For the past year and a half I have taken time away from school. And with that time away from school, I have had my world rocked. Not only in my mental and psychological world (another story for another day), but also in my creative world.
I have been writing a story for the past year and a half. One that has had a heaviness on my heart and a haunting on my thoughts. I had this story running through my mind since sixth grade and ever since then, I had evolved this story into the [practically] finished story it is today. This story I have created is one of great length and can only be told by splitting it up into several books. The first one, however, is nearly finished. Though it does not yet have a title, I will share with you an excerpt from my story.
Sophia took the canvas from her easel and set it down amongst the other paintings to dry. It was another image that haunted her mind. This time, the image was of a golden-haired woman and a dark-haired fellow in the middle of a consuming argument. She was unsure why this image came to her in the first place, but she needed to express it onto a canvas to figure out why.
Sophia walked over to her kitchen to take the screaming water kettle off of the stove. She fixed her tea the way she liked and gently blew over the cup. She took little sips from the cup as she walked back over to her painting to search for a reason why this image chose her.
Her eyes followed the watercolor strokes that mended itself onto the canvas. And with one glance of the woman, she realized who she was. “Laurel.” Sophia whispered. The woman was her twin sister, Laurel. Sophia pushed back her brunette hair behind her ear and took another sip of her tea. Another evolving thought rolled around in her mind. She took a good look at the other paintings she had painted earlier on. Many of the other paintings featured Laurel as well. Were these dreams that Sophia had? Or were these telepathic messages that Sophia was absent-mindedly sent by Laurel? Sophia took another sip from her tea and leaned back on the back of the sofa.
“Sophia?” Sophia heard her name called and was sucked out of her thought process. She turned around and saw her brother, Julian standing in the middle of the sitting room. He wore no shirt with his sleep pants and his brunette hair was in disarray. He folded his arms against his barely hairy chest. “What the hell are you doing? It’s almost midnight.” Sophia pointed to the picture she just painted.
“I figured it out.” Julian scrunched his dark brows together. Usually, he couldn’t tell what Sophia was talking about. Her mind worked in an unusual way. Not crazy, but unusual. “The woman that’s in this picture, that’s in most of my pictures, it’s Laurel.” Sophia looked back at her painting in awe. “I must have been having visions of her or something. And the man…” Sophia trailed off. Another epiphany exploded in her mind. “The man must be Bren. I’m almost sure of it. You can see the way he looks at her…like she’s his whole world.”
“Sophia, you need to get to bed.” Julian ordered, but his stern voice was more of a plea. Sophia turned around to face Julian, her tea almost soared out of her cup.
“But don’t you see what this means? If my visions are true and Laurel and Bren have reunited, then that could only mean good things.” Sophia tried to stress how excited she was that she deciphered her paintings. Julian just sighed and took Sophia’s cup out of her hand, as she looked back at her painting. She barely noticed him taking her cup, that was how excited she was. Julian poured Sophia’s tea down the sink and placed the cup on the counter.
“Sophia, I love how enthusiastic you are for our sister, I truly am, but could you please talk to me about this in the morning.” Julian walked over to face his sister and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Go to sleep.”
“Fine, but on one condition.” Sophia proposed.
“What?”
“You take a look at my painting before we go to bed.” Julian gazed at his sister. She looked an awful lot like her mother, his step-mother. Except for her hair, she got her brunette hair from their father, but her chestnut colored eyes, her innocent smile, her shy carriage… that was all from her mother.
“Fine.” Julian agreed. He eyed Sophia’s fresh new painting and combed his fingers through his untamed hair. “They look like they’re arguing.”
“Do you expect anything else from Laurel and Bren?” Sophia rhetorically asked.
“It’s a beautiful painting, Sophia.” Julian kissed his sister on top of her head. “Now, go to sleep. We can talk more in the morning.” Julian walked back into his room and shut the door behind him. Sophia took one last looked at her painting, really soaking in the scene she had illustrated. She turned down all the lights and walked back into her room to sleep.
Sophia tossed and turned that night as new images burned into her mind. Images of pain and suffering flashed through her mind like lightning storms, surging pain through her body as well. She woke up from her nightmare, sitting straight up in bed. Her hands were shaking and her heart felt like it was about to burst from her chest. She could feel sweat dripping down her skin, dampening her nightgown. She swung her feet over to the side of her bed and got up, with the intention to get some water. She had no idea why she needed water, maybe it was to drink, or possibly to pour over her head. She suddenly became aware of her breathing and heard herself breath loudly as she walked out to the sitting room. She felt her mind start to go in slow motion and speed up at the same time. Her hands clutch at her head as she mumbled for it to stop. Tears began to stream down her cheeks in hopes that all of this sudden pain would stop.
She sunk to her knees and began to cry out for mercy. Her hands flew from her head, down to her chest as she clutched her nightgown, praying for the pain in her mind to stop.
“Sophia?” Through the pain, she heard Julian’s voice. She found him crouching next to her, trying to figure out how he can help her out of this anxiety.
“Make it stop, Julian. Please.” Sophia begged. Julian had seen this before. Sophia’s mother use to have panic attacks amongst other mental diseases and he knew how their father use to help her draw out of these attacks.
“It’s okay, Sophia. Just breathe.” Julian calmly replied. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.” He placed his arm around a shaking Sophia and pushed her head against his chest, so she could hear his calm heartbeat. They begun to breathe in syncopation and it started to calm Sophia out of her attack. Sophia had stopped shaking and her mind was no longer a mess. Everything was going back to normal, except for her crying.
“What was happening to me?” Sophia mumbled. Julian wrapped his other arm around his sister and kissed her head.
“You had a panic attack, but it’s all over now. I’m here and everything is going to be okay.” Julian reassured.
“My mind. It hurts, Julian.” Sophia cried into his chest. Julian gently shushed her as he calmly rubbed her back.
“Why does your mind hurt?” Julian inquired calmly. He may have seemed calm to Sophia, but inside he was incredibly scared. He wished his parents were here to help him. Parents always knew what to do, especially his parents.
“I saw pain. And I saw fear.” Sophia whispered. Julian could feel the fear clutching onto his neck, disabling his words of comfort to Sophia. The siblings sat there on the floor as the morning sun poured through the windows. Awaiting them was a brand new day.
Most Sincerely,
Jessica
