Dakota dreams of a land full of fantasy where mermaids fills the oceans and unicorns runs with the wind. But all that Dakota can do is dream. She was born with a condition where her bones were fragile and brittle and she had to be very careful not to be rough. The slightest movement could break her fragile bones like twigs. She was always on a wheelchair, with her nanny, Claire who attended to her every needs. Dakota parents werent always around. They travelled the globe searching and documenting the different species of animals and beast. Her father had plans for them, the three of them to travels the continents as “The Adventurous Trio” and take the world by storm. Dakota deformity had left her father disappointed and her mother's heartbroken.
Dakota lived in a mansion by the beach where her father had made her a silk hammock among the coconut trees before she was born. Now instead of swinging she would have Nanny Claire push her to the river as she sat with her book and pen and her imagination. Nanny Claire pulls the brakes and lowers the sole of the wheelchair. Dakota wiggles her toes into the the cold damp sand . “ Can I walk today, Nanny Claire?” she asked only to get the same answer she got yesterday and the day before. Nanny Claire went back to the house to bring her warm tea and oat biscuits, while Dakota indulge in the only scenery she has ever known. The blue wide ocean.
Daddy never let me go up to the surface. It is tradition that on my 18th birthday that me and my sisters would be able to go close the water and spy on those two legged crreatures. Their world is filled with color and fragrances. The green and orange. The warm and cold. Down here it is always blue, sometimes green but never orange. The sun does hit the surface but I never got close enough to feel its warm rays on my skin. Pixie on her 18th birthday had went up as traditions say we could but she never returned and it broke daddy’s heart. Now, me the youngest, I am robbed of promises to see the world above.
Today I disobey my father and will take my destiny into my own hands. Should I die and never return , be this the trip of a lifetime. As I rose higher I saw the twinkling lights of the sun reflecting on the water which grew as I got closer. Would I die if I inhaled the atmosphere up there, would they catch me ? I must see for myself. I’m sorry daddy.
The waves made my head bob as I slowly raised my head above the water. The first breath of air was peculiar. Almost like my sense were awaken. The breeze was cold and the sun was just amazing. I saw the shore line. Mother had a seashell necklace once as I has seen in sculptures. I want one too.
A fuzzy mirage of figures catch my eyes near the shore. A little girl staring straight at me. Her blonde hair blew in the wind and her metal feet shined like the sun. She moved her hands at me. Do I go closer or should I return ?
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