Sophia Jackson: Hero's Daughter

Chapter Four

I stayed up all night; I mean, how can you sleep before you're about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime? Exactly; you don't.

The fountain that Tyson, my... i don't even know, half-uncle? put in sparkled as the thunder boomed outside. I thought about the words of the prophecy as I tried to sleep.

East? As in Europe? And I really didn't want to find dead people, if that's what that line meant...

My mind was like a tornado, and I felt like I was about to explode. I couldn't stay in my cabin anymore. The moon shone on the grass like a latern, and I need to be in that light. 

Silently, I sneaked out towards Firework Beach. Then I started to run. The sound of crashing waves made me think of home, but it also made me feel at home. I kept running to my favorite spot on the whole beach- the log in the dunes. I loved jumping through the grasses in the dunes and landing on the splinterless log, laughing, with all my friends. But alone, it felt... different.

I waded through the tall reeds, and wished someone could tap my shoulder, and keep me company. Nothing felt wrong, but nothing felt right either. I tried to imagine what my mom felt like when my dad went missing. How lost she must've felt. Or when my grandma seemed to die in front of my dad's twelve-year old eyes. That was how lost I felt. I was supposed to be with them, to live a normal life. Instead, I was alone on the beach at midnight, listening to the waves. 

I finally reached the log, and nearly choked on my breath. Because I wasn't alone after all; just lost. I saw a figure, hunched over, holding what looked like a picture. And that figure looked a whole lot like...

"Dakota?" She whipped around, sheilding the picture from my wandering eyes. 

"Sophia? What are you doing here?" She stood abrubtly and bit her lip, rushing to the shore.

"Wait- what's wrong?" The wind blew her dark hair aorund, and watched her hold the picture close to her heart. Something was definitely wrong. 

I reached her side, hardly able to breathe. The wind hit my face like a blast of ice cold water. Looking at her face, I noticed the tear stains on her pale skin. 

"Dakota, you can tell me-" My voice caught in my throat. Dakota took the picture and ripped it in half. Then in disappeared into the ocean. I could only find one half, and immediately I thought I knew why she was crying. 

"Is this your boyfriend?" But she shook her head, and I knew it was something worse, someone more. The wind howled in my ears, and the ocean sprayed my face. 

Dakota waded into the water, and I stood on the shoreline, wondering what she was doing. 

She kept going, going, going, and I had to focus so hard to make sure she wouldn't disappear. But nothing could stop her. She wanted to be gone. And she plunged into the freezing water. 

"Dakota!!" I dove in after her, forming a bubble around myself. I scoured the ocean floor, looking for something of hers. It seemed like days, weeks, months, of searching. And nothing. I prayed from under the water, to my grandpa, Dakota's dad, Logan's dad. But nothing happened. I stood there, in the ocean, feeling so stupid for even opening my mouth. 

What had she wanted so bad in the ocean? I was sure she wasn't just taking a midnight dip. I walked back up to my log, which now felt like my last memory of Dakota. One half of the picture was in my hands. Who was this? If only Dakota could've told me before... 

I flipped over the picture in my hands, and choked on my steady breathing; a message was written on the back of the picture. I only had half, but I still felt like this was Dakota's reason.