Free Descended by Debra Miller

sound of the waves crashing against the base of the cliff with the lyrics of Evanescence still echoing in her head. “Gabriel,” she called out to her friend. “Are you here?” She waited for him to show himself. The darkness had followed her here to this place and began to slowly cover the bright sky like a shadowy blanket. Violet felt the push of the wind sending her closer to the edge of the cliff as she tried to keep her balance. Then the wind stopped. It stood calm and still for just a brief moment.  Violet could breathe.
    Suddenly, a vibration began to erupt below her bare feet planted firmly on the ledge. Pebbles started to break off and drop to the roaring waters below. The pebbles turned to rocks and then a monstrous boulder tumbled like thunder, shattering into pieces as it hit the ground. Violet began to panic.  She tried to run but she couldn’t move. It was like her feet were cemented to the edge of the cliff. All at once, the cliff began to move downward, fast like the speed of a train plowing down the tracks. Violet was falling fast and the song still played in her head. She didn’t know what was happening. All she knew was she couldn’t make it stop. Just before she was going to hit the bottom, she saw a face, his face, Carter Stone. He reached out his hand and Violet tried to grab it, but she couldn’t reach him. He was right there, so close, she could almost touch the tips of his fingers, but her feet still glued in place wouldn’t allow her arm to stretch far enough to reach him.
    “Vie,” he called to her. “Take my hand.”
    She kept trying, stretching, reaching out and then…CRASH!
    Violet hit the floor hard in her hospital room with her eyes wide open in shock. She stood up immediately and looked quickly around the room in her defense stance ready to combat the enemy. There was nothing there with her, only the darkness in the room and the song that continued to play. “Wake me up, I can’t wake up.” She pulled the earphones from her ears, shaken and confused. She turned on the light and checked her body for injuries.
    “I must have been dreaming. But it was so real; he was so real,” she said out loud. Violet was clearly trying to figure out what it all meant. This sleep thing is definitely overrated and offers no kind of rest at all. “Did I teleport?” she wondered. Guardians have the ability to teleport themselves to different places here on earth, but Violet did not possess that ability thus far. Gabriel told her that it was because she was still young and had not fully matured, but assured her it would happen. “That must be it,” she thought. I must be able to teleport. I am almost fully matured so that would make sense. She decided to test her theory and tried to teleport herself into the hallway, but nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing. Violet was depressed she couldn’t teleport because that meant it was a dream, a nightmare.  One she was not going to revisit again anytime soon. Sleep would just have to wait.
    Still bothered by her dream, she walked over to the window and looked up to the moon that had cast a beautiful silhouette in the room. The sky was perfectly clear and Violet just breathed a sigh of relief as she gazed at the millions of stars twinkling in the night sky. “Perfection,” she thought, smiling at the glimmering clusters, “Pure and utter perfection.  Now that’s not so frightening!”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
    At First Sight
     
    It was the longest day ever. Summer was almost over and I had spent the better part of it in the hospital, at weekly visits with my therapist, and acclimating to my new home with Henry in Newcastle. School was starting tomorrow and I was feeling a little anxious, yet excited to finally be getting this mission underway. Things at home were going fine, with the exception of the hundreds of people