The Search for Light

03: Tessa

The Search for Light 

Part 1: Chapter 3

Karla, Jack, and I stood on the white sand beach that connected Eden to the ocean. The heat from the burning sun caused my skin to water and my breathing to harden. I excused myself from Karla and Jack and went back into the large, white carriage. The black leggings the Woodlyns had graced me with were more so for the cold morning. Now, in the heat of the afternoon sun, they were pretty much worthless.

I took off my boots and removed my socks and leggings and placed them into a nice corner of the carriage. When I went back out, I expected the sand to be hot but it wasn't. It wasn't cold either. The sand felt just right.

"There's no one here," I noted.

Jack squinted at the sea and then the sun. "We aren't late," he said, "but we aren't early either."

"Oh," Karla and I said simultaneously. "Are we meant to go into the sea?" Karla continued.

"Karl, that was such a fancy way to say that," I said.

"Yes," she said to me. "So?" she turned and looked at Jack.

Jack looked at the ground. His lips closed in on themselves and brows furrowed as his eyes searched the sand for answers. "Maybe," he finally answered.

The word 'maybe' reminded me of someone. Another friend on the internet. Tessa and Karla were kere, maybe he was too? My attention fell on Karla as the thought crossed my mind for the first time. In all my excitement to see two of my online friends in a fantasy world that seemed to come from anime, I had forgotten about the rest of my friends.

"Do you think Kami's here?" I asked Karla with a look of excitement.

"Maybe, but Kami's real name isn't Kami, you know," she said.

"My real name's not Mimi but-"

Jack interrupted me. "Are you talking about Sir Imak Elysia?" he asked.

"What?" I said.

"Imak." Karla sounded like she was about to break into laughter.

"He's to meet us at the capital," Jack continued.

"Imak," Karla repeated.

Jack frowned. "You might not want to mock his name. He's second in line for the throne of Elysia and in charge of the war-"

"Imak," Karla and I both cut him off. We looked at each other and burst into laughter. Karla had a soft voice so her laugh was cute.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, his frown deepening.

"Nothing," I said through fading laughter. "We should probably sea if Karla's idea works."

"Haha, sea, very funny Meymey," Karla said sarcastically though there was still a smile on her lips.

"Thank you. I do try," I did a small, fake bow to her.

"I volunteer Mimi to go in first," Jack said.

"Gladly! I love the sea!" I ran towards the calm waves before Jack or Karla or any third party could stop me or protest.

Whenever I had previously gone to the beach with my family, my mom never -never- let me go into the ocean for more than two minutes. And when I was in the ocean, all I would hear from her was screams for me to come back to the sand. This felt liberating.

I was knee-deep into the water when the sea started drifting away from me. I didn't go back to the shore but rather stood still. I was too curious about what was happening and my gut told me to stand still. I listened to it since it was rarely ever wrong.