AN: Well hello there. Thank you so much to the three amazing reviewers I had! You just really brighten my day, and I really honestly appreciate it so much! A very big thanks to two of my best friends ever, Phoenix of the cupcakes, and my other BFF who doesn't have a penname on here. You know who you are! Anyways, so, I'm surprised this chapter turned out to be this long. I know it's not incredibly long, but I thought it'd just take up a tiny fraction of a page, and it ended up being much longer than expected. This originally was just going to be them going to the park where…stuff happens, but I decided that it needed more foreshadowing, and I put this dream sequence in here, only it took up the whole chapter, so I just made it its own chapter. I hope you like it! Enjoy!
I was all alone, in a dark room, with a single spotlight shining on my body. I was not conscious of anything. My mind was blank. Then, I felt something. It wasn't sudden. It was more like it was there the whole time, and now I just became aware that it was there.
I couldn't tell what it was at first. It was just an awareness of something inside of me. Slowly, that awareness grew, and became more of a realization. I realized that there was something inside me, and that I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. And yet, I almost could. Yes, I definitely could now. It was a…wanting? A yearning? No, it was more of a…an impulse. Yes! That's what it was. An impulse! An impulse to…grab? No. That definitely wasn't it. To stretch? Almost. To…to…to reach! That's what it was!
I was not fully aware that I had an impulse to reach. But to reach for what? No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't figure that out. While I was searching, the impulse grew stronger and stronger, and I then asked myself, "Why does it matter? Just reach!"
"But reach for what?"
"Reach out," another voice said, and although I was certain it was coming from within me, this voice was…different.
I followed its instructions anyways. I reached out with my arms, and reached out with my mind. I tried searching for something to grab onto, and my mind tried to grasp something. As I realized my arms were flailing into blank, dark space, I found that I only had to reach out with my mind. A voice in my head confirmed my suspicions and I dropped my arms into my lap, ready to try again. This time I tried to reach out with just my mind, but found my arms stretching out in front of me, nonetheless. I gave a mental shrug and just let my arms stray as they wished.
I focused on extending my mind, and found that there was something. Something to grab onto! I reached out, and saw that whatever I was reaching for was very…vague. As I got closer and closer to reaching it however, it became clearer and clearer. I kept reaching, and reaching, and just when I thought I was at my mind's limit, I grabbed it.
All of a sudden, there was a rush, and then a burst of energy as I felt something explode from within me.
Stunned by the sudden burst and flow of energy, I stayed there, frozen for a second, and then quickly recoiled.
"What was that?" I asked myself, breathless.
"That was good," the strange voice cooed to me. "You reached, and you succeeded. Now, reach out once more.
I followed the voice's orders and reached out once more, but I felt the burst of energy immediately this time, and recoiled in shock of the ease it came to me with. Then I realized that the energy wasn't hurting me. Determined to not draw back again, I braced myself and extended my mind's arms again, this time prepared for the burst of energy when it came.
I didn't retract my mind again, and although I flinched slightly, I let the energy move freely. It felt nice, this feeling. It was like something inside of me had been pent up for a hundred years and was now released and finally able to stretch freely.
"Yes, it does feel good, doesn't it?" the voice cooed to me.
I nodded my head slowly in agreement.
"Then reach further," it whispered urgently.
I focused my energy and instead of letting it wander, I focused it, and decided to see how far it could extend.
As the energy expanded, I realized it had a certain…feeling to it. The feeling was an experimental feeling, and almost a determined one, like it was determined to test its limits and to see how far it could reach.
It was exciting, this reaching out, and I enjoyed it. I reached further, and faster, and further, and faster, and further, and faster, and—"
Ouch! "What the..?"
I woke with a start as I pulled my hands back to my body. Apparently, I had hit my hands on the ceiling where it dips low right above where my bed lay.
I examined my hands and sucked on one throbbing middle finger while I assessed the damage to my other hand. My fingers had bent back in a funny way and one of my nails was broken, but there was no major damage, just probably some bruising later. Besides, the pain was ebbing away now and there was only a dull throbbing in my middle fingers, which had taken the hardest hit.
The door opened and Mom poked her head inside my room, looking to the left, and then to the right before asking, "Is everything all right in here? I thought I heard a banging noise."
I pulled my finger out of my mouth and wiped it on my sky-blue faux-silk pajamas. My mouth now unobstructed, I replied, "No, everything's fine, I just whacked my hands on the ceiling."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, it's nothing."
Her eyebrows were knit together in concern as she opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but decided against it and shut it again, with an almost comical clack. She turned around and walked away, calling over her shoulder and through the open door, "I'm making pancakes for breakfast. Come down and eat quickly and then we can leave early for the park."
"M'kay!" I called back as I rolled out of bed, careful not to hit my head like I did my hands. As I stood up, I noticed a strange feeling inside me that wasn't there before. It was almost a satisfied feeling, like I knew something I didn't know before.
I shook my head and ignored the odd sensation, and then pulled my pajama shirt over my head and tossed it into the corner. I walked over to my closet and opened the doors, ready to pick out an outfit for my special day with Mom.
AN: Okay, so, I hope you liked it! Please review, and all that jazz! I'd like to give a big thanks to all the people who reviewed so far! Your reviews really make me just want to keep writing and they really brighten my entire day. I'd also like to give a HUGE thank you to my three best friends in the whole wide world, Bre, Paige, and Anna! I'm so thankful for your support and advice and you guys really help me and inspire me! :) Have an amazing day, everyone!
