[Phrases into People]

{1}

{The Prologue}

"With her mind sharp and heart steady, she quickly.." Cornelius trailed off, pausing to think to herself. She had found herself in the usual predicament of not being able to think of what to write next for her current story. But going over to a river near her home put her mind to ease as she continued to type down ideas on her laptop.

The river's waters gently splashed by as Cornelius jotted down more of her ideas. "With her mind sharp and heart steady, she quickly dashed forward and leapt across the bridge regardless of how much it jostled. Amelia's heart raced, but she kept her focus as she avoided the splintered wood and the.."

"Cornelius!" The sudden voice nearly made Cornelius drop her laptop as she stumbled to hold it upright. "You forgot your breakfast bag!"

Cornelius laughed and sighed as she looked upwards. "Awh, thank you Persephone. But you do know I'm good on money, right? Even if I realized I forgot, I could have stopped by a cafe."

Persephone scoffed as she sat down next to Cornelius, handing her a white plastic bag and looking down at her laptop. "Of course I do. But it would take longer for you to eat! You know how busy those places can be on Fridays."

Persephone was Cornelius's older sister, and wasted no time watching over her. As much as Cornelius thought Persephone could overreact quite a bit, she still loved her sister all the same. Persephone squinted down and looked at the screen of text on Cornelius's screen.

"What story are you working on, sis?" Persephone asked, her eyes fixated as she was reading some of the words. Her attention was mostly caught by the fact that Cornelius's details were as strong as their bond.

"Oh, it's nothing too major," Cornelius said, starting to type once more. "I was just thinking of writing another short story about Amelia, you know? About how she's passionate about adventure and everything?"

Persephone snickered a bit, and Cornelius started to giggle. The two didn't have to speak physically to know what they were thinking as Persephone watched the water flowing in the river near them, feeling the water softly splash against the soles of her shoes. "This has to be at least the fifth short story now, you know."

Cornelius shook her head, amused by Persephone's comment. "There's no such thing as too many short stories, sis. Besides, that's one of the fun parts about writing."

Persephone couldn't help but agree with her comment. The two sisters both enjoyed writing, but they were polar opposites on what they specialized on. While Cornelius wrote everything related to fiction, Persephone wrote more nonfictional things than any history teacher.

Cornelius turned her head to look towards her sister. "How about you, Persephone? How are things going with your story on the bubonic plague?" Her question had made Persephone groan out loud.

"Sis, for the last time," Persephone said, a jokingly annoyed glare in Cornelius's direction. "You can't know about my work until it's finished." As she finished speaking, she got a shiver down her spine and got up.

"Heading back inside?" Cornelius said as she watched Persephone stretch, the latter saying yes to her question. Persephone gave Cornelius a noogie before she left, making Cornelius giggle as she fixed her hair.

Cornelius closed her laptop and reached into her bag, ready to take a bite of the sandwich her sister made for her. As she pulled the sandwich towards her face to take a bite, she paused as she noticed something pass by in the river. The rivers were always as clear as windows, but there were some splotches of dark blue that passed by.

Contemplating on whether or not to investigate it, Cornelius decided to take a bite of her sandwich first. As intrigued as she was, her stomach wasn't too happy that she hadn't eaten since yesterday. The gentle crunching of the lettuce and tomatoes, followed by the savory taste of bacon made Cornelius sigh contently.

After finishing the sandwich, Cornelius put her bag and laptop into her light brown purse and hung it over her shoulder, following the side of the river to figure out where the splotches of color were coming from. The more she walked forward, the more splotches of color appeared in the water. But it wasn't only dark blue now, however, as she started to see almost every color of the rainbow.

When Cornelius soon stumbled upon the source of where the splotches were coming from, she was quite surprised. There was a lake close enough for some of its water to drip out into the river, but distant enough so it didn't happen too rapidly. Cornelius set down her purse near a rock and kneeled down, looking closer at the water.

The water felt almost hypnotizing to stare into as its vibrant colors swirled when Cornelius's hand would run alongside it. She was surprised she wanted to directly interact with the water; what if it was somehow dangerous? But she didn't worry about that as much, she was more confused as to why her hand would stay dry despite it submerging underneath the water.

"Weird.." Cornelius thought to herself. "This water reminds me of that pond I wrote about for the Vibrant Colors writing project in school.." With the assumption that the water was similar, Cornelius had also wondered if the water would be safe to swim in. Her writing included the detail that the water felt like a heavenly embrace, so her curiosity got the better of her.

Cornelius soon sat in a criss-cross, before stretching her legs out and placing them underneath the water. What she felt surprised her, as it didn't feel like she was placing her feet in water at all. It felt more like her feet were dangling off of a building, like there wasn't ground underneath.

She took her legs out of the water and thought to herself for a minute. On one hand, she wanted to jump right in and be more ambitious, but on the other hand, she also wanted to at least peek her head through to know what to expect first. 

Cornelius sighed and shook her head. "I should be careful about this, maybe Persephone would jump right in though." Cornelius kneeled down and gently put her head through the water, her face tingling with anticipation. She opened her eyes and what she saw made them widen. The surprise was so much that she nearly completely fell before pulling herself out of the water, her brown, curly hair causing the water to flick.

With this newfound discovery in mind, Cornelius went over to her purse and took out her phone, taking a picture of the lake and favoriting the image on her phone. Her mind was aching to learn more and really enter the new realm, but she awaited until a better opportunity came. For now, though, Cornelius swore to herself that she would return to truly explore.