The Blurry Dream

It had been a day full of sun and swimming, soft music and strong drinks. Colored pills filled bowels like candy for the taking - except these promised more than a sugar high. As the sun set dipping below mountain tops, the energy shifted into something more electric, almost alive. Serendipity rapped her arms around her cool wet skin. It was cold without the sun's warmth - she shivered softly.

"Here, take my sweater," said a boy with sandy hair and ocean eyes. She was sensitive to the touch of his hands as he pulled the sweater over her head. A trickle of water ran down her back making her gasp. The temperature change was shocking when she felt his burning hot fingers and the water cold as ice. She licked chapped lips; looking up in surprise as the same sandy haired boy handed her a bottle of water. "Drink," he said and so she did.

She clung to his frame to keep from sinking under the hardwood floors. He lifted her into his arms and carried her as if weightless to the couch upstairs. Laying her down on the crisp leather as she breathed in the scent of his skin. She kissed him, first feeling brave and her brain went blurry. His hands caused fires to start on her skin as everything faded into a technicolor whirl-wind.

He laughed as she later looked in the mirror, silently cocking her head as she studied a face she vaguely remembered. He motioned her to come closer and she did. He ran a single finger down her arm as she giggled. In fact she couldn't stop giggling. "I can't feel my legs, did they run away?" Serendipity asked. "No, they're just belonging to someone else for a little while." He chuckled. "Oh no!" she squeaked and then burst into a fresh fit of laughter.

Serendipity picked herself up off the couch and tripped down the spiral stair case back into the dreamscape below. She watched snow-flakes circulate the pool until they fell into boiling waters, melting into a mess of bodies and laughter. "Boy where did you go?" she whispered across the infinity pool, the only reply she got was one from a man talking to the palm trees. She watched inflatable swans make way for inflatable egos.

"Where did your clothes go?" she asked herself as she hugged the sandy haired boy's sweater closer. Serendipity knew he was most likely gone and shed a quick tear for the loss of what could have been something beautiful.

She wandered the halls all alone until a voice rang out from across the room. "Come here angel." A new boy with eyes like Christmas trees pulled her under the warm covers that swamped the downstairs couch. "Cuddle closer. your cold as ice! I think your lips are a few degrees from blue." he said.

"Please just hold me." she breathed in his ear. He quirked a sympathetic smile, he wasn't like the other men that night. He was something refreshing, almost kind... "I'll hold you till morning comes and the mourning of what could have been begins." Serendipity sighed into his shoulder understanding his sentiment all too well. "I don’t belong here," she said as she rested her head on his chest. "Nobody does. That’s the secret." He replied with sad eyes running soft fingers through her still damp hair. "Welcome to the nightmare where everyone plays a game that nobody ever wins."

"I lost the game the second I walked through the door." Serendipity drifted under a tidal wave of dreams, lulled under by the music from outside. The boy with Christmas tree eyes held her tight until the sun peaked out from behind the mountain tops and he knew for certain she would be alright.

She woke to the sound of her phone buzzing with texts from a friend making sure she was alright. "I'm fine" Was her reply and she was. For all the crazy of the night, she finally felt like she could hold her head just enough above water to survive this life that she was willingly wading into.

Photographer: Ella Collis @the35mm_

Models: @samderrick_ @marleyberntsen @lilychanter @dixieweetman