The Beginning of A Short Story

My shoes are not where I left them. I glance frantically around. I want to search for them, but there is no time. I run downstairs quickly. Shannon is there waiting. "We must hurry," she says.

She closes the door as I begin heading across the dark green grass. The sun is still down. My heart beat accelerates. I can smell the night air. It enters quickly and escapes slowly. It is thick and wet.

The sky is dark, but the trees are still visible. Their silhouettes sway as the wind blows wildly causing leaves to fall here and there. I can feel them underneath my bare feet, softening the ground as they thicken. I hold my chest to keep from freezing. I can feel my toes grow colder but I stare at the ground and keep walking. I don't have time to warm them right now. The trees disappear as we approach them.

"I have everything we need." Shannon tells me as we enter the forest. I worry as the forest thickens and the trail seems to disappear, but Shannon takes the lead, showing me the way. Her light brown hair appears black in the darkness and smells like her house, like the last meal we shared. The sun is nowhere to be seen.

As we enter the clearing, and move down the hill, she stops halfway and immediately puts down the blanket. She carefully angles it toward the horizon. I take in the view. Even though it is dark, I can see how I have forgotten how perfect it is here. I have forgotten the landscape's soft, charismatic beauty, and I am ashamed.

The cliff puts off just feet away from me. The valley below is green with nature. The cliff is in the form of a horse shoe, a large 'U' around the ocean of grass inside. A couple of trees have sprouted where careless birds have flown over it, but they seem to have grown in just the right place. I cannot pick out any accidents.

The grass grows a lighter green as it stretches on for miles towards the horizon. The clouds are brightening at the furthest point of my view. I step closer to the edge of the cliff. The wind whips at my night dress. I clutch myself tighter and step again. I want to see the colors of the rocks that make up this cliff. It has been years since they have stunned my eyes.

It hurts at first, but then thrills me. The colors are a different shade, because of the early hour, and they are as beautiful as ever. I stare at the granite and quartz. The granite is the main foundation. The quartz jumps out at sharp angles in random places where the sun's rays catch it.

My eyes dance across the rocks, moving faster and faster. I concentrate on the beauty. I hear nothing. My entire being revolves around this piece of earth. I cannot look away. The sun rises. I stare. I take a breath. New morning air fills my lungs. It seeps through my body, calming my mind, soothing my thoughts.

Shannon calls to me, and I join her on the blanket.