Something Just a Little Different (Jasper Hale)

Short Days

Everything was flooded with bright white light, drowning the shapes in a blinding glow. The light slowly faded and Arri could see everything around her, which wasn't much. She noticed that is was a brilliantly lit sun sitting high in a cloudless sky that had momentarily blinded her as a warm, fresh breeze blew about her.

There was hot, sugary sand beneath her feet and she could hear the waves of the ocean, but she couldn't see them past the hills of tall, billowing grass. She could feel the warmth of the sun and breeze on her skin and smell the ocean's saltyness.

The silver haired girl took a tentative step forward, finding the sand to be surprisingly sturdy, not letting her sink into it like she normally would have, but now it was almost like she just floated gingerly above the surface.

She walked further along the sand, looking for something, like she somehow knew she was supposed to, but she couldn't remember what. Something about the setting was familiar, but she couldn't place it. It wasn't anywhere from California, and it wasn't the beach she had been to the day before, but she knew it was familiar.

Suddenly, a feeling of anxiety hit her, a hurriedness that made her heart race like she was running out of time to find what she was looking for. She started running, climbing sand dunes and looking, but not seeing what she was looking for, just sand and sun, with the sound of the invisible waves crashing.

The sky grew darker and darker by the second and the wind was now freezing as it blew angrily around her. She heard a loud thundering beat, only to find that it was her own heart racing. Arri clutched at her chest, running, turning in panicked circles, finding it harder and harder to breathe.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, everything froze around her. The whirling sand was frozen in mid air, the sky the same angry black, but stationary, the wind no longer screaming around her.

But what really got to her was the silence. No wind. No waves. No heartbeat. Nothing. Silence. Then blackness. Her eyes were open but she couldn't see. Her hand was still clutched to her heart, but it was too weak to feel. Her lungs felt empty and she could no longer feel the effects of gravity and she was suspended. And it was still.

And then then everything was bathed in a blinding white light and she could feel the force of everything ten fold. Herself laying on the blistering hot sand, the burning in her lungs from lack of oxygen, and the tightness in her chest with every breath. It was as if every nerve in her body was standing on end, feeling even the air on her skin.

Arri shot up straight in her bed, gasping for air, clutching at her chest as cold sweat dripped down her forehead. Sunlight drifted through the crack in her curtains, tauntingly cheery compared to what she was feeling, like it was mocking her. She had a horrible dream but she's going to wake up to the best weather she's experienced in Forks so far. Flopping back onto her pillow, Arri took a deep breath, rolling over and cuddling her face into her pillow.

This had been a reoccurring nightmare for as long as she could remember, but never had it been so intense. The searching was always there, sometimes the scene around her was different, but she was always looking but never finding it. The sound of the ocean was always there, but never within sight. There was never a clue for what it was, exactly, she was looking for.

She had looked on the internet for some insight, thinking maybe it was some kind of psychological problem or something, and she was right in way, but again, it wasn't a clear answer. Just some deep seeded thing in her subconscious that was trying to resurface.

Building up the courage to face the day, Arri huffed, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and wandering into the bathroom to take a relaxing shower. She left her wet hair down and put on her softest pajama pants and a tank top, going downstairs to the living room and curling up on the couch with a cup of hot tea.