It had all started when she was young. Going out to see the world had always been her dream. Imagining the clouds and stars at her fingertips, waiting for her to grasp them in her hands…it was maddening.
Some nights, the heavens seemed so close, the stars just a smattering of glittering thread sewn into the soft velvet of the midnight sky. The clouds hugged the crowns of the tallest buildings of Bridges, and the rooftops cradled the sky in return.
But other days, the atmosphere was so untouchable, unreachable by mere human means. The clouds cleared to offer a narrow blue sky, so open and daunting and empty.
And those were the days Emmeline feared.
So, Emmeline swore something to herself, something she would never tell another human being. She wrote it down and sealed the paper with a burgundy seal, a gesture of promise and finality she would never mention to anyone. And she hadn’t .
That was when her life turned sideways.
~~~~