MASKS

chapter four

Percy

Being as it is my life hasn't been easy. Juggling ADHD, dyslexia, the dumbass at home and the voices in my head, not that easy, but every once in a while I get a breath of fresh air. My mum takes us down to Long Island where we have a cabin that she worked hard to save up and buy. It was the cabin where my parents met and where I felt closest to him. My dad was lost at sea, not dead never dead, that's what mum says so when I'm at this beach a small part of me feels like he'll find his way here, maybe wash up at the beach. It also helps that Gabe doesn't know mum owns the place.

I was eight when it stopped being just the beach my mum and dad met.

It was the beginning of summer, mum had taken a break from work for seven days, we had three days to spend at the beach and the rest of the four were a vacation for me because Gabe couldn't touch me when mum was around.

We arrived and cleaned the cabin as usual then when everything was unpacked and the sun was setting we went down to the water's edge, I had a slip of paper in my hand and a bottle while mum carried the marshmallows and sweets(all blue of course).

"Ready sweetheart?" mum asked. I took a deep breath and put the paper in the bottle and whispered my prayer in it and sealed the bottle, then walked into the ocean. I walked until the water was up to my waist I turned to look at mum and she nodded with tears in my eyes like she thought the ocean would take me like it did dad.

I dove into the ocean and swam a little until I reach this one coral reef that marked the beginning of deep waters for me.

I stopped there and closed my eyes, I consentrated on the water and a clear picture of dad in my head, the gental smile I remember, the happy laugh mum told me about, the scruffy beard scratching at me and the smell of the ocean that mum said surrounded him then with that in my head I whispered with all my heart, with all my love, "Οι παλίρροιες, τα κύματα και όλο το νερό του ωκεανού με ακούνε και απαντούν στο κάλεσμά μου, μεταφέρουν το μήνυμα της καρδιάς μου σε αυτόν που θέλω, αναζητήστε τον στα μυστικά σας βάθη, προστατέψτε τον και οδηγήστε τον πίσω σε μένα."I always felt drained after that, I watched my bottle be carried away and imagined my dad finding it. I turned around and thought I saw someone in the tide,which wasn't unusual for me and mum, but when I turned there was no one so I assumed it was just me being tired so I swam myself to the coast where my mum was waiting she hugged me to her chest ignoring how wet I was. That safety was home for me, mum's hugs, I didn't care where I'd go as long I get to come back to her.She carried me to the campfire she'd set up and wrapped us in a blanket as she told me stories of herself on this beach. My mum and me were special, that's what mum always said. We had clearer eyes, we could see what others couldn't. She told me that one day I'd understand why that was important.

When it was close to midnight, mum finally convinced me that the ocean and the stars weren't going anywhere, I just had to go to bed. I didn't dream, most nights I didn't unless something important was going to happen to someone I know, I've just gotten used to the constant des ja vous in my life.  

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Something woke me up and led me to the beach, sitting by the water was the outline of a man. I stepped onto the sand turning to look back to the cabin thinking for sure that for sure mum would hear me, when nothing happened I kept going. Stranger danger and all that was the furthest thing from my mind.

"Hello," I called," are you okay?" 

He didn't turn to look at me, I kept going until I tapped his shoulder," Hello mister, are you okay?" He turned to look at me, I was too young to understand it back then but the look in his eyes was pure undiluted fury. 

"Leave me alone," he said gritting his death. "I can't, mum says to always help someone in need even if they're being mean."

Then he turned back to look at the ocean, "are you waiting for the ocean to give you something?" I asked sitting next to him and staring at the horizon, "I'm waiting for the ocean to give me back my dad, she took him but mum says the ocean knows what it's doing so I shouldn't be angry at her because then my daddy was needed."

"Why don't you hate the ocean then?" he asked. 

"Because she needed him and when he's done she'll give him back and if she doesn't all I can do is keep telling him that I love him and hope he's safe."

"If he chose the ocean instead of you why not hate him?"

"Because he didn't abandon me, he knew mum would take care of me, he cared enough to make sure I had someone taking care of me and telling me awesome stories and giving me blue treats. Just because he left doesn't mean he doesn't love me."

We sat there until the sun was almost out no one said a thing.

"Hear, I found it at the beach must be for you," then he got up and walked away. When I looked up from the box he was gone. I ran back to my room, inside was a seashell necklace and a note. "

 I LOVE YOU, BABY. 

                                    daddy  

The beach wasn't where my mm and dad met it was where my dad talked to me first.

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Hey, don't have a lot to say, just wishing you an awesome day, night, week, month whatever you need. I hope you enjoyed that. Who did our girl talk to?

"The tides, the waves and all the water of the ocean listen to me and answer my call, carry the message of my heart to the one I want, seek him in your secret depths, protect him and lead him back to me."(translation of the above text)

As usual love

anglevil😈😇