always and forever

⎡ 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 ⎦

    Today would be the day I realised waking up was not as lovely as it used to be. Waking up was no longer the pleasure it was. The atmosphere seemed to crackle the way it did in a storm before lightning hit although I didn't really understand why. 

   I sighed, running my fingers through my blonde curls, trying to tame them. I suddenly panicked, stumbling to the little mirror on the wall, worried that my makeup made me look like a panda since I had slept in it. Not that pandas were the worst thing I could ever look like I mused on the way to the mirror.

    However, my makeup had all been removed. There were probably at least eleven thoughts running through my head before I saw the stack of disposed makeup wipes sitting in the bin. I looked fondly at Bryn and Nick. I was really so very lucky to have friends like them. 

    I looked at Bryn who seemed content on a pull-out chair. I brought the blanket up slowly so she wouldn't wake and she stirred before turning on her side and falling back to sleep. I shot a quick glance at Nick seeing as this would probably be the only time where I could look at him without blushing like a tomato. I regretted it slightly as I looked. He was so handsome as he slept, that steady heart, those steady breaths, which was more than enough to make me fall in love with him all over again. Damn it. His heart thumped in accordance with slow, shallow breaths. Serenity was plastered across his face as he slept. At peace, his consciousness swirled in the land of dreams, oblivious to the physical world.

    I slapped myself across the face, pulling out a fresh change of clothes out of my bag and bringing a hygiene kit with me from the little bowl by the door. Pale sunlight peeked through the scattered windows that hadn't been closed and I blinked hazily. The sun peeked through the cracks in the blinds and awaited entrance into my eyes. Sight still in the clutches of the night's glue, I hesitantly rubbed the dreams away. Thoughts of the visions in sleep come and go in waves, clinging on to the very last memory of the night but with little success. I forced myself to leave before the others woke. 

   We must have taken off while I was sleeping, I yawned, glancing at the little map of where we were in the world. We seemed to be just over halfway. I paused at the door, looking back at two people who had made me feel more alive today than I had in the last seven years. They looked so peaceful sleeping and my heart fluttered as my eyes ran over Nick's sleeping silhouette. Those two would need all the rest they could get. We still had another three hours before we landed so with that, I walked out, materials in hand.

    I walked into the bathroom at the end of the hall and gasped. The bathroom had an earthy feel. The walls were large format tiles of white honed travertine and the floor was made of dull brown tiles. The vanities were of a dark wood and the counters were a brilliant white quartz. There was no bath but instead a huge walk in shower with two shower heads. I suddenly wished Bryn was here; I had at least nine comments I wanted to say about how this bathroom was prettier and swankier than I would ever be. 

    I walked leisurely to the shower, steam filling the room as I cut the shower on. I bathed my skin lightly. The water poured down. I watched it drip by my side. As my mind fades into dullness and everything is a foggy illusion. The sensation of the steamy water calmed me; it took my mind off things. All the things I honestly don't care about. It's the water. My mind swirled, and it's like I'm standing under an everlasting waterfall. Ever so beautiful, but it can never last, I know that now.

    A loud and incessant beeping sounded from the room and I almost fell in the haste to get out of the shower. I spat out a string of courses as the beeping quietened. It reminded me of my stupidly annoying alarm clock that I really needed to get rid of.