Sunset Stars

Sunset Stars

PREFACE

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.~ Anatole France

I never thought that it would happen to me. I never thought that I would experience something that would touch my heart, my mind, my soul itself. I never was one for harsh change. I always wanted to go through change smoothly, peacefully, happily. I detested change that was like jumping of a 50 foot cliff, and took me maybe months to recover and adjust. But that is something I must do, for if I don't, I will eternally reject what I have become, and never truly be awake and alive at once. This is what I thought as the vampires were one day away, coming to kill us.

Without change, something inside us sleeps, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.~ Frank Herbert.

MARINE CLIMATE

I got into my car, trying to hold back the tears. I really thought I liked it here. But I don't...I needed my friends and my school and my life back. I couldn't take it. The tears were streaming down my face, and I had my hands on the sides of my head, trying to hold myself together. I swallowed my pain, and put the key in the ignition. I drove home, and lay on my double bed, moping. I pushed homework out of my mind, and decided to get outside and enjoy the scenery without precipitation of any kind. I grabbed my sketchbook, charcoal, and eraser, put on my hiking boots, and headed out the door.

Not really sure where to go, I headed to the edge of the forest, finding a neglected old path. I walked along the trails for what felt like hours, not knowing where I would end up, or if I would get lost. I finally came upon a cliff, and I immediately sat down on a rock and started to draw what I saw. The charcoal flew across the page so fast, I could barely see it, only the marks it left.

The scenery, I had to admit, was gorgeous. The cliff must have been around 100 feet, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There were islands off in the distance, which meant that it wasn't just a cliff I would be drawing. Forest covered the rocks, and there was a curtain of fog in the middle of the bay. Wind blew past me, taking my breath with it, and I shivered. My charcoal met the paper again, making more marks, adding the ones I just made. The new pencil stump I had brought became black, and my fingers were dusty and dark gray. After about an hour or so, I got up to stretch my legs from sitting so long, and to look off the edge of cliff.

I walked over, and looked down at the water. It was probably freezing. All of a sudden, I heard voices coming from the trees behind me, and a group of people popped out of the trees. There was about five or six of them. They were all tall, with black hair and russet skin. One of them was a girl, the rest boys, with the oldest looking around 25, all very muscular. I was so startled by the group, I slipped off the edge of the cliff.

I let out a shriek of terror. I knew that you could seriously injure yourself if you didn't properly know how to dive off high places. My hair got in my face, flying up, as my head was going to be first to hit the water. I didn't want to break my neck. I wrapped my arms around my neck, bracing for impact. Crashing into the water was like hitting frozen glass. Wrapping my arms around my head hadn't been enough. My head snapped back, almost feeling as if I had a concussion. Landing on my back had knocked all air out of me, and I plummeted down like a stone. The water was freezing and suffocating. Immediately, sensation in my fingers and toes left. Blood in my veins became icy water, and after half a minute,energy abandoned my limbs. I had no strength left; water getting colder and colder; darker and darker. Vision blurring, I screamed inside as I started to feel my lungs ache and burn. The water taunted me, pulling me down, with hands around my neck, laughing like a clique of mean girls. It started to go dark.