The sun shone brightly above her in the mid-afternoon sky, but it was the cool sea breeze that made Aliana want to stay.
She took in the vastness of the bright blue water before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, filling her lungs with the salt-heavy scent of the ocean before letting out a contented exhale.
'Ah… this is nice,' she mused.
The rhythmic thunder of the waves beating against the rocky shore was like a lullaby, and for a fleeting second, she felt the urge to simply dive in and let the water take her.
'Maybe later,' a small smile played on her lips.
She continued to stay there, savouring the peace, until a sudden, bone-chilling weight settled behind her. It was an eerie, suffocating presence she had felt once before… a darkness that didn't belong in the sunlight.
Her lashes fluttered, then snapped open, and she whirled around, only to have her breath die in her throat.
