One summer night, just as the sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon, I dreamed the waves were washing me away. Gently pushing and pulling me away to a world where things were different. But when I awoke to the sting of fresh mist tickling my nose, I was on the same wooden dock where I had first fallen asleep.

I was still sixteen.

I was still alone.

And it was starting to rain.

Clouds tossed and turned above me, and I wondered if they felt as lost as I did. Stumbling through the air, shining, sobbing, fading into mist. I could relate to that, I thought. The end of the school year had been so tough, with exams and projects and teachers driving me up the wall with talk about a five year plan when I didn’t even know what I wanted to do with the next five hours. I’d been hoping the beginning of summer would offer me a chance to relax, to have fun for once. But since my best friend left for the city with her family last week, I had no one to hang out with. And there never anything to do in this backwater small town.

I sighed, still squinting at the sky. Teenage years were supposed to be exciting and cool, and yet here I was. Utterly hopeless, sitting on a dock in the rain with no one to talk to. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

Or maybe I was just thinking too hard.

I picked myself up and went inside for dinner.