Lucid Waking

Archive for January 5th, 2008

Pegasus

        He looked over the edge of the harbor into the blue black sea. The water warped into the shapes of animals and faces that he refused to recognize. The wind whipped his red hair from his face sending icy shrapnel into his bare skin. His hands were raw from the cold and he had long since lost feeling in his nose and ears. But the crinkle of the waves continued, so he must stand a little longer.
         “Hey, John,” his friends called back on shore. “John!”
         He pretended not to hear them. It was only a little bit longer before the moon would shine on that spot on the sea so close to the pier. And then…
         “John, let’s go,” Helen was at his shoulder, her mittened hand reaching for his.
         “It’s just a little longer, ” he said. “Almost.”
         Ice gently hit his neck and spread from the left to the right. He didn’t move.
         “See, my fingers are freezing.”
         “It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
         His watched beeped and he instinctually shut it off just as the water rose in a column from the moonlight on the water. Helen gasped beside him as a Pegasus of crystal water shot out from the darkness beneath it and made towards the shore. John held out his frozen hand and it came up to him, snorting softly.
         There was no other sound besides the crinkle of the waves and gentle slush of water as the Pegasus pawed at the water beneath its hooves. John shook the water off his hand and jumped on top of its back almost expertly.
         “Come on, Helen. Want to ride?”
         Helen stammered for a bit looking back and forth between their other friends shocked at the beginning of the pier and John.
         “Well,” she said throwing her hands down to her sides. “What the heck.”
         He held his hand out for her as she scrambled up behind him, practically pulling him off the horse in an effort to get balanced.
        “Ready?”
        She squeezed him around the middle practically as tight as she could and nodded.
        He squeezed the sides of the animal as gently as he could and instantly, they were up in the air above the sea and flying towards the moon.