Jess is finally going! That New Zealand holiday is at its dawn, and all she can think of is landscapes, walks and adventures. But what she does not expect to find, is what is waiting around the corner - someone.
Someone who will turn her holiday up...
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Jess was running again. Or maybe the right phrase is Jess was still running, like she had been yesterday, into the house, down the street, through her dreams.
The sky had been brightening in little tinges and hues - ushering in the next hours of daylight. It was chilly, the kind that imitates warmth - surrounds and blankets you with its cold breath. Jess had left the house while it was still, everyone else clinging to sleep. Now, as she jogged along, the thought fluttered into her mind that there was no need to run.
But she continued to anyway - she needed the safety of urgency. She hurried past the bushes in full bloom - the blurry bright reds, pinks and yellows screaming out at her from the muted colours of the morning.
But then she came within sight of her destination, and something within her began to quiver. When she finally reached it she was forced to stop, and the world came into sharper focus.
'What am I doing?'
Her hands felt suddenly too light, and she wished for a fleeting moment that she had brought Obi with her, so she could share this last walk with him. But there were other things she needed to focus on right now...
She had probably only slept for about three hours, though they had felt like mere seconds to her - by the time she was rudely awoken, ironically enough, by her own will. The need to be doing something - anything - other than lying there had gripped her as she woke. Try as she might, she simply could not shake it.
So instead, she had put on some extra layers, and wandered out of the house. It had been just before seven AM, and after their late night, Jess had doubted anyone would be up within the next hour. Shutting the door softly so as not to disturb Obi from the treats she had set down for him, she had turned and strode purposefully into the thin morning mist.
Out on the street, the sky was pale blue-grey, the rich gold of the sun creeping slowly through the cloud-studded bleakness. Truthfully, this walk had had no purpose. Seeing as she just could not get to sleep, it seemed to make sense to enjoy a walk through the neighbourhood, while she could.
She'd looked around her, in an attempt to overcome her fatigue, and tried to memorise the scene.
It was interesting, how there are so many ways you can think back on a place. It could be one of the most joy-filled ones, or it could have brought immeasurable sadness. Maybe you had a good laugh, or someone held your hand as you cried.
It was just everyday life to so many of the people living there - childhood homes, cherished memories of family dinners, a reminder of the ins and outs and ups and downs of life. Yet to Jess, it was a magical place. She didn't want to leave it behind, along with the hope she had managed to misplace there.
After considerable wandering, her feet led her around another corner, and suddenly she could hear the trickling of water. And there it was, rippling in the faint morning breeze, meandering through its own little world of solitude and serenity.
