Falling For Her Dream

CHAPTER ONE

Her bare feet began to sink into the soft wet sand. Her long, weightless skirt was already five inches into the water where she stood just beyond the shoreline. A light breeze blew across the still, early morning waters, catching in her skirt that was held fast now by the weight of the water that had soaked in, water that was quickly rising towards her knees. She was gazing out towards the rising sun, or perhaps to nowhere in particular, as she had become lost in her thoughts.

Her mind had begun to wander, as it usually did during serene moments like this. Thoughts of a fanciful future and the love of a man she had only ever met in her dreams, fills her head with longing and hope. She is reminded of past mistakes and failures, but she pushes those bad memories back and conjures up a shadowed figure of a man. This man could change her entire life, turn it upside down and bring her heart the love she has always dreamt of. She cannot see his face. She can never see his face, only a darkened outline of a belief that he is real. A song starts to play in her head as she watches him.

It had been a long journey to get back to this beautiful beach. Three years had passed, but she had finally boarded the first of three flights twenty three hours ago. The journey had been turbulent, long and monotonous but she was finally here! It had been eighteen hours of almost uncontrollable fear which had kept her tense for all three flights, tense of course due to her incessant fear of plunging to the earth. She focuses once again on the shadowed figure in her mind, wondering if she will ever know who he is. She was not willing just yet to give up on the thought that he really does exist. Hope and longing have been keeping her company for some years now. She couldn't say exactly how long this man had been her companion and how long she has been looking for him. Questions circulate in her mind, who is he? Will she ever know his face? Will he ever feel to the touch more than an empty dark ghost-like apparition? It is too easy for her to get lost in these thoughts.

After a sleepless night and heading down to the water as the sun peered over the horizon, she was almost the only person for what seemed miles. The short walk from her rented cottage was the perfect distance for this escape. The perfect place to immerse herself into her world of possibilities and let go of trepidations. It's peaceful and she could stay in this moment forever.

"Miss. Please, I don't want to alarm you, but you must get out of the water Now!"

A gentle touch at her elbow and a calm voice broke into her bubble of thoughts. The word 'Now' had been emphasized and she didn't understand why. Without a chance to respond, the gentle touch on her elbow tightened and began pulling her towards the dry sand, well beyond the waterline.

"Wha... AHHH!"

Her now heavy skirt catches around her feet, spinning from the pull at her elbow, she fell to her hands and knees. A man was suddenly kneeling in front of her, his hand reaching out to touch the side of her face. His fingers brushed away a clump of stray hairs caught across her nose from the force of her embarrassing and very ungraceful fall. Too embarrassed, she did not dare look up.

"What was that for?!" The words came out a little terse and demanding than intended. She was red-faced from the humiliating fall and was not ready to move one bit.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to make you fall but you had to get out of the water!"

Confused. Did she do something wrong? What was wrong with standing in the water? Did she break some kind of curfew entering the water? Was there little poisonous jellyfish, like in her hometown that could render her hospitalized? What was she missing here?

"I don't understand". Without looking at the man in front of her she began to get to her feet with what dignity she could muster. He stood along with her; she kept her focus on the ground. Believing her face to be flushed with lingering embarrassment she was not ready to look this man in the eye.