F I C T I O N
It All Starts with A Dream
MAIA LYNN ANDERSON
I
T ALL STARTS with a dream .
She opens her eyes to oceans . She stands upon waves , dark and churning and crusted with foam and as solid as stone , as glass , as ice beneath her feet even as it moves and laps over her toes and the ocean spray speckles her ankles . The world sighs around her as the sea stirs , in and out and back and forth , over and under and endlessly crossing , and the water dances to the spell of a pale purple moon . The abyss of water and life yawns beneath her , heavy and full , and she half believes that she could swim it forever and come back up under stars , for surely there is no Earth beneath these waves , these ripples that betray the currents weaving through the unknown depths . She tilts her head back , spine curving and arcing and toes sinking , heels rising as she lets herself fall about her own center , and gravity tips her . Arms open and hair trickling past face , and there is an eternal instant where she falls but doesn ’ t sink . For a moment she is suspended over water and under stars and she watches with hungry eyes the small specks of light swimming in the vast void . Beneath her , moonlight turns the ocean ’ s surface into a mirror , reflecting back the galaxy . Stars blur and glow in the rippling water , undisturbed by the surging waves that are born beneath its surface and roll the many miles to seek out shores to throw themselves upon . She breathes out and plunges into silver and black water , trailing tiny shining bubbles and the deep , silent weight drags her down . She does not struggle as she sinks . The ocean murmurs here , its song a lullaby . Her lungs are empty and her eyes are closed and she folds herself into the hushed embrace of the deep waters . She does not breathe . She does not drown .
He opens his eyes and he is standing on wind . It sleets beneath his feet like ice or sand and though he does not move with it he can feel it whipping past him ,
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