Risk It All

IV

    Little did Alissa know, everyone was having more fun than she was that night.

Shane was curled up on his couch with Vicki, barely clothed, with a bowl of popcorn and a romantic comedy movie, running his fingers through her hair and kissing the back of her neck. Vicki was covered in Shane's cologne, wearing the dress shirt he wore that day. Scarlet was backstage at a concert, smiling and refusing to make out with the bassist of a popular local band that, coincidentally, Max was the drummer for. Alissa, though, was sitting on a garden chair on the back patio, wrapped in a light blanket, unable to sleep. She wondered how the rest of the world could go on when her world seemed to stay frozen in time. She wasn't sure if she would ever be able to return to any sense of normalcy.

    The insects had stopped chirping, and the night was silent. It was that time of night where it was hard to hear any cars on the interstate, and everything was silent in Miami. She rested her arm on the knee that wasn't injured and she put her chin in the palm of her hand. The Lieutenant was thinking once again, but this time, she felt like this case really would get solved, she would stop mourning at one point and maybe she would be okay. A little bit before five in the morning, Matt came out of his room with a surfboard and his dog on a leash.

"You're going out to surf?" Alissa asked.

"Waves are best at this time in the morning. Do you want to come with me?"

Alissa agreed, walking out to the car with him, strapping a red, black and white surfboard on the roof next to his blue one. She figured the activity would allow her to take her mind off the case, and give her something to do. When they arrived at the beach, he waxed his surfboard and handed his dog's leash over to Alissa, who could really use the love from his dog.

    The sky was still an inky shade of blue, the remaining stars twinkling in the sky. It was about to start getting lighter and lighter before the sun rose, and the detective and the Lieutenant were the only surfers on the beach. Matt was catching some waves and Alissa sat on the board she was borrowing and pet his dog.

"You should get out there, Alissa. Trust me, you'll feel better." He said, taking his dog's leash and drying off with a towel. Alissa stood up and wrapped the board's ankle leash around her ankle and headed into the water. She paddled out onto the still ocean, studying the horizon for a wave.

    When she saw one coming, she turned around and paddled out standing up at just the right time, hoping that her knee would hold out, and it did. She carved through a pipe, dragging her hand on the inside of the wave as she went through. Alissa let out a smile while she left her feelings in the ocean behind her. She rode the wave into the surf, letting herself fall back into the ocean. The salt stung her eyes and lips, but it was a good kind of healing sting. When she rose to the surface, she pulled herself onto her board and paddled out to the sand.

"You feel better?" Matt asked Alissa when she put her board down next to him and laid down, staring up at the sky, waiting for the sunrise.

"Much." She breathed, laying there, counting her breaths for what seemed like hours.

She realized a lot of things as she was laying there.

She fully realized that Alex was dead and she was never coming back. She realized that there was nothing she could have done to save her. She realized that there was something she could do now, which was solve her murder. She realized that she was alone. She realized that everyone around her was happy, and she was miserable. But, Alissa also realized that she would see some pretty fantastic sunrises, and she had to take it all in before it was too late. Just like it was too late for Alex.

"It's hard to forget, isn't it?" Matt asked, breaking the silence.

"What?" Alissa asked, caught off guard.