The Scaling of the Cliffs
Not far now! You can do this, man. Just be brave. You’re the hero here. Like in one of dad’s Greek fables! You are! Just a few more minutes, and you’ve got this. You can get yourself home.
I looked down. I had come a long way, but my arms were so weak, and my feet felt like I had walked over broken glass. I could see the red painting the rocks. I felt like I was hanging off the end of the world, with a never ending drop to greet even the smallest mistake. My stomach rumbled, and my side felt like it was hit with a hammer.
Maybe I don’t have this. Climb down! Yeah! It should be easier to go down than up, right?
It would take me easily another 10 minutes to get down. I didn’t have 10 minutes.
I shot my arm upwards to grasp the next rock. It slipped loose of the cliffs clutches, and tumbled to the sea below. A trick of the dark made it seem as though there were tentacles reaching out to grasp me. But I knew that it was just a trick. The waves moving. The moons light playing games. So I looked skyward for a new place to grasp on. And I found one.
It took me a few minutes, but eventually I could latch onto the moss at the top of the cliff and yank myself to safety. I rolled away from the cliffs edge, onto solid ground. I looked up at the stars, and laughed at them. I lay limp for a moment, to catch my breath and rest. But above me, the stars disappeared. Replaced were fingers of darkness covering up their light. The rain started slowly, but it was there. And I knew it wasn’t going away. I got to my feet and looked up at the lighthouse. The light was red, which I thought was odd for a lighthouse. But it did its job anyway. It cut through the dark like butter, in a paradox of red and black. I looked to the stairs, and at the bottom I was greeted by an elderly man. His hair was full, but completely gray, and over his left eye was a patch. He had a fishing spear to steady himself. He spoke with an accent I didn’t recognize.
“Good lord, my son. That was quite the climb!” His eye was widened, but I couldn’t tell if it was from concern or amazement.
I smiled at him.
“Yeah, I’ll be alright. I made it.”
He frowned, digging deep gouges in his face.
“I know… but if you had called me I could have lowered the ladder.”
I saw a retractable rope latter at the edge of the cliff, and sighed, while restraining the urge to swear endlessly.
“Sorry, boy. I didn’t see you until you were already here. It’s getting darker here by the minute, and my vision isn’t getting any better.”
I gently patted him on my shoulder, though the thought of shaking him violently did cross my mind. It wasn’t his fault though, he couldn’t have known.
So instead I replied, “No problem. I needed the exercise.”
He chuckled and coughed. “You certainly got it!” He looked up at the rain and motioned for me to join him up the stairs.
He shook as his fishing spear struggled to support his weight. It took us longer to climb the stairs than it took me to climb the cliff. But I kept myself slow and made sure he didn’t fall.
I’m not sure what good I would have done. I could barely stand myself. I think he had it better than me. His eyes were as grey as his hair, and his skin had seen better times, but something about him struck me as off. Like he had more in him than his days would allow.
But I accepted his courtesy regardless. He took me to his shack beside the lighthouse. It was shockingly nice. He had a bed, running water, even a whole kitchen. I couldn’t tell you how, but I didn’t really care. I was starving. Being knocked out for 5 days and scaling a cliff takes it out of you. Surprise, surprise. That’s all I could see anyway, before I collapsed.
While I was out, I dreamed of my father. And a conversation we had. Even though my memory was almost completely back, I still couldn’t remember the last time I had talked to him. “You always did take things hard. First your mom, then this. You always get through it though.”
I loosened my grip on the phone. I felt like I was about to crack it.
“Not this time.”
I could almost see him shaking his head.
“You know that’s a lie. You’re stronger than this. You are your mother’s son after all. She might have been a small lady, but you know most of all that nothing could break her. Not even in the end.”
He never really was good at helping a situation.
“Bringing up Mom isn’t helping. Just stop… please.”
I could hear the defeat in his voice.
“Just… be patient. You’ll get through it. Alright?” I just wanted it to be over.
“Yeah. I will.”
He could smell the lie from the other end, but he ignored it.
“Good, good. Be careful.”
“I will. Talk to you later.” Another lie.
He fed me and allowed me to sleep there and recover my strength. He fed me the best clam chowder I have ever had, and also could do wonders with lobster. He examined me to make sure I wasn’t seriously injured. He found a swollen area in my side, with two holes dripping red.
“Chimera venom. You’re lucky to be alive, most of the time people are eaten not long
after they’re bit.”
The light blinded me, but I could make out his outline. I mumbled something about
Adara, then slipped back into sleep.
I was bedridden for 4 days, and each day the thunder got louder and louder. The only thing to drown it out was the old man’s story. He told me about his life before the island and how he got here. He used to be a soldier, on a foreign shore for his country. Eventually the war was over, and he took a ship home. But something hit the ship, and killed everyone on board.
“A sea monster. Tentacles the size of submarine, mouth like a cyclone. None of us could stop it. It pulled my friends to the depths. Sucked away everything, all my hope for getting home, even my eye.” He flipped his patch up, showing a massive gouge in his eyeball. “Splinter of the ship caught me as I was hanging’ on to one of my friends. I let go as soon as it hit. Nothing’ I could do. And when I finally made it to land, a storm washed what was left of my ship away.”
He flipped the patch back down. “That doesn’t matter anymore. I thought about my family for a long time. A long time. My home was my life, but over the years I just… slipped away from it. This is my home now. Here, I matter as much as there.”
…
On the 5th day, I was able to walk without any trouble. He gave me some clothes to wear, since my others were rags. What he gave me wasn’t much better, but I didn’t want to be ungrateful. I spent my day playing cards with him. He was good. Really good.
“How does someone get so good at cards when they are alone for so long?” He looked up and smirked, smug in his victory.
“Some things you can’t forget. They follow you everywhere you go.”
When night came, he invited me to the top of the lighthouse. The beam was yellow this time, but the clouds were so thick, and the dark so strong, that it couldn’t reach more than a few feet in front of us. The sea was barely there.
He had left his spear by the door and leaned against the railing, gazing into the abyss. I stood next to him, gently placing my hands on the railing. He looked over at me and reached into his pocket.
“I found this in your trousers.”
He handed me the compass. It was completely unscathed, but the gold seemed to lose its shine, you know, with the massive wall of darkness everywhere. I gripped it tight. I couldn’t lose
it. It was all I had.
He looked over at me.
“So tell me, my friend. Why are you here?”
I shrugged. “Couldn’t tell ya.”
He shook his head in disbelief and twisted a smile.
“You have a reason. Everyone does. You wouldn’t be here without one. You must know
what it is.”
I felt a chill run down my spine, and I shuddered slightly.
“I really don’t know. I mean… I’ve seen a woman. Green eyes, red hair. I remember her telling me not to blame myself for something. Couldn’t tell you what. I think she might have been my wife, or my girlfriend. Something like that.” He licked his lips and looked ahead.
“Ah. A woman. That’s usually the reason, isn’t it? They make a man feel much… not all of it good. Do you think you can go back to her?”
I looked over at him. He was still looking ahead, so he couldn’t see my expression of confusion.
“I’ve been trying the entire time I’ve been here. I keep getting pieces of things, but never anything that tells me how to get back.”
He raised himself from railing and started to walk towards the lantern, which continued the impossible fight against the black. I turned to face him. He stopped right next to it. He looked past me for a moment, then straight into my eyes.
“Have you ever considered that you shouldn’t leave?”
I laughed the hardest I had laughed on my time on the island. He didn’t seem to think it was very funny. His face was blank. I eventually stopped laughing, and replied to him with a smile still on my face.
“No. Why on earth would I think of staying here?”
He smiled his yellow smile. This time though, it made me uneasy.
“The entire time I’ve been here, my job has been to keep this thing running.” He patted the glass housing the lantern. “And its job is to make things clear. Remove the dark so people can see. That’s what lighthouses do, even a child knows that. But the thing is… you’ve never looked past this black wall. You haven’t tried to glimpse what’s on the other side.” My smile had completely turned into a grimace.
“The storm hasn’t always been here. I looked past the sea. Its sky at the horizon.” He shook in disbelief.
“No, no, no. That’s what you saw before the storm arrived. Have you actually looked at what the light here is showing you?”
“Uh… no.” I was now more confused than when I had first woken up on the island, which says a lot, because I felt like a blind man in a room full of Rubiks cubes then.
“Turn around and look out there. Tell me what you see.”
I turned to face the storm. The light swung around, this time red as blood. It unveiled the sky in front of me. The light blinded me.
She was sitting next to me in the car. Even through the shadow of the night, I could see she had a grin on her face. She was telling me something amusing, and I was trying to pay attention to the road and her at the same time.
“-and so the crab looked at him and said ‘Hey! Why are you being so shell-fish?” She laughed so hard she snorted a little. I couldn’t tell what the rest of the joke was, but the laugh alone made me chuckle. I eyed the road while trying to look at her as much as possible. Her eyes got slightly more serious, but the smile remained. She turned to me.
“You know, I was thinking.”
“That’s dangerous.”
She whacked me in the shoulder with her foot, and continued.
“It’s going to be a year next month since we first met, and I was thinking we should go back to the beach. How does that sound?”
I looked over at her with mild amusement.
“I take it that was the basis of the beach joke?” Her eyes went playful along with her eyes.
“…maybe?”
I looked over at her and nodded.
“That sounds like a good idea to me.”
Her face lit with satisfaction. She turned to look at the road.
“Maybe for this occasion, you can get a shell.”
My eyes didn’t leave the road, yet my attention was really on her. I responded.
“Nah. I’ve got the important shell right here,” I motioned to the compass on the dash,
“besides, you’ll probably just guilt me out of it anyway.” She feigned offense.
“Are you saying you didn’t give me the last one out of the kindness of your heart?”
I looked over her in disbelief that she would ask a ridiculous question like that. She was looking back.
“Who do you think I am? Of course not. Not shell connoisseur would give away something so beau-“
The light swept over something dark. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened. She clenched my arm and the door handle. The car flashed out of nowhere. The other vehicle sideways, her head smashing against the glass of the window. I held on to the wheel, my eyes locked on her. I don’t know where it came from. It just appeared out of nowhere. The light was red. This is all my fault. Everything that happens to us… I’m the one to answer for it. The compass flew off the dashboard, and out of sight.
Now I was in the hospital. The doctor looked at me, with gloom. Pity. Contempt. “She’s stable now, so she’s in the clear. That being said, I… in my opinion, I don’t believe she will ever walk again. I’m so sorry, but we’ve done all we can.”
He walked out of the room. My head slid into my hands, becoming wet with tears. I sobbed uncontrollably. I looked up at her, tears still flowing, speech barely comprehendible.
“I’m so sorry Penny. I’m so sorry.”
The scene seemed to fade into the dark, the noise drowned out by the storm.
My fists were clenched on the railing. My legs were rubber. I could feel the tears welling up. I looked back at the old man. He looked back at me, expressionless.
I’m sorry my boy. I know this can’t be easy for ya, but… I know it’s for the best. It’s never easy… and you always blame yourself. One day though, you’ve just gotta realize it’s in the past. All that is gone. Just here and now. This island. This lighthouse. Me.
I was shaking uncontrollably. The compass almost fell out of my hands. The connection felt stronger. Like we were completely the same. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.
You don’t need to say anything. Just know that the only way you can move on is by giving up the fight. That means everything. He eyed the compass.
I looked down at it, then at him. I nodded. He was right. It was my fault, and now I just needed to face it. Maybe one day, it would be me helping people see. Maybe I could redeem myself. Who knows? Maybe there is hope. It didn’t feel like it though. I still felt sick. I held the compass over the edge. I wanted to take one last look at it though. I gazed into the cover. And saw my reflection. The light was red. I am the only one who has answers. The only one who can save me is me. Nobody knows what’s in my head except…
“Me.”
I raised the compass, this time looking at the old man. He looked different. A perfect reflection of myself. I could see his hand on the glass. The light was red.
He was confused now, not sure of what to make of my outburst.
Excuse me, my boy?
I looked at him, then back into the compass. I felt it pull me in.
My eyes were on the road.
“No shell connoisseur would give away something so beautiful.” We were coming to a traffic light. It gave off a powerful green glow. I kept going.
The headlights came out of nowhere. Her eyes widened and her hand dug into my arm and into the door handle. The old man’s eyes were closed. His car barreled towards ours. I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. His vehicle crashed with a violent agenda against ours. Her body slammed against the door, my head against the steering wheel. The airbag flashed out, in a display of white.
The airbag smashed me back into reality. I put the compass into my pocket and made for the door. Blocking me was the old man, clutching his fishing spear.
That isn’t the way it happened. That thing is lying to you.
I smirked. I had him now.
“How do you know what I saw in there? Hm? The only way you could know is if you were there yourself!”
His eyes went dark. The wrinkles on his face stood out even further.
I can’t let you leave this place. It isn’t your place to leave. This is MY Island!
“That’s where you’re wrong. This is my island. And now it’s time that my island says farewell to the rest of the world…. Along with you.”
He bolted at me with the spear. It nearly grazed my cheek. I felt the same surge of power as I did when I was running from the Chimera. Only this time, it didn’t go away. I grabbed the spear from him, and he swung his fist with surprising speed. It smashed into my eye, but it didn’t seem to matter. I hit back, and the spear flew from his hands. He crawled to the spear, and used it to pull himself up. He cracked me hard in the eye again, but I didn’t feel it. I told him to stop. He wouldn’t. I kicked the spear from under him, and he tumbled toward the railing. It was in my hands now.
I was expecting some kind of last act of defiance, like a villain from a movie. Instead he whimpered and stammered. I walked toward the lantern.
No! No…no, pl-please! Don’t!
I entered the lantern room. The dusty glass obscured my ability to see him, but I could still here is whine and pleas.
I raised the spear, staring into the eye of light.
Don’t! You can’t! NO!
The spear plunged into the lens. Endless specks of glass flowed to the ground, seemingly as numerous as grains of sand on the beach.
His begging stopped. He seemed to have passed out. I threw the spear over the railing. It soared through the sky, then was engulfed by the waves below.
I could no longer see the water after that. The storm was too strong.
I have to find Adara. We need to leave.
The Storm
I could no longer see where I was running. All I could do is hope that I didn’t trip or hit a tree. The compass was inches from my face, any further and the fog would have covered the dial.
I still don’t know how I made it. But I did. I found Adara’s cave, but not her.
She couldn’t have just walked off. Where did she go?
I called for her, but my voice was drowned out by the waterfall. I followed its sound and remembered the rocks. I crouched down to find them, but all that was in front of me was a cloud of blackness. I realized I couldn’t tiptoe my way over rocks to get in the cave.
Time to get a little wet.
I removed my shirt and dipped a toe in the water.
COLD! Coldcoldcoldcoldcold… that is freezing.
I looked upwards, hoping to get a glimpse of the sky. Nothing but fog above my head.
You’re running out of time! Get in!
So I leapt into the water, and screamed. My body was paralyzed, like I was trapped in an iceberg. I had to keep moving, so I slowly inched along the edges of the cavern. Eventually I could see her sleeping space. She was there, her hands covering her eyes, and sobs heaving her body.
“Adara! It’s me! I know my name! It’s Lee!”
I eased towards her and put a hand on her back. She flipped around and grabbed onto me. I couldn’t tell if she was planning on hugging me or drowning me. Thankfully, it was just a hug, and a warm one at that. She looked up at me, her eyes still watery.
“I thought you were gone! I thought you left me! Where were you?” I was going to explain, until I heard a crack of lightning nearby.
“It’s a long story. All you need to know is that I remember everything now. And, here is the important part now, we need to be off this island NOW.” Wrinkles formed on the side of her mouth.
“You know I can’t.”
I looked her dead in the eye. Those blinding eyes. I stared deep into them, so deep I felt like I… I could see her every emotion and thought. It’s hard to explain. But I looked at her and told her the only thing I could think to.
“You can. You said you could walk when you get on land. You need to do that thing now. Quickly.”
She started crying again.
“I don’t want to. This is my home! It’s all I have left. Don’t make me…” she gave me that persuasive, somber look that she does, “please.”
It wouldn’t work though. I couldn’t let her. I tried to pull her away, but she grabbed a rock. She was much stronger than she looked. She spent too much time swimming, and I’d spent too much time on a couch before I came to the island.
Her voice was no longer pleading. Now it was angry, the first time I had heard it.
“LET ME GO! NOW! You can’t make me leave!”
And I knew I couldn’t. For someone with girlish arms, she was incredibly strong. So I released her and slid my hands down to hers.
“You have to let go. I know you don’t think you can but… you have to. You think your sisters would want this? Hm? Shade? Me? No. If you don’t get off this island, you WILL die here, and then you will get what you want. You’ll never have to leave, or feel upset, or scared.
Will it be worth it though? Staying here won’t make you feel any better. You’ll just be alone.
And you don’t deserve that.” I reached my hand out.
I could see her grip on the rock loosen. She tightened her hand around mine and wrapper her other arm around me. I picked her up and carried her out of the cave. I set her on the ground.
Her transformation was one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen. She writhed on the ground, screaming in pain. She called for me, so I knelt next to her. She grabbed onto me with nearly crushing force. Her nails dug into my back. And grimaced, but kept her close. Her fin separated into two parts, then the scales fell off. Beneath were two conjoined legs. Their flesh began to separate, which was the most painful part. At least that’s how I take her clawing up to my neck. After what felt like an eternity of screaming and thrashing, it was over. And now she was more naked than before. I gave her my shirt, which was large enough to cover her… everything. She steadied herself using my shoulders. She almost slipped, and I caught her under the arms.
She motioned for me to step back. She was now supporting herself. She very slowly, very elegantly brought a leg forward and touched her foot to the ground.
She looked back at me, with a massive smile on her face.
“I did it Lee! I can walk!”
It was a bit odd to hear that in reference to a grown woman, but I praised her anyway.
“Excellent Adara! Just remember to put one foot in front of the other. Just take your ti-“
My voice trailed off when I saw it. All the fog on the island disappeared, much to my astonishment… and then despair. A massive wave, the size of a skyscraper, heading straight towards the island. A wall of bluish black, making the island shake, and the air rumble. I raised my voice in panic.
“Okay, you might need to hurry a bit.”
She looked back, and her eyes widened to the size of the stars, and were just as bright.
She was about to scream, but she didn’t have time. I grabbed her and told her to hang on. Her arms were around my neck, her soft legs cradles across my arms, her childlike feet swinging freely.
She squeezed tight, and I realized I was no longer following the compass. It wasn’t even in my hands. I was just running.
The hospital was only a few miles away, and I knew an ambulance wouldn’t arrive. It was too late at night, no witnesses to the crash, and no houses to be seen. The car was a hunk of scrap, I couldn’t drive her there. So I ran. Faster than ever before. She wasn’t conscious, her head just swung gently back and forth like a ragdoll. Blood flowed fluently from her head. She didn’t have much time. The lights of the city illuminated each step. Now I just needed to get there.
I tried not to look back. I knew that if I did, I would realize how hopeless this was. But I had to. The ground was convulsing furiously, the air started to shatter with the rush of the wave. I looked back. It was only a minute or two from hitting the other side of the island. Adara was about to look back, but I told her to keep her eyes closed. I kept running. The trees and bushes whacked us in the face as we made our way to the beach. I was covered in scratches, my bare chest looked like a whipping victim. Her cheek was cut, and an eye was black. My shirt was shredded, revealing pieces of her soft skin. My foot hit sand. My toes tug in, and I didn’t stop. I just kept running until I saw. Then we laid eyes on it. We looked over into each other’s eyes, then back at it.
The Ithica wasn’t much to look at. It was an ugly fishing boat, with peeling paint and an engine that looked like it had seen better days. Almost a dingy really. But it was a boat nonetheless. I jumped on, with Adara still in my arms, and laid her down in one of the passenger seats. I ran back to the aft of the boat and pulled on the engine cord. Nothing. Again, this time harder. Still not a sound. COME ON!!! I did NOT run all this way for a boat I can’t use! WORK!
I yanked as hard as I could… and heard a sputter. I kept yanking. Eventually, the propeller turned, and we were pulling away. I looked up at the wave. It was halfway over the island now. I could see the lighthouse. It stood there, ignorant to the death behind it. Almost peacefully. And then it was gone. Swallowed by the dark wave, like most of the island. It was moving even faster now. We were out of time.
I bolted to the steering wheel. My hands were wrapped around the wheel with a vice-like grip. I felt like I was going to rip it off. But instead, all I could do was hold on while we both helplessly watch the wave barrel towards us. It was almost to the beach. And we were still far to close. We would need four or five more minutes before we would even hit the open ocean. And that was time we didn’t have.
Adara looked over at me, her face knowing the truth.
“It’s over Lee.” Her eyes watered, and her lip quivered. But suddenly she smiled. “We made it though. We made it here. That’s all we wanted, right?”
I nodded. And smiled back.
I let go of the wheel. Slowly shuffled to Adara. I laid next to her on the bench. She wrapped her arms around. Her head was digging in my neck. So were her nails. I didn’t mind though. I did what I needed to do. No more running. No more scrambling for answers. No more darkness. All I had were locks of her bright hair draped over my head. I closed my eyes, and felt the boat shake. It was time. No more fear. No more sadness. I did it. I made it home.
Home
I opened my eyes, and was shocked at what I saw. No island. No Adara next to me. I was alone, on the boat, with the stars burning like torches. In front of me was Shade. But not as I knew him. No more shadow. He looked a little like me, but… there were things different. Same hair, same eyes, stronger chin, smaller nose. Like an older stranger, who would pass for me at a glance.
“Well, my friend,” he spread his arms, like he was presenting the The Ithica to the world, “you found her.”
I craned my head slightly. So many questions, most of which I knew wouldn’t be answered. I rubbed my eyes, and tried to compose myself.
“The uhh… what happened to the… th- wave. Thing. That was coming at us?”
“Gone.”
“Adara?”
“Also gone.”
I couldn’t believe it. How could things so real, so frightening, or so innocent just disappear?
I was going to open my mouth for another question, but he shook his head.
“No more. It doesn’t matter. It’s done. Gone. What matters now is that you weren’t ready.”
I sat up, and looked rested on my elbows.
“Ready for what?”
He chuckled. “You aren’t a good listener are you? Just leave it alone.” I threw my hands in the air and yelled, almost laughing.
“Leave it alone?’ You expect me to NOT wonder what just happened?”
“I expect you to be confused. I expect you to have questions. What I don’t expect you to do is understand. Which is why I’m not saying anything more.”
My hands tumbled into my lap. I was done. He’s right. I probably wouldn’t understand. I let out a sigh, and asked my last question.
“What now?”
He stood up and leaned over the boat. He plucked something out of the water and tossed it to me. The rum bottle. I examined it closer, noticing new cracks, and hoping no water got in.
“Get it open. Read the note. And go home. I’m going back to my island now. I have things to do.”
I looked up at him.
But he wasn’t there.
I looked back down at the bottle and uncorked it with almost no effort. I saw the note. It was my handwriting, addressed to Penny. I’m sure what was below was long and heartfelt. I didn’t read it.
I slipped the note back in the bottle. I already know what it said. I put the cork back on the bottle and threw it into the ocean. The ripples disturbed the otherwise dormant water. They hit the side of the boat, then stopped. Somewhere I could hear someone singing. It was the same song as Adara was singing. But it wasn’t her. The voice was different. It was Penny. I laid down on the passenger bench. And closed my eyes…
Every time I look at you, I see a piece of me, those peaceful eyes starin’ back, the light is
here to see.
The ripples in the water, the calm before the storm, but even then I knew you were here to keep me safe and warm.
Each footstep brought me close to home, to precious sandy shores, a foreign heart lay in the sand, but it felt the same as yours.
The song came into my memory, illuminated from whatever hidden place it was in. I sung the final verse.
The chains that bound me, broken. My shoulders weightless, free. At least that’s how it felt, when you came to rescue me…
…
“So… you never told her to put on clothes?”
Penny was leaning her elbows on the bed next to me, her hands encircling her face.
I laughed, but I felt a pain in my chest. My laughter turned into a cough.
“After that ENTIRE story, that’s what you got? She was naked?” She leaned back into her wheelchair and put on a stern face.
“That was the concerning part, yeah.”
I smiled, this time it was her laughing. Not that I could do it a second time.
She moved over to the table across the room. The room was silent, barring the beeping and whirring of the machine next to me. Penny began to speak, but was digging through a bag on the table, so she didn’t face me.
“So… how do you feel?”
I was actually alright, until she mentioned there was something wrong.
“The doctor said I had a concussion, broken ribs, a broken leg… pretty much a broken everything really… oh, and a black eye.” I pointed to the offender, and realized that my arm hurt.
“So, as a whole, I’d say I could be better. But I guess that’s what I get for not paying attention.” I chuckled, carefully.
She stopped looking in the bag and rotated her chair to face me. Her face was serious, and this time she meant it. She didn’t buy that it was an accident. Neither did the doctor. But no one else was there, so who was going to say anything? Her voice was concerned, but I had a feeling she knew I was alright.
“That’s not what I mean.”
I let out a sigh, which hurt as well.
“Since the dream? Better.” Was it even a dream? I’m not sure if I’ll ever find out.
She sat and stared silently for a moment, then nodded.
I asked her if she thought I was crazy.
“I’ve always thought you were crazy. That’s one of your best qualities.”
She went back to shifting through the bag, and spoke again, this time in a much more cheerful manner.
“You know, if your Dad was here, he probably would have brought a book to read to
you.” She smirked.
“Yeah, I never got that. Did he know I was a grown man?”
“Obviously. I think it was more for him than you. He always was a weird one… he must have been where you got it from.”
“Geez, I’ve been awake for a few days, and already we’re back to the name-calling.” We laughed in unison, until I saw her reach her arm far into the bag.
“What are you looking so hard for anyway? What’s in there?” She put a finger up.
“Ey! No peeking! It’s a surprise.”
I shook my head, but I was also a little excited to find out what it was. Like a little kid at
Christmas. Well… in my condition it was more like Little Timmy.
She let out a triumphant “aha!” and told me to close my eyes and reach out my hands.
I did, and felt something heavy settle in my palms.
I opened my eyes, and saw the compass, and my reflection. The compass was shiny, and looked pristine, except for a couple of tiny scratches.
She looked up with a smile.
“What do you think? It’s weird huh? Massive accident, car totaled, and the compass makes it out with barely a scratch. I’ve been holding on to it since after the accident. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been waiting for a long time.”
“For what?”
“This. The moment that you figured out that everything was going to be alright.” I almost started to sob, but it just came out a cough.
“You look like you need some rest,” Penny began to move to the hallway, “I’ll see if I can find some food in this place. I’m starving.”
I nodded, and she flipped off the light switch, fading into the black.
I looked back down at the compass, a massive grin on my face. I opened it. Inside I found a seashell. Like the one that Penny and I found. Like the one on the beach.
I looked up for a moment. Penny left the door open, so I could see into the hall, and flag down a nurse if I needed one. I looked up at the fluorescents. The walls were the color of regurgitated pea soup, which made the light seem green. I looked below the lights, down the hallway, and caught a glimpse of him. Standing there, familiar hair, familiar eyes. He smiled at me. I blinked, and he was gone.
The compass twirled around for a moment, then returned to its previous position.
I snapped it shut.
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from Short Stories https://ift.tt/2L8Is24
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