I awoke in another world. The sky, dark grey and foreboding, cast no shadows over the beach but covered everything in a dim navy hue. Oceanic salt and grime coated my skin as thickly as a blanket. I tried to breathe, and a wall in my throat stopped the effort in its tracks. I retched and coughed for a long time, eventually hacking up a handful of wet sand. I gasped in half a breath. When I regained some semblance of composure, sand still coated my throat, but if I sat up straight and tried to breathe slowly, I could get air in and out of my lungs. I looked around. I was on a beach, but it wasn't warm.
The tide licked at my toes as it rolled in towards where I lay on the beach. I scrambled clumsily towards the surf, succumbing to coughing again. The water lapped at my waist as I ran into it, collapsing into the sea. I took in gulps of water to flush out the sand. I took in the cool air when I surfaced. I could breathe again.
I dragged myself back to shore, taking in for the first time how unfamiliar my surroundings were. I began to shiver. This place felt nothing like California. The beach was devoid of people or signs of civilization. Blank. It looked as though it might rain, and dense clouds stared at me from above as if they didn't recognize me, either. Otherness. Lack of belonging. Finally, I was feeling something familiar.
I looked down at my body. My skin seemed a bit darker than I was used to, and it shimmered with the tiny grains of sand that clung to it. I wore a long white dress that I had never seen before. Soaked with seawater, it was slightly transparent. I raised my wrist, inspecting where the sleeves flared out. I waded into slightly deeper waters to get a better look at my reflection. I supposed I looked the same as usual, but it was difficult to make out much of anything in the choppy waves.
After venturing around the desolate beach, I found a single gravel road leading... elsewhere. I followed it, my arms crossed, feeling confused and half-naked. I was becoming more aware of the cold, perhaps due to my surge of adrenaline wearing off. I shivered under my soaked dress. I walked on the mossy edges of the rocky path, as the gravel hurt my bare feet. The last thing I remembered was being with Angela, happily strolling on the boardwalk...
I stopped. We'd been on the boardwalk when Cole showed up. I remembered being terrified of his expression. His squinty blue eyes, his pleading face... Why had he been so upset? I remembered tears streaming down his cheeks.
I heard something. The low rumble of a car engine. It sounded faintly from just around the corner up ahead. I picked up my pace, gathering the skirt of the white dress in my hands as I ran toward the noise. The mossy trees lining the gravel path gave way to the view of a big black Jeep. I waved my arms frantically, and the Jeep stopped. For a moment just afterward, I was uncertain, distrustful of strangers. But I had no other options; the nearest town could be miles away.
The door of the Jeep opened, and an old woman stepped out. She looked at me, perhaps with the same distrust that I directed at her. Then she took a few steps towards me.
"Are you alright?" she called at me. Her voice sounded husky and old.
"Do I look alright?" My voice cracked, and I started coughing.
The woman closed the distance between us, patting my back until I breathed normally again. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Eva," I responded.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I can't remember."
"Huh." The woman looked uncertain. "Where are your parents?"
