The Blink.

Chapter 1

Laying there staring at the black sky and glowing stars in the sky, I feel at peace, as if this is what my whole life lead up to. I turn my head to look at Emily, her red hair sprawled out on the freshly cut grass, her eyes shimmering in the moonlight as she stares back at me. She was always so beautiful. I was jealous of her for years, until I saw the real life she lived, the pain hidden behind her emerald eyes, the scars hidden by her pale skin, the scars that go deeper than any knife could go, the scars that connected with her soul.

 Sometimes I wish I could reach her soul, if I could, for even a second, wipe it clean. Kiss every scar that ever burdened her once peaceful soul. Her once pure spirit that is just crying to come back everyday, if you look close enough for long enough, you can see a glimpse of it in her eyes. I believe that's why she never lets a person look at her for that long, she's a smart girl, she knows the exact time it begins to show.

I counted the last few seconds I knew I would have to look at her, taking in every piece of her beauty that she will forever be blind to. As I hit 0, she turned her head back towards the sky, a small smile appearing on her face as she looks for figures in the little lights littering the sky. I do not turn with her, I stay staring at her, seeing parts of her that she could never imagine existed. Its not until she sighs that I turn away, waiting for her to speak, she always sighed before she spoke, a sigh of defeat that the moment has to end.

"You know what time it is" she says softly, never looking me dead on, always seeing something more in the distance. "What do you mean?" I asked confused, I hadn't brought my phone, and a watch seemed impractical at this time of night. "You have to wake up now" she mutters as her hand finds mine in the darkness that the sky seemed to dim to. I glance at her from the side of my eye "Are you crazy? I am awake silly" I say with a chuckle "No Anna, you need to actually wake up" she says, her voice hardening, as if to force me to go. I turn to look at her fully. She had always been a jokester, but she seemed serious on this one. 

Emily sat up and stared at me, as if expecting me to leave. "Em, I am awake, I'm looking at you, what's going on?" Concern laced my voice, she had never spoken to me this seriously before. "Anna. You have to wake up." she said, her voice no longer hard, it had softened, somehow it had a hint of something I couldn't place.

As I sat up to get a better look at her in the moonlight, her eyes suddenly shifted, and I finally placed the hint I heard in her voice. Fear. Her eyes always told the story her mouth couldn't muster the courage to tell. Her eyes told me she was terrified.

But her eyes weren't looking at me. They were looking into the distance, as if she was no longer aware of my presence.

"Em?" the nickname was instinctual, I hadn't called her by her full name since the first day I met her. I moved my head in front of her vision, to gather her attention back on me, her gaze changed. Confusion crossed her face. "Why aren't you waking up this time?" she questioned, her head tilting to the side ever so slightly to the side as if to emphasize her confusion.

"Em, I AM awake" I said, the annoyance clear in my voice. "No your not Ans" she said sadly, her gaze trailed to the ground, and this time, she did not look back up.

I blinked. For some reason it felt like it took forever to complete the blink. But once I did. Emily was gone. Instead of staring at the sky, I was standing, staring at what seemed to be an ancient castle in the middle of nowhere. The sky seemed dimmed, mirroring the last look Emily gave me before the dreadful blink. CRACK. A scream escaped my mouth, my hand flying up to cover any other sounds trying to follow it. My body instinctively turned towards the noise. 

The scene in front of me made my heart drop.