A Chance Meeting at Sea

Chapter 7

The sound of waves crashing onto shore, the sight of sand stretching into the distance, the feeling of a cool breeze running up my back, and the thought that something's amiss.

"Gura...?"

Propping myself up on my elbows, I eye up the surrounding surf to find nobody in sight. I climb to my feet and turn to face the ocean, the sea is a calm, dark blanket folding onto itself, the night sky above a tapestry of light. It's a sight I may have stared in awe at had I not already been acquainted with a far more striking beauty.

"GUUURAAA!"

I yell out, my hands cupped together, in the vain hopes she'll hear me. All I'm met with is the continued crashing of waves. I fall to my hands and knees, tears dotting the sand. Was it too good to be true? Was it all just a dream? Why did it have to end? All these questions served to further my distress. I took a deep breath and asserted that there was no sense crying if it was all in my head in the first place. I didn't know how long this answer would satisfy me, so I got back up again and turned to walk back inland.

I had only taken a couple steps when I feel my toe bump into something cold and hard. I look down and see a shiny glass bottle sticking out of the sand. Stooping down, I scoop it up and notice something inside, though it's too difficult to make out in the dark. I struggle with the cork momentarily but manage to get it out, tilting the bottle and shaking out a small, smooth object with a note sticking out of it. Clutching the objects tightly, afraid they would disappear, I run towards a streetlamp in the parking lot, which blinks alight once I pass under it. Holding my clenched fist up to the light, I open it and am at once taken aback. It was a hair clip. Gura's hair clip. I check the note fastened to it:

"Swim again soon, okay?" With a little heart drawn next to it.

Pressing this treasure to my chest, I am overjoyed, tears flowing once more. I turn around and notice the silhouette of a tail for but a moment before disappearing beneath the waves.

"Okay."