Marissa.
The younger girl contemplated suicide, but something told her that she musn't. Death was looming ever nearer, each day a day closer to joining her saviour in paradise. Until then, she was the only one alive to grieve the passing of Sarah. She clutched a sketchbook to her chest, quietly vowing to live the life that she had unwittingly ended.
Her newborn sister cried in the next room, and Marissa went to look into her eyes, grey like the storm that had nearly swallowed her whole.
"Come on Sarah," she whispered softly. "I've got a new painting to show you."