WhiteScratch

First Time For Everything

All is quiet and dark and peaceful for a moment but then my mind is bombarded by images. One thing after another flashes in my mind. A bright, blue light, a metal room, the desert, a heart, Jake looking down at me, a hatch in the sand, stairs into a dimly lit tunnel. Separated by a white flash, over and over again these images fill my mind before I open my eyes to the landscape in front of me. The light from the moon illuminates the desert. I've never experienced something like this. There is a light chill in the air as a gentle breeze flows over me and  everything is so...calm. The devastating affects of the sun don't rule over the kingdom of night. Then I notice Jake's steady breaths beneath my head. I slowly sit up and realize that he had fallen over on his back, taking me with him as we slept for hours upon hours. Trying not to wake him, I lay back down on him and get lost within my own mind, thinking about what could've only been a dream. 
"A blue light? Stairs? A hatch? What does it all mean?" I think to myself. I think back to when Alastor explained everything to us and nothing matches any of his descriptions about anything. "Could this be him manipulating my mind again to lead me to my own demise?" I think again to myself.  But something seems different about this. Like, something is trying to give me a clue. Maybe this is to lead me to the answers I've been looking for for so long.  Just then another image, longer than the others, lingers in my mind. The desert, the harsh sun beating down on me. It starts moving as if I'm walking toward something. It skips forward a couple steps until I'm standing over a metal hatch in the ground and then the dark terrain returns as the moon hides behind some straggling clouds for a moment. I sit up again, quicker than I had before as I think about what just happened. Seconds later I feel a hand on my back that makes me jump a little before I realize that I had waken Jake. 
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean..." I try to explain before Jake cuts me off. 
"I know. Is everything okay?" He asks in a sleepy voice. 
"Um...it can wait till morning." I tell him calmly as to not raise alarm. 
"No, I'm awake now. Don't hide things from me, Rache. What's up?" He looks into my eyes intently with a warm half smile on his face. I take a deep breath before I start explaining the images to him and how I think something is trying to give me a clue about how to fix everything. He just sits there quietly and listens to everything I have to say. Once I'm done, he looks off into the distance behind me as he thinks about everything I just told him. 
"Wow." Is all he says before he returns his gaze to my eyes. He takes both of my hands in his. "Lets go then. Lets go find the hatch." 
"But Jake, we don't have any idea where it even could be. I mean, it's in the ground, in the middle of nowhere, out here. That's an impossible mission." 
"This whole thing seemed like an impossible mission when we first started out. There were times when I didn't think you'd survive and I thought it'd be impossible to keep you safe. It seemed impossible that'd we'd make it this far and learn so much but here we are. Doing the impossible. We'll find it, Rachel. We're so close, I can feel it." I smile at his words and kiss his cheek. 
"Thank you, Jake." I say as he smiles back. 
"Of course. Anything for you. But we should probably get moving! The night might actually make it more enjoyable to travel cause we're not being harassed by the devilish sun." He says as he chuckles. 
"You're probably right." I say as I laugh too. He stands up and helps me to my feet before we start walking, checking the ground every once in a while. We have all kinds of conversations. Recalling memories from back home and memories from when we were little. I think it's the hardest I've laughed in so long and definitely a memory I will treasure forever.  
"Hey!! You remember when we were both 10 and you buried me in the sand?" I say laughing. 
"Yeah, that was definitely the worst idea we'eve ever had." He says as he also laughs before he continues. "But do you also remember what happened after that? Your dad came over to bring you back home so of course you needed to get out and because I was so bad at burying you, you stuck your arms out the sides and held them up for me to pull you out." He explains. 
"Oh yeah! I DO remember that." I say as I smile. He grabs my hand and continues talking as we walk. 
"Remember that I underestimated my strength and pulled way too hard so you flung up really quick and knocked into me so hard that we both fell to the ground." He laughs softly as he looks to the ground for a second and then at me. 
"And then you made fun of me for it so I rolled over and pinned you to the ground. Your smile was so pure and genuine. Something that I had never seen before. And your laugh was so alive as you told me you were sorry for making fun of me. And you remember that all I did was smile down at you?" He stops and faces me taking both of my hands in his. I look deeply into his eyes as I respond, "Yes, I do remember that. What happened?" I ask in almost a whisper. He looks to his right and then back at me. 
"That was the moment when I realized..." He took a step closer to me and wrapped his arms around my waist as I put my arms around his neck. 
"Realized what?" I ask. Even though I was sure I knew what he was going to say. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against mine.
"When I realized that...it was you." He said in a gentle and sincere voice. I took a deep breath as an overwhelming sense of calm overflowed inside of me. He leaned in closer as I did the same as our lips came together for our first kiss. His lips were soft and warm against mine. It felt so right. I had been waiting and dreaming for this moment for longer than I can remember and it was finally happening. We stayed like this for a moment before he gently pulled away. 
"What's wrong?" I asked worried I did something wrong. 
"Absolutely nothing. Just...wow." He laughs softly with the biggest smile plastered on his face. It's been a long time sense I've seen this kind of genuine happiness from him and it was so heartwarming, making me smile wider than I ever have. 
"I know what you mean." I say before he leans in for one more, just the same as the first. He pulls away and takes my hand in his as we start walking again in silence. Both thinking about what just happened. Its feels like I've been lost in my mind for hours before we hear an unusual sound beneath our feet. I look at him, he looks at me, we both look down at the ground. 
"There it is." He says. "Stand back." I back up off of it as Jake reaches down and grabs the metal rings in the middle of it. He tries to lift up but it's too heavy for only him so I step up to help him.
"On the count of 3." He says and I nod.
"1...2....3!" He shouts and we both pull as hard as we can. As soon as we can get it open, we see stairs descending into a dimly lit tunnel.  I look at Jake.
"This is one of the things I saw." I say to him, a little concerned. 
"I know." He takes my hand and then we start slowly sinking down into the ground, beneath the surface.