Speio

Chapter One [Not Edited]

Speio.

Golden rays danced across my fingertips as I reached toward the sky. The sun was going to set soon but still made it's way through the opening of sequoia leaves high above me.  I felt light as a lily pad, letting the pond hold me up and absorb me as if I were nothing but the water itself.  I closed my eyes and let myself completely succumb to nature.

I felt a small breeze graze my collarbones and  then my name being called softly. I opened my eyes and rolled over to find my friend Pirene sitting on the edge of the pond in a patch of grass so long I could barely see him. When he noticed that he had finally caught my attention he chirped in appreciation. "Speio! I've been searching for you for goodness knows how long! I'm in need of your assistance! Oh please Speio you always give the best advice."
   
"What is it Pi?" I asked as I lifted myself up from the cool water and into the humid air. The little sparrow always seemed to be troubled about something but I didn't mind helping him.
   
"Well that's the thing you see," he fluttered his wings until he was at eye level with me, "I'm not really sure what it is."
   
"Well where is it?" I asked as I wrung out my thick hair and stepped onto the bank, loving the way the mud tickled between my toes.
   
"Just over the valley," I followed him as he started towards the West. "I'm telling you Speio, it's like nothing I've ever seen before."
   
Curiosity raced through my veins as we ascended the hill. With Pirene looping through the trees next to me I raced across the forest floor as silent and gracefully as a fox. The sun was steadily sinking but Pi and I didn't stop. Soon we reached the peak of the hill and began our descent. It was harder to move as swiftly while going downhill but we eventually made it to the bottom of the hill and what we found made my heart stop.

Pi was right. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The forest cut short and just beyond it was a smooth black surface. It was not very wide, but stretched for what looked like forever. I crouched down low and hovered a shaky hand just above it. Slowly I lowered my hand until it made contact with the surface. I cringed and took my hand away. It felt devoid of life, like a hollow log of a dead tree. No, even a dead tree was living at one point, this thing -whatever it was- was more like a rock. Completely separate from any life.  But it didn't look like any rock I had seen before. And besides, rocks don't just show up one day out of the blue, they take time to form.

    "Well," Pirene reminded me I wasn't alone, "do you think it was them?"

    Them. The humans. A chill ran through my bones. I had never even met one before but from what I have heard around the forest I should not be sad about that. "I hope not."

Pi gave me a worried look and glanced at the sky, "Oh my, it's already past dusk. Speio we should be leaving, we can figure out what this all means tomorrow."

"You go ahead," I tell him, "I want to stay for a time longer."

Soon Pirene was gone and it was only me, staring down the dark never ending path, wondering what it might lead to.

Awe filled me when two stars appeared along the horizon, I wondered what they could be doing so close to the ground and why they seemed to be getting larger as time passed. I stepped onto the strange black ground and took a step toward them. It was puzzling to me how they seemed to be coming closer and closer, but not before long I understand why. The lights are not stars at all, in fact they seemed to be attached to some sort of fast moving object.

Some sort of fast moving object that's hurtling straight towards me.

Zac.
    The music was too loud and my head hurt like crazy. I pushed through the crowds not caring who might be harmed in the process. It's not like they would remember in the morning anyways. The stench of alcohol burned my nose and did no favors to my raging migraine.

    When I finally found Tim I brought my hands up to my face and massaged my temples. He was on a couch with some guy he had probably never met straddling him. I walked up to them and slid onto the couch with my hands still covering my face. "Tim we need to go."

    Tim finally broke away from the lip lock session and turned his gaze to me. He looked disheveled and confused and when he opened his mouth to talk to me his voice reeked of beer and schnapps, classy. "Oh hey man, how long have you been there?" he asked with a crooked smile.

    The other dude was still trailing his lips down Tim's neck but I didn't pay any attention to him, "I need to go Tim, where are your car keys?"

    He rolled his eyes and laughed at me, "typical Zac, always leaving before the party actually gets good. You know I bet Jenny would-"

    "Jenny broke up with me," his smile fell.

    "Ah shit man, I'm sorry. I'll get you my keys right now." He somehow managed to fish them out from under him without moving the grown boy sitting on top of him. He placed them in my hands and gave me a concerned look, "you sure you don't want me to leave with you?"

    I curled my fingers around the cool metal, "yeah, I'll be fine."

   
    Relief flooded through me when a cool breeze of fresh air hit my face. With the stuffy beach house behind me I sighed and trudged to Tim's Jeep parked a good quarter mile down the street. The music was still loud outside but at least it was muffled. I finally had enough space to think.

    I hopped into the driver's seat when I reached the car and turned on the engine while my mind raced with all the events of the night: Jenny meeting me at the party, Jenny telling me she had met someone else, Jenny crying, Jenny leaving.

    I took a deep breath and pulled onto the road and let all of my stress flow from my body into the gas pedal. The wind ripped through my hair and my speedometer read a number way over 40 but I didn't care. I kept going gaining more and more speed, gliding across the newly paved asphalt as if there was nothing under me.

    The bright moon shining down on the tall sequoias separating me from the rest of the world relaxed me and soon my mind was blank. I was nothing but a piece of metal flying down the road.

    But soon that all comes crashing down because suddenly I see her. Her pale bare skin and long golden hair reflected in my headlights.

    So I swerved.

    My hands fight with the steering wheel to get it back in line while my foot comes off the gas. Once I was nice and straight I pushed the down on the brake hard, hearing my tires screech, and jump out the car. I run back to where the girl was standing and find her curled in a ball right next to the trees and she's shaking. She lifted her head and stared at me with the brightest green eyes I'd ever seen. With the shock of nearly hitting her, I almost didn't realize that she was completely naked and I almost didn't realize that she was probably the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen in my life.

    Almost.