Greetings Lovely Readers!
The idea for this story has sorta taken over my brain and if I didn't start writing it I was going to go crazy. This is a bigger AU then I've ever done before so it will be interesting to see what people think about it. And believe me its going to be very AU. Magic, Princesses, prophecies the whole deal!
Well anyway... On with the insanity! I always love reviews!
Enjoy :D
~Jump~
Looking down at the murky water Clara tries to remember what brought her to this truly idiotic moment.
Clara lives in a small village smack-dab on the cross roads of the middle-of-nowhere and you'll-never-see-civilization-again. It isn't like they live in the Stone Age or anything. But the internet is slow and since most of the town's residences are over 60 they elect not to bother with it at all.
Computers are Clara's thing. She can do anything on one, legal or no. By the time she was twelve Clara was the town's unofficial Geek Squad. If anyone has a technology problem they come to her.
Maybe that's one of the reasons she never really fit in. Not that she doesn't love her town, because she does. It's quaint and peaceful. And no one ever has to lock their doors. It's the perfect place to grow up. It's also a bit boring if Clara is being honest.
She wants to see London and New York and 101 other places. She wants to go dancing in Rome, hiking in Nepal. Have a scandalous affair with a Persian art student. Ok, maybe not that last one but still. Clara wants more than quaint and peaceful.
Her friends Nina and Sam are more than willing to help her out with this. Crazy shit tends to happen whenever they are together. They've been wreaking havoc and causing chaos since they were six. Clara would swear they never directly intend to create chaos. Well except that time they rewired the village's annual New Year's fireworks display. Though they really didn't mean to set the Johnson's barn on fire.
Today is just the icing on the cake of stupid stunts.
Clara is currently standing outside the railing of Broken Bridge holding on for dear life. The harsh October wind slaps her face and whips her dark hair. She stares down at the muddy water below imagining just how cold it will be.
This is all because of Sam and his bet. Two weeks' worth of tips from the dinner they both work at against her daring to jump. Clara really hates the idea but she couldn't back down now. He and Nina will never let her hear the end of it if she refuses the bet.
It isn't that the bridge iss even all that high; it's the fact that no one jumps Broken Bridge. Clara can't remember a single person in the entire history of their puny little town who even swam in the river. People just avoid it. Birds fly around it, animals steer clear of it. And here Clara is about to leap right in.
The bridge is old and built of weather beaten, moss covered boards. It looks much like any other old walking bridge. There is nothing about it which screams 'stay away' or 'woe to all depraved souls' or anything. It's just an ordinary bridge over an ordinary creek. None of that helps relive Clara's goose bumps or her pounding heart. The place doesn't look wrong but it feels wrong.
"Are you wimping out?" Nina calls from the relative safety of the wooden planks.
Clara turns to glare at her working to keep her balance on the thin ledge. "Shut up and get out your wallet!"
Taking one last deep breath she throws herself off the side.
With a scream of exhilaration Clara plunges downwards, cold air rushing past her face. The fall is so fast it hardly registers. One second she's in the air, the next she's breaking the surface. The icy water is like a knife in her chest, freezing the blood in her veins. The shock stops Clara's limbs and disorients her completely.
For a moment she hangs frozen in the water, her hair bellowing out around her in a halo. The slow current pulls at her clothes. She can't think. Her body won't move. Clara's lungs begin to burn, desperate for air.
Suddenly her brain snaps back into action as she starts to kick towards the surface. Only Clara doesn't know where the surface is anymore. Black in every direction, nothing but solid black. Clara begins to panic. She needs to breathe. Why can't she see anything? The creek isn't this deep.
Everything is growing fuzzy. Oxygen deprivation is setting in. Clara sinks slowly into the abyss. She forgets to struggle. She forgets to hold her breath. What an idiotic way to die.
Clara sinks deeper and deeper oblivious to the passage of time. Universes are born and die; the world turns, or does the clock mark only seconds?
It is all the same here.
Steadily the black begins to dissipate. Violet tented light opens up below Clara's body. The darkness of the water slowly fades in its wake. It's as if the sun is shining through the water below her. How's that possible? Is she drifting down or floating up?
Clara slips into the shadows of her own mind without an answer.