She looked around at the brightly colored leaves that blanketed the ground. They were in an array of so many bright, shining colors. There were reds and yellows and every shade that could be made in between the two.
She stepped on some of them and heard the crunch they made beneath her feet. They covered almost every inch of the park, the trees, the benches, the ground… She found herself fascinated at the beauty of it all.
On the horizon the sun set, making the leaves shine as if they had come down from heaven. They were dancing across the grass, flying in the air… The leaves were doing the dance of Autumn.
They twisted and twirled in the sun's fading light, dancing as if it was their last day to live. They were skimming the top of the pavement to feel how smooth the cement was, to compare it to the hot day cement that warmed their souls.
She felt a small hand touch hers and she turned her head to look at the source. As her head turned the sun disappeared and the leaves fell still. "I wanna go home," whispered the voice.
"I know," she said as she took the small girl's hand. "So do I." They turned and left the leaves to their night sleep. The colors were gone, and the beauty was no more. Silently they walked home, hoping that the leaves would dance again tomorrow.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
Soft angels fell around him in the form of snow. Each little piece was so small, but held so much feeling. They were all so alike, and yet completely different at the same time. It puzzled him to think about this.
So he didn't; he didn't think about each piece as an individual, but as a whole. Sure, it came down in small bits and fragments, but when it stopped falling you wouldn't be able to tell one piece from another.
The light from the ground was bright, as if God himself was shining a light on it. It seemed to sparkle and glow in the sunset. He knew that soon, however, it would be dark and the snow would feel as cold as a Cardassians heart.
He watched as the snow swerved in all directions and fell to the ground to sacrifice its freedom. Each little piece eventually joined the link at one point in their short lives. The snow seemed content in knowing that it would never fall again, but would be melted into the ground to disappear forever.
Slowly the sun closed its eyes and moved on the bring light to someone else. Slowly the snow grew dull and emotionless in the dark. Slowly he turned and walked back into the house.
He heard the soft sound of the snow being pushed toward the ground as his feet stepped onto it. His footsteps burned into the ground to forever be memorized by the snow.
He looked back one more time to see the soft, yet cold object. Soft, yet cold, he though. That described him perfectly. He was strong on the outside, and many people thought of him as distant. But, what nobody knew was that he had just as much feeling as anyone else.
In a way, he was just like the snow. He was strong and cold, but when he was stepped on he cracked under the pressure. He had his moments in the shining light, but the light always had to move on. He turned his back to the snow for the final time before he opened the door and left the snow to be alone in the dark night sky.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
She felt the cool water rushing up towards her ankles. It went up to her, but always pulled back before it got very far. The water wanted her to come join, but she knew that she couldn't.
The wet sand stuck to the bottom of her feet as the walked along the waters edge. The little girl in front of her was hoping around, making foot prints in the wet sand.
She was careful to avoid stepping on the foot prints because it was the waters job to whisk them away to a fantasy world that was not on land. As the small girls foot prints were washed away she stopped and looked out to the sun.
It was shining over the water, making it look clear and still. The refection of the sun in the water reminded her of her own reflection.
What other people saw was a beautiful woman, but to her, all she saw was a normal lady. That's what the sun was like. She thought it was the most beautiful thing, but all the sun would see was it's refection in the water; a wavering imitation of itself.
She looked down at her own reflection and noticed that the young girl had joined her. She took the girls hand and placed it in the sand. She placed her own hand next to it. The wet sand felt slimy against her skin. She pulled her hand up and the girl did the same.
Their hand marks were in the sand next to each others. She looked at the curves of the girl's hand. Her hand was small, but strong, just like she was. Still, there was something missing…
She decided not to think about it, but instead took the girls real hand and walked away from the beach. Behind her the sun set and the hand marks were washed away into the magical underwater world.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
He looked out the window of the shuttle craft. The white clouds were surrounding the small vehicle. He couldn't see too much of the sky, but what he could see was enough to let him know that a storm was on the way.
They sky was growing dark, and was contaminating the clouds with its disease. The white clouds grew sickly and gray. The sky looked like it was sick, and there was nothing he could do about it.
A clap of thunder told him that the storm was near. It was a loud, deafening sound that made him want to cover his ears, but he didn't. He deserved the pain that shot through his head as more claps were heard. Like tiny hammers were pounding on his skull, trying to get to his brain; he forced his eyes to look out of the window.
A spark of lightning appeared; it was a bright, vibrant blue. The sound was like a thousand whips being snapped at once. More and more shocks of lightning came; each one more deadly then the last. They were so bright against the dark sky that he had to close his eyes and turn his head to the floor.
He felt safer now that he couldn't see the destruction going on outside the window. He felt even better when he felt the shuttle heading down for a landing. He could feel the shuttle dipping its head to say hello. He risked a peek out the window.
The shuttle wasn't landing, it was crashing. He saw the Earth coming closer and closer towards him, and the storm was heading farther and farther behind him.
The planet was rushing forward. It was all coming so fast, so close. He shut his eyes and prepared for the pain as the small shuttle made contact with the planet.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
As soon as she got the commlink she hurried out of the door. She hadn't bothered to even shut it, but she ran out into the storm towards her shuttlecraft. She was only in a bright blue t-shirt and black jeans, but she didn't need anything else.
Her feet were bare, and the cool cement felt hard against them. The ground was slippery, and she almost tripped before she typed in the access code on the small panel. It had been a quick run, but she was soaked from head to toe. The cold was trying to slow her down, but she refused to let it.
As she powered up the shuttle she looked out the window. The world outside was dark and cold; it was trying to bring her down; stop her from completing her mission. She turned back around to face the controls; if she couldn't see outside then it couldn't bring her down.
The shuttle craft rose into the air she shot off to her destination. She was at top speed and other crafts were flying around her to get out of her way. Like a video game where everything was coming at you.
She could almost feel the gravity pulling her to the back of the ship, and if it wasn't for the inertial dampeners, she would have been turned into chunky salsa on the back wall.
She saw the other crafts trying to turn in response to her reckless driving, but she could care less. If they didn't like her driving they could take it up with the law, but she could deal with that later.
She looked on her GPS and saw that her destination was around the next corner. Her shuttle took a sharp turn to the right and crashed into another shuttle.
There was an on-contact explosion and pieces of metal went flying everywhere. She was automatically killed in the collision, and she never even got to say goodbye to that little girl she left at home.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
She heard the footsteps in the hallway. They were trying to be quite but they weren't quiet enough. Her head perked up at the sound. She had been sitting in her bed, trying to color a picture for her mother.
She looked back down at the picture. There were three people in the picture; one was her mother, one was her, and one was the mysterious figure that was supposed to be her father.
She popped her head back up as the door opened. It creaked a little, but that was normal. One dark boot stepped into the room, followed by another. "Hello," said a cold voice. She couldn't see his face, but she didn't think she wanted to. "Do you know where I may find you mother?"
She could see his face clearly now. He looked kind of like a snake, and had cold eyes. He had lots of things that looked different from her and her mother. He had a weird indent on his forehead that was shaped almost like a spoon and these lines that stuck outwards on his face. The little girl just shook her head.
He walked up to her and stood next to the small girl. She could sense bad energy coming off of him, but she stayed still next to the evil man. "Did you draw that?" he asked, referring to the picture. She nodded slowly and he put his hand on her shoulder.
She turned her head slightly to look at him, but he would not have noticed because of the dark red hair that was blocking her blue eyes. She inclined her head downward and bit him.
"Ow! You little brat!" he screamed and grabbed her by the throat. He pushed her back against the wall. She felt his cold hands pressing against her throat. It was hard for her to breath; she could feel that the air couldn't come up. "Tell me where your mother is."
She gasped a couple of times, taking a breath in, but she was unable to get one out. It felt like his cold hand was slowly sucking the life out of her. Her face was twisted in an expression of terror and she was frozen with fear.
"You will tell me where your mother is or I will be forced to kill you. You are really putting this upon yourself," he said as he pulled out a dagger. "You better tell me within the next couple of seconds, or your life will come to an end."
She still didn't move or even try to talk. She couldn't. She was frozen, she was still alive, but her brain couldn't send anything to the rest of her body. It had run out of oxygen. "Fine," he said in that cold voice of his. "Be that way."
He plunged the knife into her stomach. She could feel the coolness of the knife as it sliced her skin. But, it was, however, the last thing she felt. The man let go of her throat and she dropped onto the bed, lifeless.
Her body had been dead for a few seconds before it turned to ashes. Right there, in front of the evil man, her body let go of life and turned into the last pieces of the girl.
The man was frozen, a look of shock and horror was plastered on his face as he saw he now. He quickly shook it off and back out of the door, never to be seen again.
The picture that remained on the bed was covered with ashes and the people in the picture, like in real life, were no longer there.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
Their friends were gathered around the tomb stones. Three of them stood side by side as if protecting each other. The words on the stones read from left to right:
Kira Nerys
2343- 2384
Daughter of Kira Taban and Kira Meru
Sister of Kira Reon and Kira Pohl
Wife of Odo Ital
Mother of Kira Merailia
Died in shuttle craft accident
She will be missed; may the Prophets guide her
Kira Merailia
2376-2384
Daughter of Odo Ital and Kira Nerys
Murdered by Gull Dukat
A young spirit; full of life; may she walk with the Prophets
Odo Ital
2342-2348
Son of - ? (Dr. Mora Pol)
Part of the Great Link
Husband of Kira Nerys
Father of Kira Merailia
Died in a shuttle craft crash
One of a kind who found true love; may the Prophets treat lead him.
The three people looked down upon their friends who were crying at their graves. They may be sad now, but eventually they would all be together again. The three of them danced and played in the clouds, shining light on those who needed it.
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
Fin…