• I always hated summer.

    It was hot, and sticky, and I didn't quite have the right kind of body to get away with walking around naked. Instead, I had to content myself to lay in a kiddie pool in the back yard, soaking in hose water; praying the sun stayed hidden behind the dingy apartment building that loomed behind me casting its shade. A mass of cracked concrete, breaking windows, faulty pipes and creaky floors, it did little more than stave off the waves of heat.

    My head was pounding. I couldn't tell what was sweat, and what was water. If I tried to stand, I'd surely fall right the ******** back down. Idly I cupped my hands under the surface of the water, lifting it up to catch rays of light on the reflective surface before it all trickled out between my fingers. I wasn't thinking anything in particular – I could hear cars driving by on the street, could hear kids laughing and playing, a dog barking. Somewhere above me, a cat yowled as some old lady tried to give it a bath on her balcony. Poor cat, it'd probably prefer to be shaved. Briefly I pondered turning on the radio to drown it all out, but that would require movement, and I knew better than to try. Instead, I just tried to sink lower into the shallow pool of water, splashing some of it onto my T-shirt and in my boyishly short hair. My mom always got mad when I had it cut so short, saying a girl should have long hair, but it was just a pain in the a** to take care of and it helped me cool off anyway.

    "Fay?"

    The creak of a screen door accompanied the sound of my mom walking out behind me. She pressed a cool glass of juice into my hand, then took a seat in a lawn chair by my pool, sticking in her bare feet. Moments later, Bella and Duke, my parent's dogs, followed after her.

    I took after my mom in regards to looks. A bit on the chunky side, with dirty blond hair and blue-grey eyes set in round, plain-featured baby faces. Even though she was my mom and more than twice my age, she looked like she could pass for my older sister. I don't know where my personality came from though. My mom's always calm, quiet, gentle and kind. My dad's energetic and cheerful, perpetually in a good mood. They're both really smart, and a bit silly, and maybe more than a little nerdy.

    Okay, that last part I did get from them. Everything else though, I don't know where it all went.

    Duke, a big black German Shepard, lapped at the drip from the hose, while Bella, a Golden Retriever, tried to crawl in the pool with me. Both were even older than I was, and had to be feeling the worst of the heat with their thick fur coats. Poor things.

    The juice was cold and sweet. I sipped at it slowly, splashing a little water on Bella's rich golden fur. I knew it'd be no good rushing my mom, she'd sat outside in the heat she couldn't stand to tell me something, but no one in the world could hurry her if she didn't want to be hurried.

    Except Dad. But he was at work, anyway.

    Finally, she set down her glass of juice and leaned back, looking up at the sky. I know it was probably hurting her to be outside – my mom had a weak constitution – but she just smiled upwards.

    "So, Fay... You're sixteen now," she said slowly. Yes Mom, I know how old I am, thank you. "Old enough to be on your own if you really wanted to."

    What, was she kicking me out?

    "I guess..." I croaked. Despite the juice I kept sipping, the heat seemed determined to leech all moisture from my mouth.

    "Well... I know you didn't want to be in homeschooling for high school, and you did good this past year..."

    I could barely believe my ears. My mom had been homeschooling me for most of my life. She put me in extracurricular activities when I asked, but mainly I'd spent most of my childhood at home. I'd been asking to go to a public high school since 6th grade, but despite my pleading my freshman year was spent no different from usual.

    "Mom?"

    "Ah! Sorry baby. Mommy's reminiscing. Well, you see... You seem to have been awarded a scholarship to a boarding school... Remember how I had you do those long tests?" How could I ever forget. "You caught the attention of a school. A very important school. Would you like to go?"

    I knew it was probably hurting her to ask. Mom and I were pretty close, I'm not ashamed to admit, and I don't think we've ever spent more than a week apart. A boarding school... I'd only see her on holidays, if that. And Dad, too. But...

    "I want to go!" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. My mom smiled – the little sadness on her face flickered away before I was even sure I'd really seen it – and she stood, pouring the rest of her juice into my empty glass.

    "Alright. I'll go fill out the paperwork." Mom said, patting my damp hair before opening the screen door. Bella and Duke ran in ahead of her. She paused, hesitating; I could almost hear her thinking, standing there with her face turned towards the dark cool interior of our apartment. "Ah... Fay?"

    "Yeah, Mom?"

    "Just remember... Don't regret your decisions."

    The door shut behind her. I sighed, tilting my head back to watch a pair of birds flying in the clear blue sky. I guess she was worried, saying something like that. It was true I'd never really been away from home, much less surrounded by people my own age, but it couldn't be much worse than the summer camps I'd been to. Just keep quiet and stay out of everyone's way, and I'd be fine.

    I sat in the pool a little longer, until I ran out of juice. I managed to heave myself out of the cool pool water, feeling heavy after spending all that time soaking in the liquid. ******** gravity, making me feel fat. Way to go.

    Mom was inside, watching some foreign cartoon on the television while doing paperwork at her desk. She always seemed to be doing several things at once. Dad says it's an artist's thing, she always needs to be keeping busy or she goes crazy. I could attest to that – only once had she taken me to the doctor with nothing for herself to do, and by the time we left she looked more ill than I did. She handed me an envelope, saying it was the introductory letter to my school, and that I should read it. My pet ferret, an albino I had named Kir, danced around my feet before bolting off to tease the dogs.

    I drifted my way towards my room, trying not to stumble into anything. It was much cooler inside the house thanks to Mom being unable to handle the heat, but I still had a headache from the sun. I just wanted to lay down, maybe take a nap before dinner, curled up on my soft bed with its soft covers and soft pillows. I loved to sleep.

    I don't remember actually laying down. One minute I was stumbling down the hallway to my door, and the next I was floating. Not flying, just floating. Drifting along on a gentle wind that I could feel moving through me, not just against me, my body turning this way and that like an autumn leaf caught in a breeze. All around me, ribbons of every imaginable color swirled and danced, pulsating in rhythm to my heartbeat – or was it the other way around? I couldn't tell. It didn't matter, at any rate.

    I reached out a hand, grabbing at one of the ribbons, and my mind was filled with pictures. Creatures, plants, people. Everything that existed was represented by a color, and I grabbed greedily to see what each one represented. I wanted to see everything, every animal, every plant, every person. I grabbed and grabbed, but no matter how I tried to hold onto them, the ribbons slipped between my fingers before I could catch little more than a glimpse.

    Then one ribbon caught my eye. Bright, brilliant, it seemed to be all colors at once and yet none in particular. I had to know that one, I had to see it... I reached towards it, but instead of grasping it, the ribbon looped around my wrist. A shock, like electricity, jolted through my body as I was yanked forward, speeding towards an unknown destination with all the colors spinning around me in muddled chaos.

    I can't begin to remember what I saw as I was pulled forward. Circles, stones, a crescent moon, huge teeth and a beautiful face. I saw so many unbelievable things that I wanted to remember forever, but as soon as they were out of sight I forgot what they were.

    I do remember one face. A face too beautiful to be human, with shocking silver eyes. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, but those eyes... Those eyes seemed to peer right into the depths of my soul. They saw through me, judged me, and then merely smiled as I sped away into the mass of colors. I wanted to know what those eyes thought of me, what they judged from peeking into my very being, but it was too late. I was already gone.