Fallen

Falling. I was falling through infinite darkness. It felt like I had been falling for hours but couldn't be sure. Finally I could see the bottom of a seemingly endless pit and started to try to stop my descent. I started clawing the for walls that weren't there. I covered my head protectively at the last second but I never hit the ground.

I bolted up in my bed gasping for air. My hand found the small chain hanging from my lamp beside my bed and gave it a small tug. After a small delay light revealed the clothes thrown on the floor that I should probably pick up. I ran my hand through my hair, swung my feet over the edge of the bed, and went downstairs. In the kitchen I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and set it on the counter. Suddenly I heard clattering coming from upstairs. Assuming it was Mom knocking something over from off of her nightstand, I didn't worry about it until I saw the note on the counter saying that Mom would be gone until Tuesday night. Before running upstairs I grabbed our metal rolling pin. Once upstairs I slowed down, my steps got lighter even my breathing got lighter as I crept along the wall towards Mom's room. I heard another noise but this time it came from my room. I slowly pushed open the door and walked in ready to strike whoever or whatever was there. The person hovering over my bed straightened at the incoming light from the opening door. It started towards I raised my weapon threatening and it stopped. Right before I struck the thing spoke "Ilisabel wait!" I squinted through of the figures hooded cloak "Elora is that you? What are you doing here and why are you wearing a hood?"

"I came over to wish you happy birthday and I needed to get away from my parents"

"So... Why wear the hood?" I looked at her quizically, "Partly to scare you, partly to hide from my parents, and partly because I got a nose piercing that my mom and dad would hate and would ground me for life," she pulled down her hood and there was a small diamond stud in the side of her nose. I must have looked surprised or something because Elora put her hood back up and said, "I know I shouldn't have gotten it but I was mad and wanted my parents to be mad too," I shook my head, "Do you regret it?"

"No, not really I actually kind of like it"

"Well if you like it I like it. Just call your parents and tell them that you're going to stay here until Tuesday"

"Are you sure that's five nights and I'm sure you're mom wouldn't like that," we had moved over to the bed and sat on the foot of it, "Yes, i'm sure. Mom won't be back until Tuesday night. I held up the note for her to read, "and besides do you really want to throw away the chance to stay five nights?" She laughed, "No, I guess not" I heard her pick up her phone and dial a number. I stood up, went back downstairs, finished getting a glass of water, and went back upstairs. Back in my room Elora had changed, gotten the spare mattress out, made the bed and fallen asleep. Careful not to wake her I got back in bed. The bed on the other side of the room announced that it was now one in the morning. I tossed and turned until I finally fell asleep at three.

I woke up in a field alive with orange and yellow wildflowers. The sun was beating down on my neck. On the other side of the field I spotted a speck of black moving toward me. I just stood there, staring, mesmerized by the grace of the movements, his face became clearer the closer he got. He had bright blue eyes with dark brown hair that sat just right on the top of his head. His shirt hugged his torso so that I could see his broad shoulders with jeans that hung loosely on his waist. I didn't know who this perfect stranger was or why I was dreaming of him but I savored the dream. As he continued his path towards me I continued to stare. When he finally finished his trip to me he looked me up and down, "who are you?" His voice brought her eyes back to his face. His lips were full and looked like they would be soft to the touch. His eyes were a bright aqua blue that you could get lost in for hours at a time. His eyes searched her face and my eyes did the same, searching for any trace of recognition that wasn't there. "Why are you in my dream?" His dream? Wasn't this my dream? "What do you mean your dream?" He looked at me as if I had sprouted another head, "Isn't this my dream? How would you know it's a dream?" Suddenly I was being pulled away from him. I panicked and tried to grab onto something. My hand caught some of the long grass and wildflowers and I stopped for a second, but with one yank the roots of the plants came up and got pulled away from the stranger with me.

I shot up in bed, the sun my still tired eyes. I looked around briefly and saw Elora's stuff everywhere and immediately thought I was in her room. I didn't see Elora so I got up and went downstairs. Wait Elora's house doesn't have stairs. When I got to the kitchen I saw the glass I left on the island last night. I heard the tv on so I went to the living room and saw a lump underneath a blanket. The tv had a commercial for a napkin t-shirt playing. I grabbed the remote and turned off the tv, "Hey what was that for?" Elora sat up and looked at me "I was watching that," I ignored her complaint, "How long have you been up?"

" door about five hours,"

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

" you looked tired and I know you fell asleep late"

"Whatever, you still could have woken me up" I walked back to the kitchen after handing the remote back to Elora. The clock on the oven had a blue 4:15 glowing on it. I sighed but decided that telling wouldn't help because I felt refreshed and like I've had the longest sleep I've had in my entire life.

Dinner consisted of stir fry with chicken in it. I grabbed two big bowls and put a heaping pile of noodles, vegetables, and chicken in one bowl, " Elora if you want food you will get your butt in the kitchen right now!" The TV went silent and I heard her jump up to run to the kitchen. I pulled a fork out of a drawer and put it in the bowl, turned around and handed the bowl to Elora. Elora perched herself on the counter and shoveled fork full after fork full of food. By the time she finished her food I had just started eating mine. "Why are you eating like you've never had any food in your life?" I had to talk around my food and was successful, "I haven't eaten all day."

" why haven't you eaten?"

"I didn't know what to make or what I'm allowed to make"

"You can make anything you want as long as it's not to be used for dinner," after speaking I took a bite, "How am I supposed to know what's for dinner or what is needed to make the dinner?" I pointed at the fridge as I swallowed and said, " I can put a list of dinners for the week with what I'll need to make them. You can help me come up with some dinners."

"I don't really care what we eat, but can we eat Nachos one night?" We already have nacho cheese in the pantry all v with tortilla chips so I nodded my head, "I like nachos so anyway,"

After dinner I washed the dishes and made the list of dinners and what I'd need for those dinners. The list had nachos and loaded baked potatoes on it. Elora and I turned on the TV and searched through the channels for something good. When we couldn't find anything good on TV we turned it off and talked about school and how life for ourselves for about two or three hours later.

Around ten-ish we decided to get ready for bed. While Elora showered I looked at the stuff around the room that Elora had brought over. Elora's footsteps in the bathroom told me she was done in the shower and would be out of the bathroom soon. When she finally did come out I was facing the other way but could feel her watching me, " You know you're not moving in, right?"

"Yeah, I just feel more comfortable having my stuff here."

"Ok well I'm going to shower now," I turned around only to see that Elora was still in her towel so I looked away and started to walk to the bathroom. I closed the door, locked it, peeled off my clothes, turned on the water to let it warm up, and stepped in. I let the water run down my naked body and listened to the pattering of the water on the floor with my eyes closed and head tipped back. The water stopped hitting my face and I didn't hear the pattering anymore. When I opened my eyes I saw a waterfall.