Lightning

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Zin

 I awoke on a beach.  I took a deep breath, waiting to open my eyes because the sun was so bright that it was glowing yellow and red through my eyelids.  I could feel sand and smooth pebbles beneath my fingertips; hear the water lapping gently against the sand and the drag of the pebbles rolling out on each wave.  There was a warm breeze blowing from across the water, but it didn’t carry the sting of brine.  The sand and waves alluded to the ocean, but the scent disagreed.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I realized that the sun would soon be setting over the endless water in front of me.  Where was I?  And where was Char?

Just then her hand brushed mine.  She was probably lying on her back, adjusting to our surroundings like I was.

“Are you awake yet, Zin?”

I looked toward her and saw her lying on her side, resting her head on her elbow.  I wondered how long she had been waiting for me to open my eyes.  “Yeah, I’m awake.  Where are we?”

“I don’t know.  Why doesn’t this smell like the ocean?  It has to be the ocean.”  At least she was as confused as I was.  We stared out at the water for a few seconds, adjusting to the bright light and the feeling of being awake.

“We should get up and start walking before the sun goes down.  It looks like we only have about thirty minutes and we’ll never find our way out of here in the dark,” I prodded.

Char slowly rose to stand beside me.  I blinked and she was in front of me, blocking the sun and holding out her hands to help me up.  She pulled me up with a jolt and I lost both of my sandals.  At least they had put me in sandals to set me at the beach; losing my shoes was better than filling them with sand.  I slid my feet back into the flip-flops and studied Char.  She looked about the same as the last time I had seen her.  She very rarely changed, except for her age.  I, on the other hand, was molded according to my setting.  Almost every aspect of my appearance was specifically designed for my “match.”  Char and I liked to call my match by another name – my “prey.”  Not because I was going to kill or eat him, but because I was going to hunt him down and make him mine.  That was the job I had been born into, and I loved it.

“How do I look?” I asked my twin.  “Do you think we’ll get to be sisters this time?”

“I don’t know why we wouldn’t be able to be sisters, they didn’t change you much at all.  You look almost exactly the same as you do at home and I’m assuming I do, too.  You must be a really good match for this kid if they barely changed you.  No wonder they sent us out so soon after graduation.”

“Which home?  Home home?  France?  Scotland?”  I tried to stay calm, but couldn’t help clasping Char’s hands and jumping a little bit in excitement.  It was just too much to hold in and I had never been able to hide my emotions well, especially when it was just the two of us.

“No need to get too excited!  But, yes, home home,” she said in the quiet, soothing voice she used when she felt I was overreacting.

“Yay!”  I hadn’t really looked like myself in the human world in years.  I couldn’t believe that I did now, it was almost too much to hope for.  “Well, I guess we ought to get going,” I tried to say calmly, smoothing down my wind-swept, sand-filled hair.  “Our new family is probably expecting us soon.”

We both reached into our jeans’ pockets in search of car keys.  I had a set of Volkswagen keys.  Char was already cradling hers too closely for me to see what kind of car she would be driving, but there was an eager glow in her eyes.  Now we just had to find the parking lot.