Stranger Nights

Chapter 30

Henry woke up in the ocean.

It was blue, a pretty blue like he imagined his mother's eyes might look like. Fish were swimming around him like he wasn't even there.

He thought he was dead, but he wasn't. Then he thought it had all been a dream, but it was not.

A giant black and white whale swam above him and he reached out to touch it underbelly. He did, but he didn't feel it. He realized he wasn't feeling anything. He felt dry and he could breathe just fine, two very odd things when under water. He took a deep breath in, but didn't choke. It all felt real, but wasn't.

Then things started to break away like shards of glass and he realized what was happening.

It was the same as the last time. Blank and lonely. All he saw was white and heard nothing.

"Do you feel warmth on your right hand?" a woman's voice echoed around him. He did and he wondered why.

"Your cousin is still holding your hand." the woman's voice said, "She has not let go. Humans are funny creatures."

Suddenly a girl about his age was standing in front of him. She wore a brown dress with pink flowers on it. The dress looked like. something you might find a girl wearing in church.

Her dark brown hair seemed to floating around like she herself was under water. Her irises were a shade of hot pink. They contained no emotion. Henry stood there gawking at her.

"Do you not recognize us? We understand our other form scared you, so we changed to make you more comfortable with us." she said. The words seemed to be coming out of her mouth, but it still echoed all around Henry.

"W..We?" Henry stuttered out.

"We are the ones who burned you." she answered. "We have changed into this body because we have learned that you are more comfortable with those that look like this."

Henry did not say anything back. She was the pink orbs.

In a flash she disappeared, but came back right behind Henry. He whipped around fast.

"Go ahead, your mind burns with questions like we once did. Ask as many as you would like."

"W..Where are we?" asked Henry.

"We are everywhere and we are nowhere. We are nothing and we are something. This is where it starts and this is where it ends. This is where you are born and where you die."

"Who are you!" Henry yelled bolder this time.

"We were the sun."

"How did you come to be the sun?" Henry asked wasting no time.

"We are old. We have seen whole universes die and start anew. We've seen the same stories played out over and over again. We will probably watch you die. We were once free to do these things. We were spirits...but something happened...we stayed in one place too long and a star formed around us leaving us trapped. Without us it would not have burned."

Curiosity bubbled up inside of Henry.

"Where is it now?"

"We broke free. It is gone." She said. Henry opened his mouth to Ask something else, but they stopped him. "I'm afraid we are running out of time."

"What?"

She raised her arm revealing Freddy and Charlotte....and Henry. They were all in the snow. Charlotte was desperately trying to shake Henry awake.

Henry felt very cold.

"Freddy Elliott will die."

"No..." Henry gasped backing away from them. "No! I'll help him! Send me back!"