At least there was no pain, she supposed. That was something. And the ground was soft beneath her.
Funny – it feels like the grass from earlier.
Maybe shewasdying, right there in the clearing.
There were worse places to die, she supposed. And itwasremarkably serene, apart from the way that her heart was currently pounding like crazy.
If only she could see the trees and the summer sky one more time, then she could go… well, nothappily, butpeacefully, at least. Regret still clawed at her about the idea of leaving Ash and Bella and Calvin, but if it was her time, then it was her time.
Just one last glimpse before I go. I hope Calvin isn’t too upset. He only met me yesterday – I hope he can move on at some point.
She opened her eyes – before remembering that they were already open.
It was dark.
Am I blind? Is my body shutting down?
She squinted, lowering her arms from where they were raised protectively above her head so that she could rub at her eyes.
Slowly they adjusted, and she was able to make out light coming in faintly from around her – almost as if it was coming through a curtain.
What is going on?!
A very un-serene irritation was starting to creep in at the corners of her mind. It grew in size as she realized that she was sitting, rather than being laid out flat by an enormous tree branch.
Why am I sitting if I’m dead??
She clambered to her hands and knees, marveling that her body still seemed to be fully functioning and obeying her commands.
Diana’s eyes had now fully adjusted, and she could see that she was enclosed in what was apparently an enormous green dome. An enormous green dome that appeared to bebreathing.
Ridiculous, she huffed to herself. But it was certainly moving in and out very slightly in a way that resembled breathing. It was oddly calming, as far as being trapped in a seemingly-alive green dome went.
She cast her eyes upward, to see that directly above her was a sea of shiny emerald green… well,scales, was the only word she could think of. Like she was being carefully cuddled and protected by the world’s largest, friendliest, most beautiful reptile. It wasn’t a thought she would normally be particularly thrilled about, but in this instance it seemed perfectly natural.
It was to her sides where the light was coming in. The curtain-like material she’d noticed earlier had resolved into higher resolution now that her eyes had fully adjusted, and she could see that it was in fact incredibly beautiful, a diaphanous, delicate substance that cast everything around her into deep,verdant hues. It reminded her of the wings of a butterfly, or a bat.
Entranced, she reached out to touch it – and jumped back as it twitched beneath her fingertips, before the whole structure seemed to shudder.
It was almost like…
Is it ticklish?!
Diana really wasn’t sure what was going on anymore, though shewasbecoming more and more certain that at least she wasn’t dead. She wasn’t quite prepared to rule out the idea of her being concussed, though. This whole situation was definitely weird.
She absently noticed the tingling sensation in her fingers where she’d touched the membrane-like structure. It was like… like…
Like when I was touching Calvin.
Things were starting to get a littletooweird, and suddenly, with extreme clarity, Diana knew that she had to get out of here and work out what was going on.
The problem was, she didn’t knowhow. As bizarre as all of this was, the overwhelming feeling she was getting from – from whatever this was – was one of protection. She didn’t want to harm it.
Would it be weird if I knocked and asked to be let out?!
She raised her hand, unsure of what exactly she was going to do – and then the dome shuddered all of a sudden, before, inexplicably, it began to unfold and unfurl in the most beautiful way, like reverse origami.
Diana straightened slowly from her crouched position, her hands coming up to her eyes to protect them from the brilliant light that suddenly crashed in from all sides.
