The rustling of leaves. Kerrie opened her eyes to find the blue sky above. A tree towered over her, its branches like arms reaching for the clouds. She lay in its shadow, the grass cool against the back of her legs. The grass tickled her palms, slipping between her finger. She grabbed a handful and watched it fall back to the earth.

She felt comfortable. She felt all right. She never realized how much she loved the color green, a symbol of life and growth. It was nice to look at, it eased her mind. She had seen too much red, felt too much death, too much decay. But now she felt relaxed. She took a deep breath, imagining the plants around her breathing as well. The air filled her lungs, making her feel lighter, making her feel that if she took a deep enough breath, she would lift off the ground.

Kerrie stood and looked across a park of rolling fields. Birds sang from the branches. Some outstretched their wings and dipped across the sky, the wind carrying them somewhere safe. She felt the earth beneath her feet and dug her heels into it. The ground felt firm. Secure. It held her in place, promising to never let her go. She didn't want to go.

Behind Kerrie was a bench, a man sitting with one arm draped across the back. He wore a white tee, the sun beaming off it, almost too bright to look at. She recognized the shape of his head, the way his shoulders hanged. She knew the curve of his arm and how his hair ran up from his neck to the top of his head. It was Neil. This was where they first met.

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Kerrie walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His head turned but it wasn't him. The stranger smiled at her as if he had been waiting for her, as if he had known her his whole life. He placed his hand on hers. The touch felt familiar. It felt like someone she had once known. His smile was one that had once lit up her world. And when he spoke, his voice was smooth, a sound she had heard a hundred times before. She wanted to stay, she wanted to be with him, sit on the bench, sit by his side.

But she didn't know him. It wasn't Neil.

His face began to fade. His mouth sealed tight. His nose sunk in. His eyelids closed and filled the wells in his face until he was a blank canvas. Kerrie felt a pang of sadness at the sight of losing something familiar, something she had used to love.

She took a step back and tripped over a rock, the world spinning before her. The leaves rapidly changing colors, from green to orange to brown. The sky turning grey. Her body tumbled from a cliff, jagged rocks rushing by until her body plunged into the ocean. A surge of cold water smothered her vision and everything went black.