A World of Colors

Chapter 7

I needed a break from the lunacy. It is a great thing the new and improved prison is near the ocean, or I don't think I would have been able to contain my fury, frustration, and distress any longer.

My evening dress flaps in the slight breeze as I draw nearer and nearer to the beach. I pass the towering houses with the uniform gardens and flower beds, each at least two stories into the pale pink sky. I miss the colors of my old home.

I reach the final block-from-the-ocean marker and break into a desperate sprint.

Running through the tall palm trees and small brush bushes, I reach the line. The line that divides the smooth sand from the rough pavement. The line that I cross without hesitation. My foot catches on something hidden in the sand, but I don't even pause to register the pain.

I try not to cry as I take a deep breath and close my eyes to listen to the world around me. If only they would listen back.

I have just been through the first week of school, and I have no friends. No one to be there for me when I feel like I'm about to implode from the glaring popular girls who tease me because of my nice outfits or good grades. I miss home.

Listening to the delicate waves on the sand, I lose my melancholy, homesickness, and worry. The waves draw me in. I notice the sound of an innocent seagull, crying out in the distance. I hear the waves and the slurps and gulps as the ocean swallows more and more of the sand on the beach, only to be replaced by much more.

I begin to run. The water rushes between my toes. The sand flies up and covers the back of my legs. I feel my tears falling down my cheeks and taste their saltiness yet bitterness. The shoreline in front of me turns blurry, and I can't see. There are stars.

That's weird. It is sunset. There are no stars.

I feel my face meet the space beneath me. And I feel nothing. What is there to feel when there is nothing else worth living for?