Out of the Darkness

71

"Huh," I heard. "I guess I did...but I don't remember how I know this. It's just random information that's now in my head." I shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It's still something, right?" She smiled. "Yeah, I guess it is." The atmosphere in the car became light, and fun after that. She became even happier than she was, and exclaimed about how pretty parts of the scenery were as we passed them. "I can see the water!" she said, letting her window down. Her hair whipped around her face, so she flattened it with both hands, and bunched it all up in one hand. "It smells amazing here." Most people would probably disagree with her. The air was full of car exhaust, and fish, but I knew what she meant. If you could get past that, it was the smell of the the sun on the sand, the salty water that we were close too, the sweet scent of flowers coming from the hedges that we passed. It was my comfort place, my happy place. I thought maybe it was hers too, or it could be. The beach could make everything seem less dire. I parked the car, then walked around and held out my hand to her. She rolled her eyes, with a smile and took it, allowing me to help her stand. I popped the trunk and pulled out the blanket that I knew was in there. I held it up and grinned at her. "See? Prepared." She laughed, and took the blanket from me, pressing it to her cheek. It was one of those super soft ones, that I probably shouldn't put on the sand, but whatever. It was all I had for now. She held out her hand to me this time, so I reached to take it, lacing my fingers with hers. We were quiet as we walked down to the sandy area of the beach, allowing our other senses to experience the trip. The wind in our hair, the sun warming our faces, and just the utter sense of peace that always seemed to come from it. Once she spread the blanket out on the sand, just out of the tide's reach, we sat down next to one another. "It's really nice here. It feels familiar," she sighed, looking out at the sparkling ocean. The beach wasn't empty, but neither was it busy. It was just calm, with a few families, maybe a few romantic couples, just spending time together. I noticed that Anna was watching one couple, in particular. Nothing special about them. They were just walking the shoreline, hand in hand. The girl looked up at the guy, a smile on her pretty face, the sunlight bouncing off of her blonde hair. She said something that we couldn't hear, then the guy swooped her up in his arms, while she let out a shriek of laughter. When I glanced back at Anna, she had a wistful expression on her face. "You know, I don't think I ever had something like that, when I was alive. Well, the last time that I was alive. I would remember that, I think," she said, softly, still watching the couple. "They look so happy and carefree." I nodded, watching her face. "They do." She turned her head and met my gaze. "Have you ever had that? Something like that? Have you ever been in love?" I rested my elbows on my drawn up knees, and looked down at the sand. "Yeah, I have. A couple of times. It didn't end well," I answered. She was quiet for a moment, so we just sat there, in the fading sunlight. The sky was putting on a show it seemed, just for us. I watched the colors meld together, the orange and red, blending until you couldn't tell one from the other. The purple and blue twilight, resting against the pink backdrop as the sun seemed to drop further down into the darkening ocean. "I'm sorry," I heard Anna whisper. I looked at her, momentarily stunned by the reflection of the emerald sunset in her eyes. "Why?" I asked, confused. "That it didn't end well. I don't think that love should be so hard. Not if it's with the right person," she answered, dragging her fingers in the sand, forming some design that I couldn't quite make out. "I think it's hard sometimes, even with the right person. Nothing is always easy. When you fall in love with someone, the feeling is fresh and new. It's easy at first. Then life brings you back down to reality and you realize that you have to work at it. Sometimes, it doesn't work...but when it does, I bet it's incredible," I replied softly, watching her face. She looked up and met my gaze, then gave me a tiny smile. "You're a good guy Colby Brock. You'll find your forever, and she'll be so lucky to have you." I didn't know what to say to that, because I wasn't sure that I believed all of it anyway. I changed the subject by jumping up and knocking the sand from myself, before holding my hand out to her. "Come on. We didn't come here to just sit the entire time." She shielded her eyes against the setting sun, and grinned, then placed her hand in mine. I pulled her to her feet, then took off my shoes. She followed suit, and we started walking towards the shore line, where the water met the sand, before running back into the ocean. She sucked in a breath as the water hit her bare feet, then let out a short, joyful laugh. "I love this!" she exclaimed, dropping my hand and running a few more feet into the water. She held her skirt up, even though the water was only grazing her calves. I walked towards her, thinking that she had never been more beautiful that she was right now. She was so happy. Today had been about letting her enjoy the sensations of being human again, of being alive. That was something that I sometimes forgot to do. Just thank God that I was still here, that I could take that deep breath of salty air, that I could feel the wet sand sinking between my toes, that I could enjoy the scene of a sunset over the ocean...and most of all that I share in Anna's experience, her joy. I laughed as she leaned down and splashed water at me, wetting my clothes. "Oh, you're gonna regret that," I growled, glaring at her playfully. I could swear that I saw her gulp, before she tried to race out of the water, away from me. I caught her around the waist, and swung her back towards the deeper waters. She squealed and brought her legs up high. "NO Colby! I don't have any other clothes! Uncle, Uncle!" I thought about just dropping her in the water, and smiled to myself as I imagined her disgruntled expression. Instead, I lowered her to her feet in the deeper water, so that it came to her knees.