“Good morning, Evie! Time to wake up!”

I shot up in bed, fists in the air, “I’m up! I’m ready to go!”

Mom just gave me a look. “Evie, you’re still wearing SpongeBob pajamas. Come on, meet me in the kitchen. I made some breakfast.” She walked back down the hallway, and I let my hands fall back to the bed.

Perhaps I had let myself get a few steps ahead in my day. It was Friday morning and not just any Friday. Today, we were finally flying out to California. I had been waiting all summer after I had gotten accepted to CSU Monterey Bay. The hardest part of that for me was convincing Mom that it was okay for me to go to a school so far away from our home in Colorado. I had spent the past two years working very hard to show her how mature and responsible I was, with only a few hiccups. Now, finally, we were going to fly there and spend a weeklong vacation together while I was getting settled in. We’d be able to do all the touristy things, and Mom would feel a lot more comfortable knowing what kind of town I’d be in.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed a pair of exercise shorts and a tank top, and got dressed. I could smell bacon, and I knew I needed to get moving. I walked into the kitchen where our little breakfast table sat, and Mom had already plated the food.

“That was quick!” she said, smiling at me and stealing a piece of bacon from my plate.

I sat down and snatched up another piece, “I didn’t want to starve after you stole all my bacon!” I said in mock outrage before snapping a bite. She had made us bacon, toast, and fried eggs. It was how we started a lot of days, only not often with bacon. Usually, that was fruit, but today was special.

“Any last-minute packing?” she asked me while we ate.

“Nope! I got everything finished last night. I even put away my laptop. You should be proud.”

“I am always proud of you, dear.” She smirked.

I was willing to bet she was waiting for me to remember what I’d forgotten to pack. Mom was pretty good at making sure I didn’t forget things. I had been accused in the past of being a bit absent-minded, but I’d been working very hard on that. This time, I was pretty sure I’d actually gotten everything. I wasn’t packed too heavily for this trip. Most things, like my books and such, I’d be getting after we landed. I just had clothes, toiletries, my violin, and my laptop to worry about. Probably.

We had a routine in the morning, even on days like today when we slept in a little bit. We finished our breakfast and went to the living room. I put down our yoga mats while she set up our next yoga video. We had several old videos that we rotated through for a quick twenty to thirty-minute session to warm up in the morning. As we got started and made our way through all our poses and stretches, I thought about how long we'd been doing this. When I was a little kid, I was grumpy about Mom's insistence that we get up early for this routine. The older I got, though, the more I learned to appreciate and enjoy it. I knew I’d miss it after I left. As the video ended, I sighed, stood up, and hugged Mom.

She returned the hug and patted me on the back. “Yes, you’re a great kid. Hugs don’t mean you’re getting out of swimming.” I laughed as I went to get changed.

Our building had an indoor pool, the only way we could swim year-round. We used to do yoga and twenty minutes of swimming afterward, but that worked its way up to at least forty-five minutes of swimming as I started to compete in high school.

“I’m still pretty sad that this campus doesn’t have a swim team,” I said as we walked down the stairs to the pool room.

“You could always find a school closer to home,” Mom said teasingly.

“But this one has the marine biology program I want!” I said before realizing she was just giving me a hard time again. I smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Mom, I will make sure to visit as much as I can. Besides, I will live near the beach. That’s a great excuse for you to visit me, too.”

“I know, dear. It’s why I agreed.” She said as she put her towel on a hanger and went to hop into the pool.

It seemed weird that it was hard to find things to talk to her about today. I knew after we left, everything in both of our lives would be changing again. It was the biggest life change for either of us since my father passed away when I was three years old. I was getting close to eighteen now, and we’d stayed in the same apartment and built up a lot of routines together. I felt like I should be able to have some profound conversations marking the end of an era, but no, it was just our normal morning. As I moved up to my lane in the pool, I decided that I would instead focus on remembering everything about our day. I swam, and the stress of everything went away.

Our flight didn’t leave until late in the evening, but we’d still need to get to the airport at a reasonable time. Mom sometimes would fly places for work, but I had never actually been on a plane before. Mom had planned things out so it’d be as stress-free for us as possible. We’d be getting there about 3 hours before our flight to be sure there would be no security slowdown issues. We could find a restaurant in the terminal to have a nice sit-down dinner, and then we’d be ready to fly without feeling like we’d been waiting in the terminal forever.

That meant we had several hours before our flight would leave and plenty of time to get ready. We took turns taking quick showers and finding the clothes we would be wearing to travel.

“The trick, Evie, is to find something that is as comfortable as possible for the flight without actually wearing your pajamas to the airport,” She had told me. Mom was full of wisdom like this.

I spent some time saying goodbye to our neighbors and my friends. I would just chat with most of my friends online, so saying goodbye felt weird, but it was also important. I had spent the week doing things with most of them, too. Mom went over everything one last time with me to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, and we talked about things we could do after we landed. She seemed pretty excited, but I could also see the apprehension and worry. When it was finally time to go, I tossed my backpack on, picked up my violin, and pulled the handle on my luggage. I looked around the living room one last time. It smelled like mom’s lavender candles.

“Oh, Evelyn, don’t look so sad. It’s not like this will be the last time you’ll see the place. You’ll be home between semesters and for holidays. I won’t even rent your room out while you’re gone.”

“Mom!” I cried. She just laughed as she stepped out the door.

She was wrong, though. I wasn’t sad. I was excited. I just didn’t want to forget. This was a great day. This was the first real vacation we’d ever been able to take together actually outside the state, and I think that part made her excited, too. The drive to the airport wasn’t terribly long, and we mostly listened to old music and sang along like idiots. It was the best way to spend time in a car. I had started to get a headache on the drive, but I didn’t want to say anything and ruin our fun. I just took some Advil from my bag and tried to keep up. This was a new thing that had started almost a week ago. I kept getting these headaches that made me feel like I was hearing scratching or static in the background. They’d hit me, and I’d try to ignore them for an hour or two. It was likely just the stress, and I was sure they'd go away once everything calmed down again.

We parked in a long-term lot and took a shuttle into the terminal. It was pretty quick to get our boarding passes and drop off our checked bags before we headed over to security. As we waited in line at the security checkpoint, I felt like a lot of people were staring at us with some serious judgment. Sure, we looked a little bit like hobos with our tank tops, baggy yoga pants, tennis shoes, and hoodies tied around our waists, but I was willing to bet we were the most comfortable people there.

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Our plan went exactly as expected. After that, we found a nice place to sit down and have dinner inside the terminal. We finished eating and sat and talked for a bit until we heard the announcement for our flight boarding.

“Excited for your first flight?” Mom prodded at me.

“Yes!” I said, “I just wish this headache would go away. It is making me feel exhausted.”

As we waited in line to board, I watched the people outside loading bags onto the plane and tried to spot mine, but it was a lost cause. There were a lot of bags. It didn’t take long for the line to take us onto the plane, and then we were in our seats. I had a window seat and kept looking out the window, waiting for us to take off. But I passed out before we’d even made it to the runway. Mom woke me up what felt like minutes later.

“Evie, hon, we’re here.”

I looked around, and everyone was standing up and taking things down from the overhead bins.

“I slept through the entire flight?” I asked groggily.

“Yes, dear. I don’t even think you lasted until we took off. Are you feeling okay? I was surprised you could sleep through the landing.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just going to wait for everyone else to clear out, and then I’ll be awake.” I said, not entirely sure if I believed it. I was definitely feeling exhausted. I hoped I wasn’t sick.

“Okay. We aren’t in any rush.” She told me. “We can sleep in tomorrow if you’re still feeling tired. We’re on vacation, after all.” She took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

We waited for the line of passengers to entirely pass us before Mom stood up and started taking our stuff down from the overhead bin. We still had to wait a little bit for our bags, but I had Mom’s shoulder to use as a pillow while we did. She had a rental car waiting for us, and in no time, we were at our hotel right on the beach. The smell of the ocean in the nighttime air was something entirely new to me, and I immediately loved it.

“Mom, are you sure we can’t move here?” I tried.

“Evie, you are moving here most of the year for the next four years at the very least.” She told me with a grin.

“Yeah, I know! But I mean both of us! The sun isn’t even up yet, and it's so nice!”

She knew what I meant, too. It was cool and kind of foggy out, even at the end of summer. I had been talking to her about how the weather was moderate here year-round, with cooler summers and warmer winters. Sure, it rained a lot in those winters, but that was okay. She just shook her head at me with a smile.

“Let’s see how we like it in the daytime, and perhaps you should survive a semester and see how you like the town.” She said, the amusement with my excitability clear in her voice. Ah, Mom, the practical one.

We went into our room, and I was changed and asleep in no time at all.

“Good morning, Evie! Time to wake up!”

This was a tradition my mom had started when I was very small, and I don't think she'd missed a single morning, even if she had to call or message me while traveling. I yawned expansively and stretched across the bed. I sat up, and I was feeling much better. My head was clear, and that terrible groggy feeling was long gone. I felt a wave of relief that I wasn’t sick.

“Hey, Mom!” I said cheerily.

“Hey, Brat!” she replied happily, smiling at my mood. “I think that today we should start at the beach.”

I nodded vigorously at that. “Yeah!” I cheered.

I’d never been to the beach. We don’t really have those in the mountains of Colorado, after all. I bounced out of bed and nearly ran to my bag to find something to wear. A heartbeat later, we were walking ankle-deep in the water at the beach behind our resort. It was probably 8 am, and supposedly, we’d be able to find places along the water to eat. We had knee-length sarongs so that we’d not freeze and wore our towels over our shoulders, but it was going to get warmer as the day went on. Still, the water was fine, and we were having fun playing around in it. Eventually, we stopped for breakfast, spent some time in the water, and then lay in the sun. We did, however, entirely forget sunscreen and ended up a little cooked.

As we were walking to find a spot for lunch, Mom said, “I guess we know you need sunscreen, especially if you start swimming in the ocean.”

“I was kind of hoping to find an indoor pool near the campus for daily swimming, but I’m sure I’ll spend plenty of time down here, too. It's really nice.” I said.

“Maybe we can take some time tomorrow to look at some places,” she suggested. “I can get you a membership started.”

“Oh, mom, don’t worry. I will find a job here as soon as classes start, and I figure out how to manage time around coursework. You don’t have to do that.”

She just laughed at me. “One day, you’ll have kids, and they’ll give you that little instruction manual that tells you how much I do have to do it, even if just to keep myself from worrying.”

“I’m not entirely sure I will have kids, Mom,” I sighed. “Thank you. It will help a lot until I can take over.” I knew better than to argue.

We found a nice spot on the beach that was selling food truck-style meals and grabbed some terrible for us but very tasty food. As I watched the ocean and the sunlight reflecting off the water, my head started to pound again. I was able to get some medicine from the food vendor, but I could tell it wasn’t going to help much already. That static was back, and I just wanted to lie down. The bright light was painful on my eyes. I told Mom as much, and she decided we should head back. We both thought it was just a migraine from too much stress. We made it back to our room and put on some after-sun lotion we’d picked up on the way in. It’d help with the sunburn a lot, and then I nestled down.

Mom woke me up around dinner time. “Hey, Evie. You feeling okay?”

I groaned and sat up. “I think so. I was having a very weird dream. I’m glad you woke me up.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I was lost in the woods, and I was glowing. Something was trying to find me, and I kept trying to hide the glow. I couldn’t make it stop. I had to keep running away before it found me. I think I had a dream like this before.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my back. “It’s just the stress, Evelyn. You will feel better as soon as you’re settled in. Are you feeling up to going out for dinner?”

I shook off the sleep and smiled at her, “Yeah! Let’s go do that.” She was right, of course; I needed a positive attitude. It was a stupid dream. I was glad she woke me up when she did. Whatever it was, the thing chasing me had almost grabbed me right before she woke me up.

We put on real clothes this time, and Mom found a Steak and Sushi place near Old Fisherman’s Wharf. It wasn’t a long drive, and the restaurant was right on the water. It was fantastic. We sat on the patio and listened to the ocean crash in while we ate. I was still feeling exhausted, I think from my dream, but I was feeling better as time went on. Mom was excitedly talking about things we should do this week in addition to getting me set up in my dorm, and I was trying my best to keep up. I don’t think I actually remembered everything she had said, though. Fighting the brain fog was hard.

“I can see half of this going out your other ear. I’ll get the check, and then we can go back in for the evening and get some sleep.”

“I’m sorry, Mom! I am having a good time, promise. I will be better tomorrow.” She just reached over and squeezed my hand.

“We will have a fantastic week, Evie. Don’t worry. A little more sleep will help you catch up. You’ll feel better in no time.” I nodded along. She was right.

We headed back to our room. I got changed and ready for bed. Once again, that stupid headache was back. I didn’t even mention it. I was just going to sleep it off. I felt terrible about being like this while Mom was here on vacation with me.

Mom was getting ready to brush her teeth, so I called out to her, “Hey, Mom. If you want to stay up or do stuff, you don’t have to stay in here just for me, you know?”

She stuck her head back out of the bathroom, “I know, dear, but if we both go to bed now, we can get up nice and early to go exploring.” She said with a smile.

“Okay. Thanks, Mom. I love you.”

She yelled back from the other room, “I love you too, baby girl.”

I grabbed a bottle of water and some Advil again and popped them into my mouth, but I noticed something was weird about my hand as I pulled it back away from my face and stared at it. It looked normal, so I looked around the room before realizing something was off, but only when I wasn’t looking right at my hand. I lifted it a little, trying to keep it in my peripheral vision, and that's when I saw it. My hand looked like it had a dim green glow, but it wasn't just my hand. I could see it on my arm and down to my feet. It was any part of me that I wasn't looking directly at. I put my hand in front of my face, and it was gone the moment I tried to focus on it. I closed my eyes, sat down, and reached for my phone to see if this was some other migraine symptom, but I never landed on the bed.

I passed where I should have hit the mattress, and then I just kept going, tipping backward with my feet flying up in the air like I had fallen over the lip of a well. At first, I thought it was vertigo, but I opened my eyes, and I had sunk about a foot down into the mattress. Only I wasn’t surrounded by sheets. It was like sinking into black tar. I panicked. I tried to jump right back out of bed, yell in terror, call for help, and roll over at the same time. The result was a squeak and entangling myself in whatever the blackness was. In only a moment, I couldn't see the hotel room anymore. I felt like I was buried in sticky mud, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get loose or barely move at all. That static noise was all around me, and it was louder than before. I could no longer breathe, which just made me panic more. I struggled in vain against whatever held me and the growing sense of terror and hopelessness until suddenly, after a minute or two, I realized I didn't feel like I needed to breathe. I also felt like I didn't need to panic. I say "felt" because I'm not really sure what the proper word to use would be. I had no feelings. I just was. It was long past the point of being too dark to see, but I wasn’t seeing anymore. There was no sound, and I no longer felt anything.

It crossed my mind that this could be a weird lucid dream. I might have had a stroke. I could have even died. I knew I probably should care which one it was, but it just didn't seem to matter to me. After what felt like an eternity, things changed. First, I could feel again. I felt cold and could feel something cold and disgustingly sludge-like rolling away from me. Everything felt wrong, like I didn’t recognize myself. At the same time, I could hear that static again. But, no, it was someone talking in a monotone. Some kind of grating chant. My eyes didn't want to open. It felt like they were held shut with muck, so I raised my hand to wipe them clean... Which did not work as well as expected. Firstly, I felt entirely exhausted. It was so difficult to move. It was like I’d done a thousand pushups, and my arms did not want to work anymore. Secondly, when I managed to get my hands to my eyes, I felt that my hands were quite dirty. I had just barely managed to part my eyes open when the screaming started. It was a girl, I think, and the screaming was incoherent. Then, another voice joined her screams. My eyes shot open, terrified to see what was going on, but I was immediately distracted by the words appearing in my vision.