Niva looked up at the bright blue sky and watched the wisps of cotton candy clouds swim over her head. She closed her eyes and inhaled as slowly as she possibly could. The ocean air was thick with salt and felt as if it deep cleaned the insides of her lungs. She could smell the rays of the sun as they blanketed everything in an intensely charged heat. When the waves thundered against the sand, the vast power of the ocean filled her heart with a love so profound, she felt as if she would burst. The playful winds simultaneously smoothed and tousled her raven black hair as she sat and gazed at Lyon pouncing in the surf.

She knew his joy. It was quite exhilarating to feel powerless yet protected by the strength of the water. When there was a calm between the waves, she saw him look toward her and smile. He motioned for her to join him just as another surge rose above his head and pounded him down.

It seemed as if Lyon was under the water for a longer time than normal as Niva peered out at the glittering surface of the ocean. She rose from the warm shifting ground and glided down to the wet sands. The cooler than usual water flowed between her toes and caressed her feet enticing her to venture further out. She walked toward where she had last seen Lyon and dove into an oncoming wave.

The second she was under the water, she felt refreshed and invigorated. It always felt comfortable, like returning to where she belonged. Yet, something did not belong. Her eyes now open, she searched for Lyon and couldn't see him. A hint of panic danced across her mind. It's not possible for him to hide anywhere in these clear waters.

~~~

Those waves easily reminded Lyon just how little control he had in the ocean. While submerged in the crisp, clear, blue-green water, he felt connected to the ancient peoples and animals that had all enjoyed this same ocean at some point in time. The sand swirled in the waves and scrubbed his skin with little bits of stone, coral, bone, and shell. Only Niva’s presence could make this moment more perfect.

As the surf crashed over his head, Lyon quickly realized something was wrong. The sand was moving through the water with purpose, as if all those tiny grains were on a mission. The water began to thicken and darken as they swirled and swam quickly encircling him like predators about to feast on their helpless prey. His lungs were on fire and no matter how hard he tried, there was no relief, no surface to break for air. He attempted to get his footing and stand up but the ocean floor wasn't where it should be.

Confused yet determined, Lyon flipped around in all different directions reaching out with his toes for any sign of solid ground. Nothing. All of a sudden the underwater sandstorm relented and he could finally open his eyes to take in the silent deep dark blackness that surrounded him. Then he saw a glimmer of light and immediately began to swim with all his strength to reach that glow. Light had to mean surface and surface meant air to relieve the sharp pain that had grown intolerable within his lungs.

Must make it... will not drown... the words struggled free from Lyon's conscious mind as it was barely holding on through the lack of oxygen. The long swim to the surface seemed like miles of a dark tunnel. Is this it? Is this the light he is supposed to go toward? His thoughts turned to Niva and he didn't want to go. Maybe if he sank back down into the darkness things would make sense and she would be right there, smiling with those big beautiful brown eyes. The painful pounding in his head made him snap back to the task at hand. Swimming. The moment he surfaced, he began gasping to breathe. He sputtered and choked, eyes spinning wildly trying to get his bearings. The sky was too bright and the water too black, Lyon had no idea what was happening but after he coughed up what seemed like gallons of water he began to frantically search for land.

Suddenly bubbles began to appear near him. The gurgling sounds were like a rumbling volcano in the deathly silence around him. His head was screaming and now icy cold fear gripped his heart. The burning exhaustion in his muscles was now a distant memory as he began to move away from the bubbles. Something was coming up. He couldn't even start to hypothesize about what horrible creature was about to introduce itself because his brain was still recovering from the unfamiliar surroundings and near death experience that were now feeling like distant memories. All Lyon could do was watch as the bubbles came in a steady stream from the eerie opaque depths.

~~~

The water felt electric and Niva swore the temperature was dropping noticeably. She continued searching for Lyon ignoring the chatter in her head telling her he had been swept out in a current and was not coming back. No, unacceptable, she thought, closing her eyes tightly to push the insistent anxious chatter to the back of her mind. Everything seemed to grow quieter and she felt a strange wave of uneasiness. Niva began to feel the need for another breath so she opened her eyes.

She let out a yelp as she was no longer in the beautiful sunny waters of the Pacific. Everything around her was a shade of black that seemed almost impossible. The sea floor was missing and a strange glow from above was all the hope she saw.

Niva surfaced with a fit of coughing. When she was finally able to breathe well enough, she started to take in her surroundings with unbelieving eyes. Ignoring the torturous pain that encompassed her, she began with great effort to scan the horizon and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Gloomy black water that looked as if it could swallow her whole was looming within her entire range of vision, contrasted only by that unsettling yet curious bright gray sky. It looked as if had dents or pock marks in it. It had an ethereal glow about it and was almost comforting... almost. The stillness of the water and silence in the air were unnerving. Then she realized she wasn't alone. With trepidation she slowly turned around half expecting to see death's outstretched hand.

"Lyon?", she whispered hoarsely with the voice of someone who just escaped a near drowning.

He didn't know whether to feel relief or dismay at seeing her again since he wasn't quite sure yet if he was alive or dead. Then the questions began to pour into his aching brain. Where are we? What's happening? When? Why? How? Is she? Am I? Don't... Wait... He was losing the cohesiveness of his thoughts and shook his head as if trying to force all the words back into order or clear them out altogether. His focus came back to Niva.

"Are we...", Lyon raspily trailed off, not wanting to finish his thought aloud.

Niva merely stared at him with wide eyes. She managed to shrug her shoulders, not wanting to think about this possibility. It didn't feel like death but then again, what does death actually feel like. Noticing a sting in her palms, she looked at them and realized she was squeezing her hands into fists with such force that her fingernails broke the skin. She was bleeding.

Holding her hands up to Lyon so he could see the evidence, they sighed with relief at the fact that they were still alive. Just then their current predicament hit them with great force. They were alive, in the middle of a large dark body of water, at an unknown location, and Niva was bleeding. Frantically they began to spin around searching for any sign of land. Simultaneously they stopped turning and were frozen, staring with gaping mouths.

Where the moon, or sun for that matter, should be was a glowing orange looking ball. It was quite larger than either the moon or sun that they were familiar with and the surface looked like it was moving. Even more incredulous were the golden rod-like things that connected their current horizon to this orb and then disappeared into the fuzzy grayness of the sky beyond. Interestingly enough, these golden rods were of an importance that neither will understand until much later. As their eyes began to adjust to the mysterious light of their new surroundings, a red tinted solid mass was not to far ahead. Land.

Their stunned disbelief was shattered by a large splash that was too close for comfort. Oh no. The blood. Niva's mind firmly grasped the conclusion that they were bait. No telling what unearthly creature was planning on making them a snack.

"Swim!", she managed to squeak through her tight uncooperative throat.

In an instant, they were fiercely heading toward the area of shore spotted moments earlier. Lyon's powerful legs drove his upper body almost completely out of the water. Niva's sleek, strong stature allowed her to glide toward the land in an effortless yet determined fashion. Neither of them had ever swam this fast before. It was almost inhuman. They tripped out of the water and onto the ground, chests heaving with exertion they immediately collapsed into two dazed exhausted piles. Too weary and drained to notice the sullen splash merely three feet away from the shoreline, they didn't fall asleep so much as pass out.

Being a hardware heiress wasn’t exactly what Shira dreamed of as a child. As she lay in bed listening to her morning alarm, she felt even more trapped than she did by that sweaty, heavy, alcohol-drenched mass she only half remembered. She shivered and shook off distant yet not dissipated memories.

As she sat up, she eyed the orange apron of her work uniform with such fierce hate that she was surprised it didn’t spontaneously combust. If only she had the power to do such a feat all those years ago. She smirked as she imagined that strange man bursting into flames and screaming. She buried her face in her hands feeling frustrated and confused. Why did she even stick around?

Over the course of her young life, she envisioned the many ways she left her situation. She saw herself living someone else’s life full of laughter and joy. Often inspired by true stories of strangers escaping, she imagined herself somewhere so far away she’d never be found and become a stranger herself.

Shira drifted into a daydream of having Tommy Macpherson’s resolve. He escaped from a Nazi prisoner of war camp after two years of torture and then escaped again after the Gestapo recaptured him. Although she knew she needed Juliane Koepcke’s courage to even begin her journey to a new life where she could feel some level of safety and comfort.

Courage.

That seemed to be the missing ingredient. She felt strong and capable while envisioning others escaping and surviving, but when she looked around at her world, she felt small and unable. She scoffed as she looked around her ostentatious penthouse apartment which was overflowing with every material thing a woman could want. When Shira heard her chef in the kitchen making her breakfast, she cringed.

It’s time.

She couldn’t take it any longer.

Her thoughts drifted with sad fondness to her three sisters and all the strange paths they took to try to shake the weight of that midnight visit during their childhood. Ali took that sexual deviance and made it hers by becoming a Playboy bunny. On the outside she had it all but Shira knew that Ali cried herself to sleep every night.

Cari became an elementary school teacher and tried to help as many young children as possible. While this seems to be a noble profession, she was really only trying to save herself, over and over again.

Rily never made it out of high school. She escaped by overdosing when she learned she was pregnant. Shira knew that Rily was probably the happiest of them all.

Not anymore.

Shira threw her orange apron into the stainless steel trashcan. Then she lit that most heinous symbol of her father and his strange visitor on fire.  She grabbed her go-bag which had clothes and cash in it.   As she walked out the door of her tortured and privileged life, she began to laugh at the thought of how strangers both destroyed and saved her life.

All we did was pick flowers. Them girls was my friends. I never hurt nobody. Those police yell at me. They slap me. Tol’ me I can go home. I just say I did it. Momma made my favorite dinner. I just wan’ go home.

But they lied. Put me in a cold room. I almos’ fit through them bars. I dream I running to momma. She hug me and take me home. Then I wake up and cry. It’s sad here. Everybody's goin' to die. 

I miss my friends. Ain't nobody else 14 in here. I just wan’ pick flowers.