Lily gasped for air. Choking, she struggled towards the sandy shoreline. But each time she managed to pull forward, the beach seemed to move farther away. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, and her cheeks were tinted with a faint bluish color. A wave forced Lily under. She fought her way back up to the surface. Finally, her head broke through. Water droplets rolled off her face, silently falling back into the ocean. The dark, bottomless ocean. A soft, slimy fish brushed the bottom of Lily’s foot, making her squeal. Another wave tumbled towards Lily. It crashed overhead. She sputtered, spitting out the salty ocean water. Everything was happening so fast. Lily searched the vast sea in vain, hoping to find a boat, a raft, anything! Then a huge wave – the biggest Lily had ever seen – came surging towards her. Lily shrieked. She kicked and flailed her arms, but her attempts at escaping failed . . .
Lily sat straight up in bed. She slowly raised her hand to her face. It was damp with sweat.
‘I’m okay. I’m okay,’ she told herself.
She sucked in a shaky breath and forced her racing heart to return to it’s normal pace. Lily had been having nightmares for the last two weeks. She glanced over at the window. Grimy sunlight filtered through. A light drizzle misted the beach below. It wasn’t a beautiful day, but considering that she was at Hebe’s Beach, it was probably the best one that Lily had experienced so far. She shook her head, trying to clear the dream from her mind. But Lily could never get rid off the memory. Not really. The ocean had changed her life forever.
One moment, they were wading in the water, smiling and waving for their only daughter to come join them. The next, they had disappeared from view. A choked sob escaped from Lily’s throat. She hadn’t thought about her parents at all since the drowning. Everything that had happened was just a jumbled up blur in the back of Lily’s mind. The lifeguards trying to find them, people crying. . .
Then Grandma and Grandpa had come, whisked Lily away and plopped her down in their home in The Middle of Nowhere, otherwise known as Hebe’s Natural Beach Resort.
‘Lil, honey! You awake?’ Grandma’s plump figure appeared in the doorway, ‘come on, slowpoke! Get into your bathing suit, and we can wade in the water, or maybe even swim a little.’
Tears welled up in Lily’s eyes. How could Grandma be so. . .so senseless! So uncaring! Didn’t she know that the water had hurt Lily? It’s gentle currents had once flowed through Lily’s very veins. Swimming had been her second nature. But then the water had grown rougher, crashing into her heart, tearing it to pieces. Lily turned her face away. She couldn’t bear to look at her grandma’s smile. Her big, goofy smile. She was acting like nothing had happened. But something had happened. And Lily wasn’t ready to accept the facts. Not yet. They weren’t really gone. They weren’t! They couldn’t be. Lily’s tears slowly leaked out. They dripped down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to wipe them away.
‘Lily, sweetie,’ Grandma sat down on Lily’s bed. A slow tear trickled down Grandma’s rosy cheek. ‘I know it’s hard. It. . .it’s for me, too.’
Grandma’s voice was full of concern and sympathy. But Lily didn’t want concern, or even sympathy. She wanted her mother and father.
‘No, NO!’ she shrieked.
She pushed Grandma’s arm away, and blindly ran down the winding staircase. She tripped, and went sprawling on the ground at the foot of the stairs.
‘Lily! Lily! Wait, please!’ Lily pushed herself up. She just wanted to be alone.
The rain greeted Lily as she burst through the door. It had gotten worse since that morning, and it’s sharpness surprised her. The raindrops pierced her skin, but she kept going. Her toes dug into the moist sand, leaving tracks.
‘Lily! Come back, Lily! We can talk abut this!’
Grandma’s voice sounded distant, muffled by the pounding rain. But Lily didn’t stop. She hurried on through the storm, wrapping her arms around her head to soften the rain’s harsh blow.
Before Lily knew what was happening, she was waist-deep in the salty ocean water. She gasped, and her knees buckled. Lily closed her eyes, and for a minute she was afraid that she was going to faint. She just stood there, letting the waves gently lap at her legs. A crab scuttled over Lily’s toe, but she didn’t flinch. Lily’s head spun in slow circles and her eyes became cloudy, remembering. She could feel her mother’s spirit, and she could hear father’s laugh. She could see her mother’s smile, and she could smell her father’s pipe. But most of all, Lily could taste their love. It was mixed with the aftertaste of her salty tear. She opened her mouth and gulped in large breaths of ocean air, screaming with the sheer joy of it.Her tears of happiness and sadness cascaded down to the depths of the ocean. And she knew that she was never alone.
By Kimran