This is a snippet from my story titled, That Day. It was written for Day one of the Prose, Prose (Prose) challenge that I created to challenge myself and others during the month of June.

The Secret

She never talked about it. It was something that she would keep tucked away. No one could ever know. Not even her husband. It was something that she would have to take with her to the grave. She didn’t even know how it had happened, but it did…

One moment she was smiling and laughing. Having a glass of wine in the Vineyards. They had been talking about how they wanted to relive their youth. Go to the beach, play frisbee in the warm Atlantic waters. And then it happened, she wasn’t sipping wine with her best friend. She was in a dark cave. It was cold and damp. She felt frightened, but at peace. It didn’t make sense, but…it made sense. The confusion that surrounded her was beginning to clear. This was it. Or was it?

The sunlight began to seep through the opening of the cave. It must have been early morning, but back there it had been early evening? A question for another time or place. She began to wonder how she could get back. Would it just happen naturally, or did she have to make it happen? She didn’t even know how she got here.

Now that the feeling of confusion and the inability to move had worn off, she found her feet and walked towards the sun. The dampness of the cave evaporated as she stepped out and onto the ledge of a cliff. It was breathtaking, but also frightening.

Should she jump? Is that how she could go back? She wasn’t sure. She took a deep breath in, lifted her arms over her head. The warmth of the sun, the smell of the air…fresh.

Jumping wouldn’t take her home. It wouldn’t take her back to her friend in the Vineyards. The laughing, the good wine, the beach. She knew. It was simple actually. It was all there. Within herself. She just had to look harder to find it. To find that joy. She would then be transported back to that lovely early evening at the Vineyards.

It happened…

“Jolie?”

Jolie smiled at her friend. Sipped on her wine and laughed.

“I thought I lost you there for a second. Where did you go?”

“Home. I went home.”

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