House Of Clouds (Extract)
Rough, frantic seas. Cara scrunches down into her seat as the salty ocean barrages her, making her eyes sting. Her trousers and shirt cling to her. Overhead, grey clouds loom, wrapping their fingers around the sun. Cara hates it, at first. She’s cold, soaked and sitting with a group of strangers. Cara is here because she sees her sister about once every two years, and she’s travelled twelve hours to visit her. Cara closes her eyes and feels the spray caress her. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
“You doing okay back there?” Heather calls, shuffling carefully to the back of the boat.
“I’m great”, is just about all Cara can utter before saltwater smashes into her face.
The small island looms in the distance as Heather sits next to her sister. They sit in silence. Cara spends most of this time trying to decipher if the silence is awkward or comfortable. Green and blue gush below them; blushing coral and lilac sea fans remain relatively undisturbed. The sound of water sloshing around their feet brings the sisters out of their minds. They are on the boat once more.
Heather stands up and walks back over to her friends. Droplets of rain speckle their shoulders and the tops of their heads.
When the boat arrives on the shore, the rain is much heavier and thunder echoes through the air. Lightning is strikes the horizon and Cara wonders if it’s unsafe to be in the water.
The house stands proud on the top of a jagged reef. Two of its four walls are nearly covered by windows, showing the interior of a half-kitchen, half-living room area. Heather climbs the reef, hoping, praying, for the door to be unlocked. When she reaches the deck area, she sees that the interior of the house is plywood pained white. It looks like someone has covered the boards in paint, but wiped it off at the last second. She tries the sliding glass door and it instantly slides open.
Cara sees Heather open the door as she wades out of the water. Heather looks so small, it’s almost hard for Cara to believe that she can be up there too.
Everyone gathers around the dining table in the top half of the room. It, too, is wears an ashy glaze. As they sit, Cara looks out at the storm. Dark grey stretches across half of the sky, clouds swirling like milk through tea.
This was a truly beautiful sight.
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
theartofmadeline
titsay
2087