Ocean's Secret |on hold|

2 | So It Begins

After the service, while most of the congregation mingled in the auditorium and out front around the tea and coffee tables, Meredee sat on the edge of the stage and looped a cord around her arm, wrapping it up neatly before placing it in the box of mics.

"You got plans this afternoon, Kallum?"

"Yeah, my brother is up from down south, and we're all going to O'Charley's to celebrate our parent's 25th anniversary," he zipped up his bag and slipped his drum sticks in the pouch on the front.

"Oh, you're right... That was this week, hey?" she normally remembered these types of things. "I'm sure you'll have a great time," she said. Maybe she'd just stay home and read a book.

"Sure, thanks. I'll catchya around," he said, his blue eyes sparkling as he waved and took his kit, piece by piece, out to his car.

She breathed a sigh and let her eyes aimlessly wander over the crowd; happy families and their laughing children playing tag, young couples with grinning babies, teenagers chatting, and singles blushing. Then a face caught her full attention. There, behind an elderly couple, with long dark hair framing the mysterious complexion, were the piercing dark eyes once more probing into Meredee's heart, as if reading her thoughts was the most common occurrence.

Meredee held her breath and felt the tingle start on the back of her neck and trail down her spine, goosebumps branching out across her back and arms before she shuddered from what seemed to be a sudden drop in temperature. Their gazes held for how long, Meredee could not tell; time seemed to freeze as the world became oblivious to this moment, to this spark of recognition that passed between them as if they had some connection. It didn't last long. Someone walked through their line of view, obstructing Meredee's vision for a split second, and when they passed the woman was gone. Meredee took a step forward, then practically ran through the crowd, but she could not find her.

"Hey, Meredee! Want to join us for lunch? We're celebrating-"

"I know, Mrs Harvey, Kallum told me. Congratulations, but I have other plans; I'll see you later this week," Meredee quickly said as she discreetly tried dashing through the foyer and up the steps to the carpark. All the while she kept looking for the woman, and only when she stood in the middle of the hot asphalt-covered lot, the heat waves shimmering up around her, did she see, through the tall pines that lined the driveway, the unmistakable hair and fluttering dress as she disappeared down the street.

Meredee hurried up to her car and fumbled with her keys before finally jumping in and twisting the ignition. She was mindful of others in the parking lot as she obeyed the 7mph speed limit, but upon reaching the road she floored the gas and screeched up the road, desperate to catch another glimpse of the woman. Why couldn't she just stay in one place so Meredee could talk to her for once? What was with all this secrecy, now-you-see-me-now-you-don't business?

Like the other night. Meredee had been sitting in the middle of her bed, surrounded by papers and student assignments that needed to be marked, but of course her mind would be elsewhere, gazing out the window as the waning moon stared at her unblinking. Then a faint whisper reached her ears, blown in through the window on the constant coastal breeze. The voice was smooth and feminine, and had a startling resemblance to something in Meredee's memory. Tumbling off the bed she peered out the window, if only to hear the words more clearly, if that was truly where the whisper was coming from.

Ka'leisha.....

Meredee stepped back from the window as if slapped between the ears. That name. That voice. It all came back; the fight, the woman as she spoke that name, her sudden flight into the woods, following her into the trees as she flittered from one to the other before vanishing once again.