Nanowrimo Intro

  This again? I held my breath as she strode toward me, glancing around for some escape. I saw a door, but she’d seen me, so it was too late. Her eyes became like fire, their intensity boring into my soul. I was screaming in hell, those eyes flashing fire at me. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fire disappeared and I was eleven years old in my grandfather’s store, buying myself a stick of candy. The candy was always the same: blue with purple swirls, and I could almost taste the flavor of spun sugar. Then this too faded. Next there was Rosie; her smile sweet and steady, her laugh like music, and her face too beautiful to be real. She was running towards me, reaching out with both hands. I began to run, but my legs wouldn’t move fast enough. Just as her perfect, soft fingers reached out to meet my own, everything vanished again.

And in the blackness I could feel again the stabbing pain of a breaking heart.

  I woke, drenched in sweat, and shaking. Tears burned in my eyes. I was always disoriented after the dream, it always felt so real, and I usually took a few minutes to realize where I was. Tonight however, I was surprised to find myself not in my New York apartment on Mercer Street, but rather back in the humble cottage on Cannon Beach. It startled me to see the place again. It had been, at one time the best place on earth for me, now a bitter reminder of things I would rather forget. But this is where it began, and I knew if I ever wanted it to end I would have to blend the dream with reality, find those eyes, find that store and forget the girl who broke my heart.