Breathless

Chapter 3: Beach

I woke up in my bed with a wet rag pressed to my forehead. Everything seemed to be throbbing, and I tried to remember why I was under my polka dotted comforter instead of at school. My hoodie was still on, and the heat was suffocating. I took it off and pulled my sweaty body on top of my blankets. As I threw the hoodie at the foot of my bed, something on my wrist caught the light that was streaming in from my window. I examined it to see a small scale the same color as my skin attached to me. That was when everything came rushing back.

That was when I thought about Emily's stick figure missing its legs. I stood up and walked across my wooden floor barefooted to my windowseat. I don't know what I expected to find, but I never would have guessed what was there. Now, both figures were only made up of a torso, arms, and a head.

"You haven't figured it out yet," a small voice said from behind me.

I slowly turned around to see a young girl in a long, purple dress with her dark hair in a complicated braid. Anna. I opened my mouth to say something along the lines of 'How did you get in my house?', but all that would come out was air.

She moved closer to me, and her tanned skin seemed to glow in the light. "It's taking effect faster than I thought it would." Anna ran her finger along the stick figures and turned to me. "Don't worry. If you can see me, that means this was meant to happen."

"Why?" I breathed, because I could make myself say anything else.

Anna gave me a small smile and tried to touch the scale peeking through the skin on my wrist, but her hand went right through me. I stared at her in awe. Whatever this girl was, it wasn't human. I pressed myself up against the was in an attempt to get away from her.

"Because you repeated the spell, of course." said Anna.

I turned my head away from her and tried to remember. My mind flashed back to the poem and the note. 

Emily, It had said. You're the only one that knows how to read this letter. It's important that you repeat the poem below this at least once to live up to your full potential...

It wasn't a poem at all. It was some sort of a spell. That was why I got sick and collapsed.

As soon as I made that realization, I snapped my head back towards Anna, but she was gone. I looked around my room in an attempt to find her, but it was empty and I was alone.

Emily had said that she was the only person that could see Anna, but if I could see her, too, what did that mean?

Someone knocked on my door and poked their head in. It was my mom. "Terra," she said with a hint of surprise in her voice when she saw me standing up. "are you okay? Is there anything we can get you?"

I nodded hastily. "I'm fine." I lied as I glanced my shoulder to make sure that Anna hadn't shown up again.

"Alright, but just yell if you need anything." Mom turned around and began to close the door, but I suddenly had an urge to go somewhere I hadn't gone in a long time.

"Actually, Mom," I said, rushing my words. "Can you take me to the beach?

My mom looked surprised. "Since when do you want to go to the beach?" She was right; the beach wasn't usually my favorite place since all the tourists were always there, but for whatever reason, I wanted to sink my toes into the wet sand and feel the sun on my back.

"Since now." 

My mother sighed and rubbed her temples as though my request was something much more difficult to do.

"Please, Mom," I begged.

After a while, she nodded. "Your sister will be home in a few minutes. Get your suit on and we'll all go."