Lucy had watched the sea. Then, after a while, because that was why she was here, she had phoned Erica, and left a message, although she couldn’t now remember exactly what she’d said. Then she had taken two pills. She still wasn’t completely sure what the pills were, but they made her feel all floaty and detached. She had liked feeling detached, especially now, tonight, and had been a little tempted to take several more, but had made herself stop with two. Detached and floaty seemed like a warning, a hint that too many more pills would kill her. Probably. If she wanted them too.
She still couldn’t decide if she did.
She had put the pills away, and smoked a little weed instead, on her own, on the empty beach. And then she’d sat, for what must have been several hours.
Sat, and listened to the waves.
After a while she had decided to undress, just in case she wanted to swim later. She undressed, and made a neat pile of her clothes, and everything in her pockets, and once she had, she realised that being naked made a perfect kind of sense. Naked, she felt free. She felt as though she was putting everything from the past behind her. And besides, she didn’t have anything else that mattered to her any more, so she didn’t really need clothes either. Or something like that. It felt oddly spiritual, anyway, giving up her last possessions.
She had gone back to watching the waves, quite pleased with herself for that little insight.
She sat. She thought.
After another while, after a minute or an hour, she realised that someone was looking at her.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been there by then, but some time must have passed because her head felt clearer, and it was daylight now, too. It was day. The thin grey light of a cloudy dawn was all about her, and there were no more fiery smoky sunrises like the world was coming to an end.
She sat, thinking about the sunrise. She had liked that sunrise. And the cold empty beach on her own.
Then she remembered.
Someone was watching her. Someone had been, anyway. She ought to concentrate on that.
She looked up, looked around, and found she could see properly again now, could see clearly in the brightening morning light. She could see who was in front of her.
It was Erica standing there.
It was Erica.
Or Lucy was imagining Erica. One or the other. She wasn’t sure.
“Oh,” Lucy said, surprised.
YOU ARE READING
Losing Everything
RomanceLucy loses everything that matters to her, her partner and job and business and all her money. She loses everything, and in doing so she reconnects with an old friend, Erica, and begins to fall for her instead. And as she does, she realizes that e...
