Chapter two, the very fine line.

AWC walked a fine line. The line was thin and blue. It resembled embroidery thread, and if she examined it closely, she could have seen tiny bits of fuzz coming off of it that shone white in the sunlight. But she didn't examine it closely, because she was walking it.

Over a river filled with angry sharks, piranhas and coyotes.

The wind blew up at her, cold because of the river below. It made the line sway. It made her sway. She knew that one step amiss could send her hurtling downwards to her doom, her demise, their dinner. She held her breath, she was very afraid.

This is how she was spending her birthday.

Then it happened. She was walking the very fine line and then she did it. She let go, she stepped off, deliberately, and dove down. She was trusting. Trusting is important. Without the ability to trust, she didn't want to walk the very fine line. She had to jump off to make sure she could jump off.

"Wake up! Wake up!" She was jostled awake from her place sleeping peacefully in her Zen pagoda in the middle of the forest. She was quite frightened to behold the sight of a suzumebachi upon her awakening, but then she remembered that the suzumebachi was her sister so it was ok.

"AUGH!" she exclaimed, swatting at the killer bee.

"You were asleep again!" She buzzed, flying around with a stuffed rabbit. "You cannot sleep in your pagoda. You need to be awake here."

"Why?" AWC moaned, still tired.

"Because it is a metaphor for your mind and your mind cannot sleep because, well, I say so! The world says so! Fate and his brother say so!"

"Mind... can't... what?"

"Sleep! No rest! Not for you! Even in your thoughts!"

But AWC was gone again.

Falling through the air, without one chance in hell of survival, all the sudden AWC had a chance of survival. She fell into a butterfly net held over the water by an unknown somebody. (Narrator: aka me)

Once on shore, she sat and tried to regain control of her raging terror. Sitting beside her placidly was an angry wolf who thought he was an owl.

"You really need to gain control over your raging terror," he exclaimed, licking a wet paw that he thought was a talon.

"I know." AWC did not have any paws to lick in a dignified way. All she had at the moment were great long flopping rabbit ears that were currently hanging over face. She tried to wring the water out of them.

"You should try sometime." He stood up and turned to leave. "There's nothing to be scared of here. It's all in your head." He then went away.

AWC sat there and stared at the river as a coyote swam by, snapping his jaws in her general direction.

Then she woke up.