Title in Progress (#justwriteit)

The Wave

Well, let's see. The dream started with me walking - more like skipping - through my neighborhood, all smiles, playing some song in my head, I can't remember exactly which one. Anyways. It was sunny, not like midday sunny but around 2 o'clock or so. There wasn't really any wind to say it was breezy, but the place was cool.

My neighbors were in their homes as they always were around this time. Hearing Mr. Holly yell at his grand-kids about going outside to play, brought a smile to my face. I mean, it's an old guy grinding kids about "back in my days". Who won't be glad its not them hearing that lecture for like the umpteenth time?

Yeah. So what I remember is, that I was on my way to the shop and I felt kind of a rumble beneath my feet. The birds flew from the trees making loud screechy noises. I didn't really feel it but more like smelt it. The ocean. I'd gone to the beach two days before, so the scent was still fresh in my brain. With the smell came a brief but strong breeze, sending my heart to race with panic. Somethings wrong. And then. I saw it.

It towered over the trees. Run Annie. Run. I tried going back home but the voice in my head told me no. "But mom.." I thought, "You can't. Head for the top of the hill. NOW!" she said. Tears filled my eyes as I did as she said.

Just letting you know, though my country is small and comprises of two islands, I live nowhere near the sea; like miles away, so seeing that amount of water really had me petrified.

That one last look at my home. "It's not the time." the voice said, "Rope, we might need it." Okay. I ran behind Tim's - Mr. Holly's son-in-law - car, grabbed the rope and took off. Running was a heck of a task for me, though I looked the part, I wasn't fit. Healthy because my mom made sure we ate right, but give me a flight of stairs and I'd literally be puffing and gasping for breath; exercise and I weren't really friends.

There were two hills to the junction, one really gentle yet long and the other was steep; not steep enough to make me role back down with every step but it took a lot of stamina to climb in a situation like this. "Keep going. Push through it." she was practically shouting in my head. Between her screams and the drumming in my chest, its surprising I didn't pass out or stop completely.

Crossing that threshold at the top made me feel 'like a boss.' I literally threw a fist in the air like that guy did in the Breakfast Club. To my left I caught a small glimpse of my friend in her moms shop, waving at me. My heart ached. Its like every house I passed, knowing that people I grew up with and cared about, were there unsuspecting of whats happening right outside their doors. I've a soft heart, so all this, basically killed me.

"Rope," she said, "throw it. Aim for that branch." I saw that she was talking about the huge Mango tree on the other side of the road. I guess I finally understood why the chicken crossed the road; to get up in the tree. My hands were shaking like an earthquake and this crazy voice in my head wanted me to throw a flimsy rope a few feet over my head. Well I must be some kind of magician, because for that to happen is near impossible, I have bad aim on a normal day. "Just trust me on this." What? Uh. okay?

Like she said, it flew and her plan worked perfectly, in the nick-of-time too. The tree was on a hill itself, luckily, the slope went down the other side of the hill. "Climb." With little to no body strength? Really? Okay. Jesus must have been with me that day cause I out-ran a massive wave and climbed a tree - slipping a few times of course.

The branch I was on kept getting closer and closer to the water. "The water's rising. Annie climb. Higher." Okay. You do realize this is the part in the movie where something pops out and makes me fall into the water right. So said so done. While I was expecting to see a spider a snake slithered near my hand. Oh my God. Immediately I started praying: Dear God, I've been your loyal disciple for seventeen years now and if you love me, please don't let harm come my way. I looked at the snake once more. Something - presumably a car - hit against the tree causing God's blessed creature to fall on me. "Don't scream, don't scream" Oh, I wasn't thinking about it, I wasn't gonna scr-, I wasn't gonna do that. My God it felt scaly and it was moving, dipping its head between by boobs. Noo. Please get out of there. Not the tongue, not the tongue. Eww. I'm being vandalized by a snake. Why?

I don't remember exactly how long the water stayed, I think I fell asleep. How ironic, to fall asleep in a dream. All I know, is that when I came to it was day light. Sliding down the rope was much easier than climbing up. Destruction. That's all I saw, all that was left. Things scattered everywhere. Do you think a next one's coming? "No" Do you think another will come? "I don't know" I didn't need her - the voice - to tell me where I was to go. A part of me didn't want to go there. The kid in me, that innocence, wanted to stay naive and gullible to what really happened. Even though, its like I was drawn to it, like some mystical force was dragging me back there. So I went with my heart.

Walking down the first hill and looking around my heart sank, step by step it found its way to my feet. Down the second my heart came dragging a few steps behind me. Looking at the trees now covering the Gonzales' house I see it. Stopping, my mind replayed that moment, those few seconds, my heart took to the tracks again. At the small footpath a few feet away from my house, I basically froze. She was silent. I was hoping she'd tell me what to do but she said nothing. I sucked it up and made the steps to my house.

My aunts and cousins lived upstairs while my family and I occupied downstairs. Looking back, I saw the last of my innocence in the form of a five year old me wave good bye. She was gone.