Silent Tides of the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 1: The Call

Lia's apartment felt unusually quiet that evening—an oppressive silence that seemed to swallow even the faintest sound. It wasn't just quiet in the usual sense, it was the kind of stillness that made her uneasy, as though the world was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. The walls, usually a comforting cocoon of solitude, seemed to press in on her tonight, amplifying the weight of her loneliness. She stood by the kitchen window, staring out at the skyline, her fingers absently tracing the rim of a chipped coffee mug she had never bothered to replace.

The city outside pulsed with life. Neon lights flickered, traffic hummed in the distance, and somewhere far below, the muted chatter of people enjoying their Friday night echoed faintly. Yet here, in her little apartment, all of that seemed a world away. The lively city had no place in her current reality, where the only sound was the faint hum of the refrigerator and her own shallow breaths.

Her reflection in the window caught her eye, and for a moment, she didn't recognize the woman staring back at her. The tiredness around her eyes, the weight in her posture—it all seemed foreign. She had been drifting like this for a while, caught in a routine that numbed her, though she couldn't pinpoint when it had begun. Time passed, days blurred into one another, and she moved through them like a ghost.

Then the phone rang.

The sharp sound tore through the stillness, startling her. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she froze for a moment, fingers hovering above the phone on the counter. A sense of unease slithered into her chest, tightening around her ribs. She hadn't been expecting a call, especially not this late. Who would be calling her now?

She glanced at the screen. Mom.

Her mother's name blinked in harsh, white letters. Lia's stomach twisted. She hadn't spoken to her mother in months. There hadn't been a fight, no bitter words exchanged—just silence. The kind that crept in slowly over time, widening the distance between them until it felt impossible to bridge. And now, for some reason, the idea of talking to her mother made her anxious, like she wasn't ready for whatever conversation was waiting on the other end of the line.

Her hand trembled as she pressed the green button and brought the phone to her ear. "Mom?" she whispered, her own voice strange and uncertain, as if it belonged to someone else.

"Lia..." Her mother's voice wavered, fragile and thin, like it was holding back something too heavy to carry alone. Lia's breath caught in her throat. She knew that tone. The undercurrent of pain that threaded through the simple greeting. It was the kind of voice that carried bad news. A chill ran through Lia, the stillness of the room suddenly suffocating.

"It's Mason," her mother said, her words dragging, brittle and slow. "He's... gone."

Lia felt the world tilt beneath her, the air in the room seeming to drain away. The mug slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly onto the table, but she didn't notice. The sound of her mother's voice reverberated through her mind, but her brain struggled to process it. Gone. Gone. The word echoed in her head, each repetition more surreal than the last. What did it even mean? How could someone just be... gone? She tried to grasp the full weight of it, but it slipped through her fingers like smoke.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Lia's voice was barely a whisper. She knew—deep down, in that place where truth always lies, waiting to rise to the surface. But she needed to hear it. Needed it to be spoken aloud, to make it real.

"Mason... he died. It was an accident."

The room spun. The walls seemed to close in, the silence replaced by a roaring in her ears. Lia closed her eyes, her breath catching painfully in her chest. She hadn't seen Mason in years. Hadn't spoken to him in even longer. Their lives had diverged so completely that he had become more of a memory than a person. And now, the thought of him being gone—truly gone—felt like a punch to the gut.

Mason. The boy she had grown up with, the boy who had once been everything to her. The boy who had made her believe in forever. And now, he was gone, just like that. No warning, no chance to say goodbye.

"Lia, the funeral's in a few days. You should come home." Her mother's voice was thick with emotion, the words weighed down by the gravity of the situation.

Home. The word hit Lia like a wave, washing over her with a bittersweet tang. Home wasn't home anymore. It was a place she had left behind, a place full of ghosts and memories she hadn't wanted to face for years. How could she go back there now?

"I don't know if I can," she muttered, her throat tight, the words strangled.

"You have to, Lia," her mother urged softly. "Mason would want you there."

Would he? Lia didn't know anymore. The Mason she had known had been gone for a long time, long before this moment. But still, the pull of the past was strong, tugging at her with relentless force. After a long silence, she whispered, "I'll think about it."

That night, sleep wouldn't come.

Lia lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, her mind a whirl of memories she hadn't touched in years. Mason's face kept flashing through her thoughts, not as he had been when they last spoke, but as the boy she had known growing up. 

The boy who had once been her entire world, the boy she had loved before she even knew what love really meant. And now, all those moments—those precious, sun-drenched memories—came rushing back, unbidden, clawing at the walls she had carefully built around her heart.

---

The sun beat down on them that afternoon, its golden rays making the sand beneath their feet almost too hot to touch. Lia's laughter rang out across the beach as she chased after Mason, who was already sprinting toward the ocean. The sound of crashing waves filled the air, the salty breeze tangling in her hair as she struggled to keep up.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Mason shouted over his shoulder, his grin wide and carefree. His sun-bleached hair gleamed in the sunlight, and he looked golden—like a boy who belonged to the summer itself.

"I'm coming!" Lia called back, breathless, her legs sinking into the sand with every step. She was never as fast as Mason, but it didn't matter. They always ended up in the same place, side by side.

When she finally reached him, they collapsed in a heap near the water, the cool waves lapping at their legs. Mason grabbed a stick and began drawing in the wet sand, tracing random patterns that disappeared with each wave.

"You think we'll always be like this?" Lia asked, her voice soft, full of childlike hope.

Mason turned to her, his expression serious for a moment, as if the question carried a weight he hadn't considered. Then he smiled, a smile so bright it made her heart feel lighter. "Of course. You and me? We're forever, Lia."

She had believed him, then. With all her heart.

---

Lia woke with a start, her chest tight, the memory of that day still vivid in her mind. She hadn't thought about it in years. She had buried everything about Mason—the memories, the feelings—deep down, so deep she thought she had forgotten them. But now, with his death, everything she had forced herself to forget came flooding back. Every smile, every promise, every piece of the life they had dreamed of together.

Mason was gone, but the memories were not.As the night stretched on, Lia knew what she had to do. She had to go back. She had to face the past, to confront the boy who had promised forever but left before they could find it.