Lauren--Part Fifty-Four

Splog # 204

Fifty-Four

 

 As Lauren was gazing out at the tranquil sea, she once again heard movement coming from above. It seemed that every floor she reached was empty, but noise assailed her ears from the one above. It occurred to her that possibly it was only the wind coming through a window or some other explanation that didn't involve her meeting up with another person somewhere in the tower. The view of the sea was so lovely and peaceful that she decided to enjoy it for a little bit longer. She glanced down to see how close the shore might be to the tower. The tower was situated in a grassy lawn that led down to the same stream she noticed from the lower window. Across the stream, the earth became sandy and there were clumps of tall grasses scattered here and there. There were a lot of stones and rocks mixed in with the sand and here and there were boulders of various sizes. The sandy ground led to a series of small dunes and beyond them was the water but she had no view of the actual shore or beach where they met. She looked back up towards the islands in the distance. There were two quite far off that seemed to be fairly large and one that looked to be almost within swimming distance. That one looked rather small. There were two other spots out in the sea that might have been tiny islands but she couldn't be quite sure. And then the sky above the two larger islands in the distance started to fill with tiny specks that bounced up and down and back and forth and reminded her of flies careening aimlessly through the bright sky. Soon, there were so many specks that it looked like there were clouds forming over the islands. Maybe it's smoke, she thought. The islands are on fire! Lines seemed to be forming in the air over the other two dots out on the sea also. Were they all volcanoes erupting? And then, above the nearer island, she began to see the shapes of birds flying madly into the air and then diving down and soaring wildly in all directions. Beyond all this motion, at the furthest reach of her vision, the sea appeared to suddenly bulge upward and Lauren craned her neck and creased her forehead and tried to figure out what she was seeing. The clouds above the islands began to stream in her direction, towards the tower. Birds began flying past on all sides. There were a lot of gulls but also many birds she didn't recognize. The color of the ocean seemed to be changing as a line of blue so dark that it was almost black swept across the sea towards her. Now the sky was dark with birds speeding past. It was strange to note that, except for their wings, they made no sound. Looking back to sea, after gazing at the birds for a moment, she saw the dark ocean approach the two distant islands, move over them and they soundlessly disappeared. Then she realized she must be watching a tidal wave and she began to feel frightened. Surely it wouldn't reach as far as the tower. The number of birds in the sky was lessening as she watched the nearer island vanish beneath a covering of dark blue. The wave would have to crash to earth when it reached the shore. But she was unsure how far away from the shore she was. The wall of dark blue seemed to grow as it neared and when she felt a tremor in the floor beneath her feet she thought she'd best get as high in the tower as she could. She ran up the stairs to the next level and looked around frantically to find the stairs that went higher. But there were none. She rushed to the window to see how close the wave was and found herself looking at a forest bathed in bright moonlight.

Reviews

[TLK]

This is the last chapter of 54 that you have posted so far. Has anything happened to move Lauren on as a person or character? She just seems to passively reflect on stuff for all these chapters!