One day my parents took us to the beach, my sister and I. They all loved the beach; the sun, the water, the seagulls, the sand, the driftwood. They liked everything about the beach while I liked nothing at all. The sun always scorched my skin, the water smells like fish, and the gulls poop all over the sand.
I’ll admit that I did my share of complaining when they announced the trip. Okay, more than my share of complaining. I complained all morning and for a good portion of the ride there. I just don’t like the beach.
It’s not like they ever go anywhere I want. We never tromp through the forest or explore caves where nature is so much more natural. The beach is nothing but trash on the sand and fish carcasses.
It wasn’t a total loss, though. I mean, that’s where I found the blue rock and all.
It was the weirdest thing; I stood there at the shoreline, waves washing over my feet and ankles while I stared out at the distant horizon. I’ve always been sort of mesmerized by the vanishing point where the water and sky become one. A particularly large wave came in and knocked me off balance a little. I stopped myself from falling be re-adjusting my footing, but my foot landed on something warm, polished, and hard.
It freaked me out a little bit at first. I mean, you’d be freaked too if you everything in the water was cool and suddenly you stepped on something warm. I think you’d freak anyway. I freaked.
I moved my foot and looked down to see a brilliant blue stone that seemed to pulsate with light. I stared at it for a while not sure what it was and fighting the compelling urge to pick it up. After some mental deliberation I bent down and grabbed it. As soon as I touched it I was filled with a sense of peace.
It wasn’t a large stone, somewhere between a pebble and a rock, but its color was intense. It was a shade of blue I’d never seen but somehow it seemed like the color was named after the stone. It was the most captivatingly beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
Something told me not to show anyone else, so I slipped it into a pocket and kept my mouth shut about it. Through the fabric I could feel its warmth pulsating, comforting me.
I took it home with me and slept with it under my pillow. It whispered to me in the night, its voice weak but angelic. It told me things, things no one is supposed to know, things I dare not repeat. Secrets.
In my dreams the strange blue stone was fixed in the sky like a strange star, it’s light bathing me with peace and tranquility. As a star it sounded stronger. It spoke to me from above, telling me the secrets that I needed to know so that I could do what needed done. It told me I was chosen, that I hadn’t found it at all but the other way around.
When I woke the next morning I was filled with an inner calm that I had never before experienced. There was no anger, no suppressed frustration, and no animosity. I was alive, so very alive. It was like chugging volumes of coffee but without the jitters or the hyperactivity. Okay, maybe not so much like coffee. I guess it’s kind of hard to explain. I was awake but completely calm, like one of those Zen heads, fully at peace with everything.
I left for my walk to school the same as I did every morning except that I didn’t walk to school at all. I had another destination. Though my feet did the walking, the warm blue stone in my pocked guided me.
I soon entered a local park that was seldom used. I’d only visited the place once or twice in my youth. Behind the rusted swing sets and see-saws was a patch of wood. I remembered little about the park, but I remembered this thick bit of wood quite vividly.
Something was off about the woods, there was an eminent sense of foreboding about the place. I realized that there was a presence somewhere within the cluster of trees, an evil presence. Undoubtedly this was the reason the park was so seldom used, the chill from bad trees did not make for a comfortable place to play.
The stone tried to comfort me with warmth, but I didn’t want to go in there. I wouldn’t say I was scared, necessarily, just... Okay, I was scared. Maybe terrified is a better word for it. This was no ordinary patch of trees, mind you. Something evil was lurking in their shade.
You must move forward, the stone urged me. Put away your childish fears, this must be done. I will guide you, I will protect you. There was something in its voice now that I hadn’t heard before, a sense of urgency that bordered on panic.
Despite my best judgment, I moved my feet forward and reluctantly stepped into the cluster of trees. Their shade engulfed me like the night. Outside this little grove it was daylight, but within it was the darkest of midnights. The sound from the park outside was swallowed by silence within.
The blue stone lead me to the very heart of the wood where the trees became twisted and ugly and the only sounds were the chilling echoes of my footsteps and the beat of my heart. A cold sweat lathered my skin and my breath came in short and shallow. My legs were weak, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and I my stomach had that weightless feeling that it gets when mom drives fast over the dips in the road. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement.
I tripped over a root and landed hard on the ground, my face landing mere inches from something cold. A dark glow pulsated from a black stone. Against all instincts I reached out for it and took it in my hand.
The pain was intense and immediate. I wasn’t even aware that I had been screaming until my voice had given out and my breath was coming hard. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the dark sky, still clutching the stone in my hand. The pain was sharp and piercing and cold, like being stabbed in a hundred places by a hundred ice cycles. It was a constant steady pain. Soon it became too much for me and I found myself slipping into unconscious.
It spoke to me, told me things; terrible things, things I never wanted to know, things I dare not repeat. Secrets.