The Eternal Dreams Trilogy (Most Imaginative Setting Winner 2012)

Chapter Four: All the Right Friends... (Part 2)

I trudged my way down the hill like a normal person and contemplated just how deep this depression in the land was. The distant mountains faded into the crest of the hill overhead and I saw less and less of the wondrous sky. Kanoa and Cora had stopped at the outskirt of the pond and waited for me to reach them.

“How should we get across?” Cora asked. “I really don’t want to get this dress wet.”

“Well I guess we could just walk across,” Kanoa responded.

“Uhm excuse me?” I barked as I reached them. “You want us to walk on water?”

“I don’t want you to do anything,” Kanoa said, taking a few step forward, looking down at his feet. He postured himself and raised his foot over the water. “This is the way I want to do things.”

With that, he lowered his foot tenderly onto the pond’s serene surface. Tiny ripples pulsated from the impact, but he did not pass through the water. He breathed excitedly and brought his other foot forward to meet the first. He was now standing atop water without any assistance. Cora and I looked at each other in utter disbelief. He was performing a miracle.

He continued to put one foot in front of the other until he was well on his way to the mouth of the cave. He turned to face us, a look of great accomplishment on his beaming face.

“Come on guys!” he exclaimed, “the water’s great!”

Cora and I both laughed at just how ridiculous the whole scene was becoming and at the thought of having to actually perform it. Cora looked over at me nervously.

“Well here goes nothing,” she stated.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her eyes remaining closed; she stepped up to the water and shakily brought her foot forward. Her foot pressed down, but stayed afloat. She leaned forward a few times, unsure if she had gone forward far enough. She then opened her eyes and realized what she was doing, which was met by a shriek of happiness. She quickly brought her other foot onto the water and began spinning around in circles like a ballerina on ice.

“See?” Kanoa shouted. “It’s easy! You just have to pretend like its solid ground and then it’s a piece of cake!”

I shook my head with frustration. It was much easier said than done for someone like me. Unlike Kanoa, and Cora too apparently, I couldn’t just forget all about what the world back home had taught me. I had been holding on to everything the real world had taught me from the moment I had gotten here. How was I supposed to just let go of things so deeply engrained into my life? We were not supposed to be able to walk on water.

“Yeah well unfortunately,” I said, slowly making my way up to the water’s edge, “I can’t pretend as well as you guys.”

I edged up to the glassy surface and hesitantly raised my foot. In my mind I placed my foot down and it soaked into the water, just like it would in real life. I tried to push the thought away, but it just kept on coming back. There was no shaking reality for me. I dropped my foot down and it plunged into the water, just as I knew it would.

I withdrew my drenched foot, embarrassed by my failure. I kicked at the surface in frustration, causing the entire pond’s surface to become rough and choppy. The once still surface grew wild and dangerous. Cora and Kanoa lost their balance and began to reel as the waves crashed around them. So my anger could create storms but my ambition couldn’t even let me walk. Perfect.

“Hey Kail, think you might want to turn down these waves a bit!” Kanoa shouted as a wave nearly swallowed him whole. After a few moments my aggravation levelled off and the waves followed suit.

“Sorry,” I grumbled. “I'm just a little pissed off is all. You guys go on and tell me what you find in there.”

Kanoa ran back towards me with an accepting smile. I knew he wasn’t going to let me give up that easily. If he was going into that cave, I was too. One way or another we were going to face it together.