Where The Sky Meets The Sea

Where The Sky Meets The Sea

by kittenofsuga

For my parents, and anyone else who never got to read about wizards or unicorns.

Mom, Dad, when you read this, remember that imagination is the start of a dream.

lt' s also what pushes someone to turn that dream into reality.

Table of Contents

I'm Innocent!

The Town

Caught Again

A Stroke of Serendipity

I'm Innocent!

Ancient trees with their spindly branches and overgrown bushes covered in dewy leaves flit by me as I race through the dusty forest, and their dark shadows expand across the forest floor. I hear the shouts of the policemen whose hostile scowls tighten with every resounding footstep behind me. The barks of their dogs deafen me as shiny saliva drips from their fanglike teeth. Their fiery, uncontrollable aggression is so powerful that each officer had double restraints on them and were constantly yelling at them to calm down. My hard breathing and my shoes hitting the leaf-strewn earth were the loudest sounds of all. My heart is racing as fast as a cheetah as I try to organize my thoughts. Why am I running? Why am I so scared? What great event happened and why was it so bad it turned my whole world around?

Right. The bracelet. The one my grandmother had given to me when I was very young. My family had come to the hospital to be with her while she fought pneumonia. We sat in the hard plastic chairs of the waiting room for hours. My dad was consoling my mom while she cried quietly. I was looking at the wall silently begging Fate to save my grandmother, while my younger sister Camilla was fiddling with the hem of her dress. Memories of Grandma filled my mind with sorrow. I remembered her cookies. Grandma baked the best chocolate chip cookies, and Camilla and I would always fight over who would eat the last cookie or whose cookie was the biggest.

The doctor then came to me with the news that my grandmother wanted to speak to me privately. My dad jumped up to come with me, but the doctor said Grandma wanted to talk to me and me only. I followed the doctor into her room.

"Please don't talk too much. Her health is declining. One of our staff will be waiting outside to check on your grandmother when you are done."

The door closed behind him. I watched it slam shut, then turned to my grandmother. "Grandma, are you okay? What were you going to tell me?"

I watched the old wrinkled face for a response. She looked like she was heavily breathing. The room smelled like latex gloves mixed with air freshener. Could it be possible? Was it true? No, it couldn't. But the doctors' reports...

My grandmother's eyes suddenly opened. "I'm fine, child." She had a dull glow in her eyes. I wanted her to live so badly.

Her voice snapped me out of my imagination. Even though I was startled, I was filled with relief at the fact that she was still alive.

"Tay, I won't be able to see you ever again after this. And I don't have much time. Hold out your arm."

Confused, I held it out and watched as she fastened a golden chain with a delicate clasp that glowed against the ceiling lights. A wing-shaped charm studded with shining, light-blue sapphires dangled from my pale, skinny wrist.