The Ocean's Call: Part One | ✔

Part Thirty Four

Part Thirty-Four

I don't recognise the house I'm walking through. The walls contain basic art, simple paintings of leaves and trees. They complement the beach theme that whoever lives here is trying to achieve. Something about this moment doesn't feel right.

I reach out, running my fingers along the wall. It feels real. The texture is smooth underneath my fingertips and despite my brain telling me I shouldn't be able to feel the wall I can.

I can't even begin to place where I am, there's nothing familiar. Well, that's a lie. There is one thing that is familiar here but it's a person. Without even looking inside the bedroom I know who is in there. 

I can feel him.

I close my eyes pressing my fingers harder against the wall, picturing him laying on his bed perfectly. He's staring up at the ceiling, waiting for something or someone. Is he waiting for me?

I move forward until my fingers hit the framing of the door and I stop, opening my eyes. At the end of the hallway there is a large window that overlooks the ocean. It's in the far distance, not close like my own house but enough to capture a different kind of beauty. Capturing the ocean whole almost.

Underneath the window is a small desk with a little bouquet of flowers. I tilt my head to the side and guess they must be real flowers.

"Isla?" Austin's deep voice disrupts my train of thought about the flowers.

I turn my gaze into the bedroom where I find him exactly as I was picturing him. Laying on his bed except he's staring at me now and not the ceiling.

"Where are we?" I ask, turning towards the room.

He sits up on his elbows, his gaze dropping down over me. I follow his gaze to find I'm wearing the clothes I wore during our first physical interaction. From the day I went to The Mellow Mermaid to seek him out.

That's...curious.

I see the reflection in his thoughts, everything about me is exactly the same as that day. I watch the reflection in his thoughts, revisiting the moments we first interacted.

I get to see the flood of my thoughts entering his and his entertainment at my expense. My ridiculous thoughts of that day make my cheeks warm a little under his current gaze.

"We need to talk." Austin says, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

I lift a brow, stepping further into the room. I look around at the bare minimum furniture. This is not what I pictured when I envisioned his bedroom. It's not very him, not that I know all that much about him. I feel like I do but I realistically don't.

Despite that it's not him, there is not a whole lot on display. Except a small shelf above his bed tucked in the corner of the room. There's a family picture of smiling faces and a large seashell next to it.

"Is that your family?" I ask, pointing to the picture.

He follows my gaze. "Yeah, my dad and sisters." He stands up to reach for the picture.

I join him near the bed and look at the picture as he shows it to me. He's nestled between his two sisters smiling widely at the camera. His sisters are gorgeous, beautiful long blond hair. His father looks like an older version of him, a mixture of silver through his hair.

"It's a very nice photo."

"Mum took it. Not long before I left to come here actually." He stares down at the picture, his fingers tightening around the frame.

"I know you miss them. I'm sorry that you felt like you to leave them."

His gaze snaps to mine, his brows furrowing. "That's not your fault. I chose to come here and it's not like I'm never going to see them again."