He is floating. Everything around is clear blue, nothing else to be seen. He can't say where he is- the surface he glides through has the softness of the sky but the smoothness of the sea. It is peaceful. He hasn't felt such tranquility in quite a while, his thoughts slowly move together with his body.
Then, black hands come out from the blue and take him into Death, swallowing every inch of his breathing body.
Elliot woke up to his phone loudly playing 'The Fox' as the alarm. He frantically reached out for it and hit the 'dismiss' button before that damn awful song could reach the first verse. I will murder Oz tomorrow, he thought as he dragged himself out of the bed.
It was early, too early for Elliot's usual schedule- he only had one class at 8 am on Tuesdays, the other three didn't start before 12. But, since he had recently started working as an assistant/trainee for a group of marine biologists, he had to get up at 7 to: a)get them all coffee b)bring over the various things they asked to buy c)'fully experience the magic'.
The bunch of weirdos were currently occupying the only marine laboratory in the city, which was unfortunate seeing he couldn't just drive to another city everyday. He was himself studying to become the same as well, so it was good enough practice. He also didn't need to do extra practices with their professor everyone else had to attend. That was the only pro of his full time job.
Getting ready was as hard as ever- Elliot simply couldn't decide which set of clothes he was ready to ruin forever with the smell of fish and various sauces today. He finally decided and threw on the weird shirt Vanessa had bought him and the usual 'work' jeans. Cursing as he saw the time, Elliot yelled 'I'm off!' to his sleepy sister and hurried off to his car.
After the usual stop by Starbucks, he was trying his best not to drive fast, munching on the cinnamon bun he had grabbed there and glancing at the six cups of coffee on the passenger seat as to make sure it wouldn't spill out like last time. He couldn't believe his bosses had actually slowly shifted him to drinking coffee almost every morning- Elliot hated the taste of it, but it kept him going.
"...Shit. I forgot the food for jellyfish."
After a speedy drive to the pet store and a bunch of swear words, Elliot finally arrived to the lab only half an hour late and not in the best mood. The scientists laughed at his strained expression instead of scolding him, which was actually worse. Today, the place reeked of ketchup. Elliot put everything he had brought on one of the messy tables, grabbing his notebook and stopwatch along before slipping out of the stuffy room.
Being outside, in the fresh air was way more pleasant. If he wandered off far enough, his workmates actually rarely bothered to look after him. Elliot had a bunch of data he needed to collect- the seashore of Reveille was rich in living creatures crawling in and out, including turtles and so on. He would also go near the dump of rocks you could walk through like a very slippery bridge. All kinds of water dwellers hid between and around them, and so he would sit on them and silently watching and sometimes writing down the behavior and interaction with different things.
Elliot always loved the water. It was soothing, and it brought a sense of relaxation that only music could compete with. His family used to go to the beach a lot when he was little, and he could never stop himself from going there once in a while when he was a teenager. A tragic loss stopped other Nightrays from ever loving the ocean, but not Elliot. Such phobias seemed silly to him anyways.
The wind picked up a soft melody from the direction Elliot was heading to. Strange. He approached the rocks- wait, was someone sitting at the end of them?!
Pulling his converse shoes together with his socks and throwing them off on the sand, Elliot jumped on a dry rock, then started making his way towards the apparently singing person.
"Hey, this area is off limits! Can't you read the signs?" he shouted angrily.