Chapter 1
Surf's up Sanity Down
The waves were huge; Laura smiled as the breeze ran its fingers through her long black hair. It was a perfect day for surfing and Laura intended to use it for just that. Her eyes narrowed as the wind flung sand towards her face. Her eyes were like little blue tide pools her mother always said. Laura ran towards the water leash around her ankle and board in hand. As she plunged into the foaming water a sense fate came over her. The spray of the waves spoke of freedom, strength, and a wildness that refused to be tamed; they told stories of love, joy, sorrow, and loss. Laura always had a deep love for the ocean. The world was so predictable; you knew what to expect around the next corner. Life could be so boring at times. The ocean however was a completely different story you never knew what could happen. Today Laura was determined to catch the perfect wave.
"With swells like these it shouldn't take long!" She thought as she paddled out to first break. Laura caught wave after wave but she hadn't gotten her perfect ride yet. That's when she saw it, an awesome wave coming right towards her; she got her self ready. The wave approached getting taller every second, she paddled away from it and it picked her up and took her. The wave carried her along the water fast. As soon as the board was steady she leapt from her stomach to her feet in one motion. The wave was perfect she went up and down all the while her heart bursting with joy. She had caught the perfect wave. As she went along the top of it she noticed a ripple in the water ahead of her. At first Laura thought it was a shark but then she noticed that if it were a shark then there would be a brown spot in the water, but there wasn't. In fact the part in the water seemed to have no origin at all. Laura toyed with the idea of giving up her ride; but in her heart she knew she could never do that. So she headed towards it gathering speed as she went. When she reached it her board passed over it as if the ripple didn't exist at all. So she thought nothing of it for the moment. But as her body reached it she felt like she had struck a wall. It was a barrier invisible and solid as rock. Just as she thought that she would fall backwards off the barrier she fell through it. Suddenly the sound of ocean waves disappeared. Laura was standing on dry ground in clothes that she did not recognize. She was wearing something between a shirt and pants and a dress. The "shirt" was white, went down to her ankles, and was split up to her waist on both sides. The pants were black and extremely comfortable. She was also wearing black shoes that were flat, soft and allowed her to move almost silently. Laura looked around she was in a forest it was dense and lush. If it were any other time Laura would have noticed its beauty. At this point in time however she was too confused. She was just wondering if she had gone insane when she heard a snap to her right. She turned towards the sound and felt that someone was watching her but saw no one. She took a cautious step towards the sound. She looked harder and saw a flicker of movement to her left Laura turned around quickly and was struck in the back of the head hard. Darkness approached Laura fought against it with all her might, but in the end it was not enough and she blacked out.