Katrina

Chapter 1- Katrina

Part One: The Beginning

Katrina was a very normal girl. She was around ten years old when everything started changing in her life. She used to live in the south of Spain with her mother, father, brother and her sister. Helen was the eldest. William, and Katrina, were the youngest. Her father, Joseph, was an English man that had moved to Spain because he fell in love. He met his wife, Silvia, when they studied in Leeds in their youth. After that,  they moved to Spain and there they formed a wonderful family. They always had the best that their parents could give them. They always studied at the best school in the city and they had everything. A good house, expensive clothes and shoes, laptops, etc. They were educated in being very humble, even if it did not look like it. They valued what they had and they knew it was with the effort of their parents, especially their mother. She worked a thousand hours to give everything to her children, and they knew it.

Suddenly the crisis came to Spain and everything changed. Her father was still a state official while her mother had less and less work. They had to remove the kids from their schools and their clothes were becoming less expensive. Before, all their clothes were Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Burberry. Now it was Stradivarius, Pull and Bear and Bershka. A few years later, her parents decided to separate. Infidelity from the father caused the divorce. Katrina never understood it because her mother was a beautiful person with an incredible common sense, that attracted the most extraordinary minds. She was a very attractive Andalusian woman. She reminded Katrina of Nicole Kidman but with dark, brown hair and deep almond-shaped eyes of an intense brown color. Even her body, with its infinite curves and tan skin. The separation of her parents plunged Katrina for many years into sadness, especially because at that time she had a boyfriend that did not suit her and she wanted to leave him for a while. However, she loved him, and endured a lot. When she finally decided to leave him, the separation from her parents happened, and she clung even more to that boy. In the end, her relationship with him did not end well because things happened between them that scarred her for life. Although, she would overcome it over the years, she'd never forget it. The past always comes back in some way. That's why you have to know how to overcome things, because if you overcome them, they won't hurt as much when they return. Katrina was about sixteen when all this happened.In spite of everything, she was a very happy and optimistic girl who spread her joy to others, always found the positive side of everything, always had hope and didn't worry much about problems. She knew that for every problem, there was a solution . Their mother educated them well enough to face life in a positive way. 

One day, Katrina decided to leave home and travel abroad. She never knew what she wanted to do with her life, and she knew she wanted to study, but what? She didn't know, and she never ended up knowing. When she was eighteen, she left home, and she decided to go to Leeds, where her parents met. There, she lived for two incredible and wonderful years, and she met some exceptional people. Others, not so much. However, in general she enjoyed the people a lot and they loved her a lot in the neighborhood. She worked in a grocery store and had a good relationship with her colleagues and customers. She was also with a boy practically two years of her stay in Leeds, but for cultural reasons it didn't work. So she decided to return to Spain for a season because she needed her family, her friends and the sun. She missed the sun of her land, and her mother's food. She missed afternoons with her friends on any bench in the little square where they used to meet. She missed the smell of her land, the color of the scenery, the streets, the people, and her Andalusian accent. She missed the Mercadona supermarket. There she felt at ease, in her beloved Seville. She felt Andalusian, despite the fact that her father was still doing his English things like drinking tea or reading "The Guardian" online. Katrina loved tea too. She liked the English language and everything related to English culture, but she was much more Andalusian than Anglo-Saxon.One summer day on the beach of Chipiona, in Cádiz, she was with her friends and she was enjoying her time as she'd not done for a long time. 

However, something tormented her. Life. Her mind tormented her, thinking of life and what was she going to do? What was she going to study? The years passed and she continued with that doubt. She lived day by day enjoying the most she could with the people and the moments, but her fears were overcoming her. They were still tormenting her. Society was causing some of the torment too. Have a good job, stability and a family. However, she didn't want any of that. She wanted to be free of all those ties; of children, a boyfriend and permanent work. She was special and she was too free for this world where people are supposed to have a plan.When she returned home after a wonderful beach party, Katrina couldn't sleep. She had drank enough and was thinking too much about the things that tormented her. So she decided to go down to the beach and calm down. She needed to be alone and she needed the fresh air, the breeze and the sound of the sea. She swiftly ran out of the house and when she stepped onto the sand she felt free. She felt good and decided to get closer to the shore. The Moon had been dyed a reddish color. What most would call a "Blood Moon". She had heard so many stories about nights like that... Witches, zombies, hexes, spells and so on, but she never believed too much in superstitions. In that sense, she was more like her father. Her mother didn't believe those kinds of stories, but she was a pure blooded Andalusian and had respect for the traditions and legends of her homeland.She needed to clear her mind and there weren't many people left from the party anymore. There were only a few of them out there finishing it and the little alcohol they had left. A few hours passed until finally she was completely alone. She laid there thinking for a long time, and cried until she felt that there were no tears left in her eyes. It wasn't even dawn yet when she saw something different in the water. She felt the earth tremble for a second, and suddenly the water began to move in a strange way. 

For a moment, she thought she had put some kind of drug in the drink or had smoked and drank too much but that couldn't be. It was impossible. The effects of the alcohol and marijuana had already passed. The water kept moving in a very strange way for several seconds until she saw something pure white coming out of the water. Whatever it was, it was running toward her. Katrina wanted to get up but was in shock. Fear was paralyzing her. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing? It was a horse. A huge white horse. Its eyes were red and even from the distance she could see its legs were long and thin. It had a long, wavy mane flying like a flag in the wind, and the tail was long and wavy as well. It was elegant and at the same time, a sinister horse. Katrina tried to get up to run but it was too late. The fear paralyzed her for too long and suddenly the horse threw long strands of its hair, as if they were whips, and entangled her legs. She was being dragged toward the water at the speed of the wind and she didn't have time to do anything else. She didn't even have time to shout, when suddenly, she felt the cold water of the sea touching her body. She tried to hold her breath but she was so afraid and so confused that she couldn't do it for more than a few seconds. She felt herself vanish, and she thought she was going to die. The only thing that came to her mind before she lost consciousness was "Lord, help me."

She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious when she woke up. When she opened her almond-shaped eyes, she was surrounded only by nature. Tall trees and strange plants that she'd never seen before were all around her. It was like a jungle, being so dense that not even a single ray of sunlight was able to shine through. She didn't know what time it was or where she was. She didn't hear anything. Neither the breeze of the wind nor the noise of any animals. Nothing. She was afraid. Very afraid, and she didn't know what had really happened. She only remembered the white horse dragging her into the water.