I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Prelude
By Osiris-Ra
Ana Lucia sits in Economy class, languidly skimming a Home Lifestyle magazine. Gradually, her gaze averts from the brightly illustrated pages of the magazine to the window. They're miles above the clouds now. Miles above the world. Looking down, there's just the enormous city of clouds, floating below like snowcapped mountains.. Reminds her vaguely of bubble bath. She stares awhile, but it becomes a tedious observation. The clouds are pretty, but they go on forever. Endless stretching feet of them, with sparse gaps in between. She'll see more of them later, when the plane lands. She closes the window, puts away the magazine and rests her hands on her belly, tries to get some shuteye.
What's that noise?
The plane has gone dark. There's concerned voices in front and behind her. A strange chilliness and shivering of the plane. There's the captains voice, so steady and calm that something has to be wrong. With a sudden surge of fear, Ana Lucia pulls up the window. Darkness. Where has the world gone? The plane is teetering to the right, shaking stronger. Children are making frightened noises, women's voices rise above the disturbed chattering fray. "Oh my god!" Someone shrieks suddenly. A terrified male passenger tethers himself to his seat. "We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die." Someone is annoyed by his pessimistic refrain, asks him to be quiet. But Ana knows he's right. Something in her senses the finality of it all. Perhaps this is the end of her journey. Her release from the world. She closes the window, tightens her seat-belt and places her hands on her belly.
Is there a God? I can almost feel Him now. There must be.
The plane is really rumbling now. With a hiss and a pop, the oxygen masks tumble down from above. She places one over her face, helps the nearby passenger who's hands are shaking too much to do it properly. They lock eyes for a moment, saying their hellos and goodbyes, and then their ears begin to pop. Pop-pop-pop-pop. The emergency lights begin to flash, whirling red and white like a disco dance in Hell. She can feel it. The fast downward momentum of the plane. Her heart beats faster and faster. Things begin to vibrate. Like they're in a can of fizzy soda. Shaken, not stirred. Something shrieks past the window. Snaps, cracks, the engines whine and splutter with violent groans.
She closes her eyes, takes one last breath and holds it so she won't see or smell the fire and death.
The shark circles smoothly, the water sliding cleanly past it's strange skin. It's black eyes glimmer slightly, it swishes it's angled tail and makes a turnaround. Slowing in it's movements, it sees the floating object below refuses to move. A still mass of hair and other organic material. Is it awake or dead? (not that a hungry shark would care)
It's a dream perhaps. She refuses to let go of that breath she took. Maybe if she holds it long enough, the creature will disappear into her subconscious. Maybe the whole thing is a dream. If only she could wake up...
The water bubbles around her, and she realizes something has exploded in the water beside her. The gush of water scares away the shark, who glides away with several crisp swishes of its tail.
It's time to wake up.
She swims hard. There's not much breath left. Have to get to the surface. She breaks the water, gasping violently for air. It surges into her lungs with an awful burning sensation. Takes several more gasps for breathing to become normal again.
Where is she?
Steadying herself above water, she sees the chaos. A beach not so far away. Burnt bodies floating in the ocean. Wreckage of the flight sinking further away. Where's the rest of the plane? God, it's been split in half...
She paddles toward the shore, shedding her jacket along the way. Clambers up desperately onto the beach, grasping at handfuls of wet sand. She takes a breather. Everywhere, death, commotion, panic. The man she knew for all of 5 seconds, now running across the beach in a panic looking for someone. Doesn't know her anymore.
She looks up at the sky. It's blue and crisp, still filled with those big gorgeous clouds.