Skimming the Surface

Chapter 14- Any Way You Want It

Ever heard of the song Any Way You Want It by Journey? No? Gasp! Take a listen- the song is over there to the right :)

Chapter 14

Olivia

    Squelch. Squelch. Her bare feet made satisfying slapping noises in the muddy grass as she walked. Shoots of grass slid against her ankles, silky and smooth. Like walking through individual strands of silk. She was vaguely aware of the water chilling her feet, but it didn't seem to matter so much. Not as long as she kept going.

     And where exactly was she going? The thought had crossed her mind awhile ago, but an answer hadn't occurred. She was weaving her way in and out of towering rows of hedges, curving her way this way and that. The thought that she was in a maze of some sort had come to her, but that seemed silly somehow. She wasn't a mouse in a maze, trying to find a piece of cheese. She was a human being.

     As she wandered the hallways of leaves and vines and wet grass, the sky got steadily darker. The sun seemed to be fading into distant memory, and dark angry clouds were replacing it. She watched with a growing sense of worry as they rolled across the sky, like a wave crashing upon the ceiling of the earth. 

     Her pace sped up. Everything seemed less friendly in this light. Leaves that used to sparkly in the sun now hung lifeless on hedges that held too many secrets to see. Instead of guiding her on the right path, now they seemed to be herding her, corralling her. Trapping her. She could feel the panic rising in the back of her throat, clenching her insides.

     Now she was running, past viney wall after viney wall. She could have swore some of the branches tried to reach out and grab her, but she wasn't going to turn back to see. Her feet stung from the cold water, and the periwinkle nightgown she was wearing soon grew limp and frigid with water as it slapped against the back of her legs. 

     Where was she going? Where was there to go? She didn't know, and that frightened her to death. Why couldn't she find the damned exit? Was there an exit? The sky crackled above her, teeming with dark energy that she could practically feel. The rumbles of thunder rolled through the air and earth. She kept running, and something deep inside of her told her she had to keep going.

     And suddenly, she fell forward into familiar, warm grittiness. Sand, sweet sand. She looked up, and saw the line that had been drawn between beach and hedges. Even as she looked on, the maze of thorns and leaves seemed to call out to her, singing a dark song that wove in between her thoughts and made strange feelings rise inside of her. She backed away slowly; somehow it all felt like a trick.

     She looked back to the beach, where the sky was lighter and she could hear throaty gulls in the distance. This is where she needed to be. So she started walking down the edge of the water, letting the waves roll over her feet and the salt sting her skin. It seemed to go on forever, and that was okay; she could listen to the sound of crashing waves and swirling water endlessly.

     "Olivia!" Her name was called out, somewhere up the beach further inland. She turned, and standing there on the bank among the swirling beach grass was none other than Mason. His light blonde hair was swaying in the breeze, and Olivia felt a tingling from her scalp down her spine.

     "There you are Olivia! Come here, I have to tell you something," he shouted out, his sweet voice carrying over the wind. Then he smiled his sweet smile of his, and she felt her heart melting. He was here. She started to step toward him, but behind her, someone shouted her name.

     "Olivia! Come here my darling," a sweet, melodic voice reached her ears, and turning around, she saw none other than her mother laying in the shallow water, her blue tail becoming one with the ocean behind her. Her copper hair framed her heart shaped face and swirled in the water around her arms. She cocked her head and smiled. "Honey, come into the water with me. Let's take a swim."