Ocean

She first heard it during a geography lesson in second grade.

Later, she tasted the syllables in her mouth, rolled it around, felt the weight of it behind her teeth.

They had been learning about continents.

She yawned as her teacher's fingers skimmed across the colorful shapes on the screen. They looked like melted ice-cream.

"-Africa, Asia, North America, South America.." her voice droned. Tanya's eyelids drooped.

"...and of course the Other-Lands, the youngest continent...."

Everyone knew about them, but they were unstable. No one lived there. Tanya had seen old men in stiff suits on tv talk about them once.

"..But they weren't always this way. Before the Other-Lands had a different name. Ocean."

Tanya snapped awake, the newness of the word ringing in her ears.

She spent the rest of the day repeating it over and over again.

Ocean. Ocean. Ocean.

She fell asleep with the word a whisper on her lips. Ocean.

During her teenage years, the Other-Lands were a source of entertainment; the butt of a joke.

Their voices echoed across halls, bouncing off walls.

-"I heard if you fall in you're done for."

-"I heard about one dude with a pickaxe who tried to reach the bottom. Fell right through."

Tanya sighed, "Where did he end up?"

Countless pairs of empty eyes blinked back at her.

-"Nowhere. It's just a rumor, Tanya."

She clenched her fingers, "But don't you think there's something there? Under the Other-Lands?"

They shook their heads. She could already guess what they'd say. It was the same response she'd heard since that day. Nothing there. Nothing to see. Nothing important. As far as the rest of the world was concerned the Other-Lands were nothing more than a lifeless relic- an untouched monument of bottles, cans, plastic bags. But Tanya knew there must be something else. Ocean.

-" I don't know Tanya, why don't you grab a pickaxe and see for yourself."

That set them all off- their laughter spinning out into the air like wailing crows.

All through university, jobs, paying bills, she kept the word. On her desk sat a tiny calendar, one day circled in blue ink. She saved and scraped. Bought a non-refundable ticket.

And then there she was, the word tucked away in her pocket like a promise. Today she'd fulfill it.

Her pickaxe stuck out of her backpack-she hadn't been able to get the zipper around it. She stepped out onto the Other-Lands. They creaked beneath her, crunching under her feet as she walked.

It was too late to turn back. But she didn't want to. Tanya's life had been leading up to this moment. She would truly know this word. She'd feel it on her skin- discover the secrets under its syllables.

She struck the surface with her pickaxe. Once, twice, three times. Finally, it split open, a dark, shimmering abyss flashed up at her, throwing off light.

Tanya said it to herself once more-"Ocean"

-and plunged in.