Ocean Cove

When I woke up the next morning it was to a burning pain in the pit of my stomach, which I quickly came to realize was hunger. Sunlight and a soft sea breeze were pouring through my bedroom window. Weak and groggy, I stumbled out of bed. The small clock by the computer was saying five minutes to eight. Still wearing just the pair of jeans from last night, I went downstairs and through the hallway and walked into the dining room. I was so hungry I didn’t even pay any attention to the room until I saw a plate of breakfast on the table under a cover. There was a note there which I picked up and read:

Chase, your father and I are down at the beach for an early morning sea bath. After you’ve finished breakfast please don’t leave the empty plate in the sink. If you want any tea, I’ve left some in a mug in the microwave for

you. We should be back soon.

Mom

I removed the cover and saw that Mom had done scrambled eggs with two hot dogs and three slices of toast. I quickly gobbled everything down. When I was done I still felt hungry so I went to the kitchen and took the lasagne from the fridge. I cut away a large piece and placed it on a plate, which I threw into the microwave after taking out the mug of tea. I set the microwave to three minutes and waited impatiently for it to finish. By the time it was done, I had already finished the tea. I got a bottle of Sprite from the fridge, and ate the lasagna right there. I washed the plate and the mug like my mom had not so subtly requested and, feeling rather full, headed back up to my room.

After a shower and a fresh change of clothes (a simple blue shirt and a pair of shorts) I decided to call my grandparents. I didn’t know how much an overseas call would cost my parents, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t complain. The conversation with my grandparents was short. I apologized for not calling the night before, but they said that Mom had already spoken with them. Granddad asked if I was keeping my promise and I replied that I was trying. After speaking with my grandparents I turned on the computer. I hadn’t spoken with any of my friends for a couple of days. It didn’t take long for the computer to boot up, and I was grateful for the high-speed internet.

As I suspected, there were lots of emails from my friends asking about how I was doing and when I would visit. I responded to a few of them, then closed the browser.

I had just decided to take a look outside when I heard Mom call out my name from downstairs. I responded, telling her I was in my room. That’s when I heard the cars pull up in the driveway. As my bedroom was on the opposite side of the house, I could not see the driveway. I had to go downstairs to see exactly what was going on.

I found Dad conversing with three men sitting in the living room. All three were dressed in shirts and shorts.

“Good morning.” I said as I got downstairs.

“Good morning.” They replied in unison, their voices coated with an accent.

“Chase. These three gentlemen will be working with your mother and I. This is Gibbons,” he pointed to a man who was about his height and had dark brown skin, striking black eyes and a very bushy black beard. “Hamilton, but we call him Hoggie.” Hamilton was few inches shorter than Dad, bald with a moustache and he wore a small loop earring in his left ear. “And this is Christopher, Christopher Faynes.” Christopher was a young, slightly muscular man with light skin (though not like mine) who looked to be around his late twenties. He wore a sleeveless shirt, which allowed me to see the tattoo he had on his arm. All I could see of it was a circle and some odd star-like symbols inside it.

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” I said after shaking hands.

After their little morning chat they proceeded out, and of course I followed. They went into the backyard which was enclosed by a four foot high fence. There was a kind of storage shed back there that Dad had to open because it was locked, and they began moving equipment for the boat into the Explorer and the other two cars.

As Dad and the others moved the stuff to the truck, I wandered off near the edge of the cliff and peered over. The sea was calm this morning, so the waves were brushing lightly against the cliff. The cliff top itself was about seventy-five feet up from the ocean below, where just beyond the cliff huge jagged rocks that could have looked like displaced teeth jutted out of the water.

“Hey Dad!” I shouted as I walked back. “How do you get down to the beach?”

“Well you just walk up the gap, and instead of turning left to go onto the main road, you just turn right and go down the road. Oh and if you were to go straight, you’d end up at our neighbours, the Morgans.” Dad was loading the last of the equipment onto the truck. Just as he did, Mom came out of the house dressed in a simple jeans and plaid colored shirt. The man named Gibbons approached them.

“Mo’ning Mrs. Rowland.” His voice was heavy with what I assumed was the native accent. “Mr. Rowland, everything on de cars.”

“Great.” Dad replied. “I have to go change. I’ll be back soon.”

Dad and Mom went back into the house. Mr. Gibbons looked oddly at me as I walked over and stood by the truck. After a while he made his way over to me. I only then realised that he was several inches wider than me although we were the same height.

“So, how ya like de country so far, young boy?” He asked. His strange accent seemed so comical to me that I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

“Well it’s not like I’ve been here long, but so far it doesn’t look so interesting, unless you like trees, because that’s all there seems to be around here.” I said as I motioned to the trees around the area.

Gibbons give a deep but soft laugh. “Oh I don’t think dat... I bet I can change da idea fa ya. Tell me boy, ya believe in magic?” I didn’t even have to think about my response. Although I always liked legends and myths ever since I was a kid, I never believed them to be real.

“Of course not,” I answered politely.

“Do ya know wha an Aquamun is?” Gibbons asked, lowering his voice and leaning closer, probably for dramatic effect, I thought at the time.

“No.”

“You see lad, Aquamuns are what you kids might call mermaids and mermen. What you probably know about them is that they live in de sea and they half-human half fish, right?”

I nodded. Truthfully that was all I knew about mermaids.

“Ya see Chase, de Caribbean is a place full’ o folklore an’ on East Island, de most known o’ all folklore creatures are de Aquamuns. First of all, Aquamuns int’ half of nothin’, they’s one whole creature. They look like normal people, just like you an’ me. The sea’s like home, but they can come on land. Sometimes, mostly at night when nobody can see dem, they like ta go down by the beach to do who knows wha. An’ ya know wha their goal in life is? To become mortal… like us humans. But de only way ta do da is to get a human to fall in love wid dem and then kiss de poor soul and that transfers de curse from them to the person making dem human and the other gets the curse of being a Aquamun fah de rest o’ dem life.”

“How do they get people to fall in love with them?” I asked curiously. I didn’t believe any of this of course, but I was still mildly interested.

“Well, it’s natural fa dem to get people to fall in love wid dem. It’s like something in dem blood—if they got any—which meks people fall in love wid dem. And de sad thing is Aquamuns can never fall in love wid a human.”

“And you believe this, that they exsist?” I asked Gibbons skeptically. There was no way that even he, who must have grown up on this island, could believe in such a silly thing. But his response surprised me and I could tell he was pleased with that outcome.

“I got proof. Well, I gaw a story anyway an’ in my books, dat’s as good as proof. Ya see, it happened about twenty years ago wen I was in my thirties.” Gibbons began with a strange look on his face as if he was talking about something he was hoping to have again.

“Me and my friend ol’ Henry used to fish down in Bermintown, you know, de capital of East Island. Anyway we’d go every other Sunday mornin’ and no matta wha time of year it was we always went home with a load, which was good cuz back den I used to sell fish; our spot was a good one. We used to fish on the docks just behind de old police station. Then one day when we were hulling in a mother load of fish, ol’ Henry looks at me an’ says ’Gibbons, ya hear da?’ Of course I ain’t hear squat. So I tells him so. But he swears on his mother’s grave he hear something. Anyway we soon drop that an’ went on wid we work. A few days after that he started acting weird, humming tunes I never hear in me life. He’d be laughing but when I ask him about what , he’d say ’Oh, it’s just a joke a friend told me.’ But ya see the thing is, he was a little weird, so I was his only friend, and he ent had no family, so I started to get worried. One night after he thought I went home I follow him to de docks. I thought he was goin’ to tek de boat out, but he just sit by de edge of the dock and I saw him talking in to the water. Of course I thought he was goin’ crazy, but then would you believe I saw a woman’s head in the water. Oh I’ll never forget that face as long as I live. Long black hair and a perfectly round, smooth face that reflected de moonlight. An’ then I saw her hand reach out o’ de water an touch his face an’ then she kiss he. Full on de lips. Then she disappeared into de water. After that I ran home so fast I could’ve won a medal. When I got home I tell myself first thing in de morning I gine go and talk to Henry. But then next day I couldn’t find him anywhere. Everyone help search, but we didn’t find he. Anyways a few days after Henry disappeared, a woman name Celia appears in

town that looks jus’ like de woman in de water that night. But when I asked her about Henry, she said she was a tourist and never see Henry in she life. Now on some nights people does see Henry by de docks but when they walk up to he, they say he does swim away.”

Gibbons ended his story by shaking his head sadly. I looked at him, unsure of what to say. I couldn’t tell if he meant it just as a story to entertain me or as what he believed was a personal experience. Then all of a sudden he started to laugh.

“Gotcha!” he said, laughing himself into hysteria. “You new people always fall fa da

one.”

“You mean you made that up?”

“How could you think I made that up? Look at me, do I look like the kind of person that makes up things?” He paused a few seconds, then said, “That’s a story we fisherman from Bermintown tell to tourists.”

Gibbons started to laugh again, and a few chuckles escaped from me. It was kind of getting to me—only a little. At that moment, Mom and Dad came out (dad was dressed in three quarter jeans and a lime green shirt) and walked over to the truck as the other two guys hopped into their cars. Dad took one look at Gibbons than turned to me.

“He tried to get you with the mermaid story didn’t he?” Dad asked. I nodded. “He tried to catch your mother and me with it a few days after we got here. Anyway we’ve got to go and get these things set up on our boat, then we’ll be heading into town for a while, actually we might be out for the day, you think you’ll be fine here?”

I looked at him incredulously. Did he think I was twelve?

“Dad. I’m seventeen, not seven. I can and already have been home alone.”

“I was merely considering the fact that you’ve only been here for a couple of hours. But I guess you will be fine. I’ll see you later son. Gibbons if you’re ready hop in.” Gibbons got in the back. As I was making my way to the house, Mom stopped me.

“Chase, I know you can take care of you self pretty well, but while we’re gone I don’t want you to go down to the beach alone.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “Mom I was really looking forward to going down there today. Plus I don’t have anyone to go with as I don’t know anyone here.”

To my surprise she smiled, as if this was exactly where she wanted me to steer this conversation.

“Well don’t you think today would be a good day to start? I would just feel so much better if I knew you were at the beach with someone else. I’m not telling you not to leave the house, don’t get me wrong. I’m just advising you to try and make some friends.”

I gave a heavy sigh before my response. “Okay, I’ll try to meet some people today.”

“Good to hear. Now, when you get hungry later, you can have some of the lasagna, actually you can finish it if you want, as your father and I will probably eat out. There’s some snacks in the fridge and in the cupboards, but don’t eat them off at once, and get the rest of your stuff put away please. We’ll see you later.”

She went back towards the truck and got in. From the front door of the house I stood and watched as the three vehicles drove away, and wondered what to do next.

* * *

After everyone left I had nothing to do, so I wandered around the house.There seemed to be an extra room built onto the house that was accessed from a door in the kitchen wall which turned out to be the wash room. There wasn’t much in there, only a washing machine, a dryer and some cupboards which kept washing powder and fabric softer. The bathroom Dad spoke of was on the right side of the house, and was smaller than the one upstairs.

I went upstairs and finished unpacking, but that didn’t take long enough to keep me occupied. With my bedroom window wide open I could smell the sea breeze coming in. I knew what I wanted to do, but kept reminding myself that Mom asked me not to go. I could turn on

the computer or the PS-3, or go for a walk, even read a book. But none of those things held any appeal to me at the moment. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I mentally apologized to Mom and decided to go down to the beach.

Considering that the house was only five minutes from the cove and I didn’t want Mom finding any evidence against me, I decided not to take anything with me. So with just a pair of outdoor slippers, I headed for my destination. As I was walking up the driveway flanked by trees on my left and right, I noticed that it felt good just to see the sunlight as it shone through the trees. Everything was quiet and peaceful. When I got to the crossroads, before I turned right to go down the hill, I tried to get a look at the Morgan house Dad was talking about, but my line of sight was completely obscured by trees, so I turned and continued down the road. Instead of calling it a road, it should have been called a small hill. If I had a bicycle I wouldn’t have to peddle and I’d still go faster than fifty miles an hour going down there. The good news was, it wasn’t too far to the bottom, so coming back up wouldn’t be a problem.

Before I could take three strides down—strides because the hill was so steep that I would be close to jogging even if I didn’t want to—I heard someone call out: “Hey!” I turned and saw a boy jogging to catch up with me. From the looks of him, he was about my age, the same height as me, with a kind of light brown skin, though not at all like mine. He had short black hair that looked freshly cut and dark brown eyes, just like Mom’s, I noticed. He was dressed in a simple beach pants and a sleeveless shirt—dressed for the beach.

“Hey. I’ve never seen you around here before. Did you just move here or what?”

He had caught up with me. I noticed that his voice wasn’t heavily accented like Gibbons.

Perhaps it’s just with the older people, I thought. We started walking down to the cove.

“I just moved here. My parents own the house over there on the cliff.” I pointed in the direction of our house. Realisation came over the boy’s face.

“That means that you’re Chase, the Evans’ son right.” I nodded, surprised that he knew

me.

“I’m Justin. Justin Walker.” We shook hands.

“How do you know me?” We were almost at the bottom.

“Well, I was down here at the beach when your parents first arrived, so I helped move their things in. They said that you were having trouble adjusting to the moving so you were in Texas with your grandparents.” I just nodded as he said that. “I noticed your dad was a marine biologist, which is totally cool, do you think he’ll let me go out on the boat something?”

“Probably. You could ask him.”

“Cool.”

We were now at the bottom of the hill and I could already hear the waves crashing on the shore. There wasn’t any sand here yet, most of the road was littered with small pebbles. There were a lot of fishing boats turned upside down up here. Some were the Blue Ocean, the Walter Grain, the Black Raven and many more. There were a lot of trees and I could now feel the sand between my toes, although we hadn’t reached the beach itself yet. There was another cliff opposite ours which I supposed the Morgan house stood. Small plants grew around us that had a small purple fruit the size of a pea on them. Justin started picking and eating them. Then he handed some to me.

“Eat them. They’re sea-grapes and believe me they’re good. But don’t swallow the

seeds.”

I ate the strange fruit and they were surprisingly good. We spent a few minutes eating, then went on to the beach.

“There are fat pork trees out there,” he pointed to our right. All I could say was “Huh?” I had no idea what fat porks were.

“But I suppose we could leave them for another time,” Justin said.

We were now on the beach itself and the sight and sound of the waves and the smell of the sea breeze here were amazing. Justin took off his slippers and shirt, threw them on the sand

and ran into the water. He dove under and disappeared from my view for a while, and then he came back and waved for me to come in. I took off my slippers and my shirt and tossed them next to his. Already I could feel the morning sun hot on my chest. Dad told me this was the hurricane season in the Caribbean. From July 1st to November 30th was when the Caribbean islands got the most rain, and hurricanes. Today was sunny, but as I looked up I saw a few grey clouds rolling in from the sea.

I took a deep breath, then ran into the water. Just as Justin did, I went under for a few seconds and then came back up. Since both my parents’ jobs took them out on boats and I went with them sometimes, they thought it would be best if I learned how to swim, and I was actually grateful for that. At my school back in New York there were only a couple of kids in my year who knew how to swim. It wasn’t something to brag about, but it was enough to get me attention from a couple of girls I liked.

Justin and I had a few races, then decided to see who could stay underwater the longest. After I got a little water up my nose, which stung like hell, we decided to just sit on the beach for a while. But as I was about to make my way back to the beach, I dove under for the last time and could have sworn I saw a girl who looked right at me, then swam swiftly past me and into the ocean. After I broke the skin of the surface, I dove under again, but there was no one there. When I was up for the second time I started looking around, just to be sure. I decided it was probably in my head. After Gibbons’s story, I wasn’t surprised.

“Hey, Chase you okay?” Justin shouted from the shore. I shouted back that I was fine and swam back to land. I sat on the sand next to Justin and looked out at the sea. Justin asked me what I thought I saw in the water. I hesitated before I replied. I didn’t know Justin for very long to anticipate his reaction, but nevertheless it couldn’t hurt to tell.

“One of the guys that work with my dad, Gibbons, he told me a story about,” I hesitated “Aquamuns and I guess it kind of went to my head because I thought I saw someone, a girl, swim past me in the water.”

“A girl?” Justin asked, without accusation in his voice.

“A girl, yeah.”

“What did she look like?” He asked.

“Well, from what I could see, she had white skin and she had long, blond hair. I really didn’t see her very well as she moved so fast. But like I said, I think I was just seeing things.”

Justin just shrugged. I was silently glad he let it drop, as I didn’t feel much like talking about a hallucination.

We then decided to pick the fat porks. They were the size of meatballs and tasted very good. I just hoped that I wouldn’t get sick from eating too much. I invited Justin back to my house; I figured Mom would be glad to know that for once I took her advice. I was right about the walk up the hill not being long, but it was hard and by the time I got to the top, my legs were burning. The sun was angling to the right of the sky by the time we got to the house, which was completely empty.

“Parents must not be back yet.” Then I remembered Mom said they might be gone for the day. I took a shower to wash off the sand and threw on clean clothes. I told Justin he could use the shower and I gave him a pair of jeans. We ate the last of the lasagne, then decided to have a go on my Playstation 3. We played Metal Gear Solid 4 for hours until my parents got back around five. It seemed that they went shopping because they came back with a lot of grocery bags.

“There were a lot of things we needed around here. And we had some business to take care of as well that went swiftly. Now Justin do you want to stay for dinner?” My mother asked.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks Mrs. Evans. May I go call my mother to let her know I’m here?” Justin said politely.

“Of course.” My mother looked impressed. Then see looked at me. “Oh, Chase don’t worry about helping me with these, my third hand is working just fine.”

“Oh. That’s okay, I wasn’t planning on helping you anyway.”

Mom gave me a very menacing look.

“Joking.” I chuckled and helped her take the bags to the kitchen and began unpacking. After Justin was finished with the phone he came in and helped, then we went back on the Playstation. But before we did I gave him a quizzical stare.

“What?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks Mrs. Evans. May I go call my mother to let her know I’m here?” I said in a fake girl voice.

“Shut up.” He punched me softly on the arm. At about 6;30 we all sat down and for a dinner of mashed potatoes with fried chicken, which was a pretty normal affair. My parents asked Justin about school stuff, then he asked my Dad about his work in marine biology and questioned Mom about being a veterinarian.

All the time they were talking, my mind was free to dwell on the girl I thought I saw in the water. I barely saw her, but I could tell she was beautiful. I was quickly pulled away from this train of thought when Mom and Dad talked about work with each other, and Justin and I started talking about games. After dinner Justin offered to help with the dishes, but my mother told him it was fine and he should get home. Dad offered to take him.

“You know, that Justin is a really nice boy, very polite.” Mom said to me as I helped with the dishes. “You should be more like him.”

“Well, maybe you should adopt him. Or do a trade, give me to his parents and you keep

him.”

“That’s really not a bad idea.” We both laughed. The phone rang and she answered it in the kitchen.

“That was your father, he’s on his way back. I am really glad to know that you’ve started making friends.”

After all the cleaning was done my father returned. I think he planned his return to be at that exact time so he would have little or none of it to do. I watched TV with my parents, for a while and then after realising I was tired enough--I did have a long day--I said goodnight to my parents and went up to bed early.

I decided to sleep with my bedroom window open again. The sound of the waves was actually kind of soothing to me. I looked out the window and could clearly see the full moon and the starlight from dozens of stars being reflected off the ocean. At that moment was when I made a decision. I didn’t usually do things like this, but I felt kind of excited by just the idea. I didn’t know why I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to do it. I crept down the stairs just to get a peek at Mom and Dad. They were still watching TV comfortably, and would be for a long time. Their work schedule was hectic, so they spent as much time relaxing together as possible. I went back to my room, opened the window wider, climbed onto the tree by my window and climbed down, which wasn’t that hard considering the fact that I haven’t climbed many trees in new York.

I could simply have told my parents I was going out here and gone through the front door. But there would have been questions and they wouldn’t relax until I stepped back into the house, and Mom definitely wouldn’t want me going to the cliff’s edge at night.

I should have worn a jacket, I thought as I shivered from the cold night air. I walked cautiously to the edge of the cliff and looked down. It looked like the tide was coming in slowly but surely. I could see some of the rocks just in front of the cliff jutting of the water, but the sea was beginning to cover them up again. They would become hidden hazards to any boat that passed.

As I looked down at the rocks, amazed at the wonder of the sea, I noticed something peculiar. There was a girl sitting on one of the rocks, and I knew this wasn’t a hallucination. She was sitting with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. I noticed some odd little things around her, which I horrifyingly came to realize were pieces of wood floating in the water surrounding the rocks. She must have been in a small boat, probably a fishing boat,

and lost control when the sea sent it into the rocks, which destroyed the boat. If that’s what happened, she was lucky to be alive.

“Hey! Are you alright?” I shouted to the girl, but it was useless. The thundering sound of the waves on the cliff were drowning my voice.

My mind was working at the speed of light just trying to come up with a solution. If I went for help, by the time whatever help got here, she might be dead. If I went down the hill to the cove I’d have to swim against the powerful waves and through the rocks to get to her. Even if I made it, who was to say I’d make it back? I’d probably be too tired. I knew what I had to do, although knowing didn’t exactly make it any easier for me to do.

I took a huge breath, then slowly lowered myself over the cliff. The wind down here was crazy cold. Now I really wished I had a jacket. I kept going down, feeling for good footholds on the cliff before I moved my hands. The further down the cliff I got, the wetter and more slippery it was getting. I could already feel sprays of water hitting me. I checked to make sure the girl was still there, and she was. In fact, even though the water level was rising quickly and she was getting wet, she didn’t even move. More than once my hands and feet slipped. I never prayed so hard in my life.

My face was now getting wet, and combined with the wind, I was freezing. My hands were numb, my teeth had started chattering and my feet were tired. I started wishing I had gone for help first. I felt around for a foothold and found one. Only this one wasn’t a very good one. It was wet and slippery and as soon as I put my foot on it, I slipped. I felt myself falling into space, but it wasn’t like I could do anything to stop it. I heard a frightened scream and was surprised when I realised it was my own. Suddenly, as I was falling I saw the girl on the rock look up at me. Even though there was a strong chance that I would be dead in a few seconds, I still felt a tinge of triumph because it was the girl that I saw in the sea earlier. The one that was allegedly an illusion. She had the same face. I was positive it was her. The last thing I saw was the look of horror on her face, and then I hit the water--hard. I didn’t expect it to hurt, but it did—and really badly. My head had collided with something hard and I felt myself fall into darkness.

* * *

I found it hard to open my eyes, but still managed to force them open. When I did I felt the worst headache I ever had in my life come over me. Everything seemed foggy, but I could hear the waves crashing on the shore and smell the sea salt on the night air.

I placed a hand on the back of my head and raised myself into a sitting position to try to at least decipher my surroundings. I realised I was on the beach, and that’s when everything came back to me. The girl on the rocks, me falling off the cliff... something I wouldn’t mind completely forgetting.

After a while my vision became clear again. I looked around and was surprised. There she was, sitting a foot away from me the same way as when she was on the rock, with her knees to her chest and her arms around her legs, but now her chin rested on top of her knees. She was looking straight out into the ocean as if there was something so mesmerizing out there that it was impossible to pull away from it.

Her long, black and slightly curly hair was flying in the wind and her pale skin looked like it was reflecting the moonlight in an astonishing way, just like the sea. She was wearing a short jeans and a small, plain white shirt and I noticed she was dry, as if she hadn’t been in the water. I wasn’t dripping wet, but my skin and clothes were damp, as if I’d been drying in the wind for a while. When I heard her voice, it surprised me. It sounded so beautiful, like music that would flow from a magical harp. It was angelic and seductive at the same time, kind of like how you would expect the goddess of love to sound. It didn’t seem possible that any living being would possess such a voice.

“Are you alright?” The girl asked, her eyes still on the sea. I remained silent and just stared at her. She was stunningly beautiful, almost to the point were it could hurt your eyes just to stare at her. I tried to respond. I tried to tell her I was okay, but the words got lost somewhere in my throat because I just didn’t know how to speak to someone that not only looked like an angel, but managed to sound like one too.

After she didn’t get a response from me, she finally pulled her eyes away from the sea and looked at me as though she was trying to decide if I had brain damage or not. Somehow, even in the darkness of the night, I could clearly see her eyes. They stood out to me like to little stars in an otherwise black sky. I don’t think I had ever seen eyes so blue before in my life; they were deep blue like the sea and as I gazed into them, they maintained a kind of hypnotic glare that could have kept me staring into them forever.

She had glared at me for about a full four seconds and seemed to come to the conclusion that I was physically fine. Then she raised an eyebrow at me and I remembered her question.

“Uh-umm, yeah I’m-I’m fine.” Was what I had managed to muster in a kind of horse voice. The pain in my head was quickly reducing to nothing.

“You hit your head on one of the rocks pretty hard, you should get it checked. You could have a concussion.” I just nodded.

How did we get here? The sea’s too high and rough to swim through. I thought to myself. The girl chuckled as if she realized what I was thinking.

“Don’t look so puzzled, it’s kind of insulting. I was able to get us to shore safely. I’m a very strong swimmer you know, if not, you’d be dead. And as we’re on the subject of being dead, tell me something. What were you doing climbing down that cliff?”

I looked at her incredulously. Surely she couldn’t have forgotton that she was also so close to death a few minutes ago.

“What do you think? I was trying to help you. I saw you trapped on those rocks and thought I had to do something. Didn’t exactly turn out how I planned though. Getting knocked unconscious wasn’t part of the plan.”

To my surprise, a look of indignation crossed the girl’s face, though it didn’t make her any less appealing.

“You were trying to save to save me. Well I can honestly say that’s the first time I ever heard that. Did I ask for help or look like I was in trouble? No. You made a foolish assumption and almost got killed. How in the world did you come to that conclusion?”

It was my turn to give the indignant look.

“Excuse me? How was I supposed to know you’re some kind of super swimmer or whatever. I thought you were in trouble and I tried to help you out, and this is what I get? Fine, since you like sitting by yourself so much, I’ll leave you alone.”

I got up fast--too fast, and my head felt slightly dizzy. I staggered for a moment but regained my balance and began walking away, then I heard that beautiful, compelling voice of hers.

“Wait. I don’t think you should be walking yet. Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to be so insensitive. Thank you for trying to save me, even though I didn’t need saving.”

I turned around and saw that she was standing, looking at me.

“Please come back, your head’s injured. I would prefer you didn’t move for a while.”

She looked down as though she didn’t want to make eye contact, then said:

“Plus I’d like your company, that’s if you’re willing to give me a chance.”

The wind blew her hair in my direction, and the sound of the waves kept coming. I walked back over to her slowly, since my stomach was starting to feel bad and I didn’t want to vomit with her around. We sat down together, though she made sure there was at least an arm’s length between us.

As I sat there, a strange smell tickled my nose, and I realised it was coming from the girl. It smelled like the sea, but with something else mixed with it, like a flowery aroma, though I wasn’t good with flowers. So I couldn’t tell if it was actually a flowery scent. It’s hard to explain, but it just smelled so good that I could’ve sat there and inhaled it all night.

She chuckled suddenly, as if laughing at something. I then realised that my mouth was hanging open slightly. Get yourself together, I thought. Where were all these feeling coming from?

From the moment we sat down the girl returned to her sea-gazing, leaving me to freely glance at her, but she asked a question so quickly that the sound of her voice startled me.

“Why were you even on that cliff?” she asked, still looking out to sea.

“Well first, it’s not like I wanted to kill myself or anything. I live in the house on the cliff. My parents and I just moved here, well, they were here for the past three days, I only came yesterday. Anyway, I wasn’t feeling very indoorish so I decided to get some fresh air.”

I don’t know if I really saw it or not, but the girl actually looked a bit more relaxed after my explanation, though I couldn’t imagine why.

“I didn’t even want to come here in the first place and now look, I almost die on my second night, isn’t that something?”

“You’re not, though. Dead. You’re not dead, so that should mean a lot to you. Maybe you could start trying to like it here, I mean, it‘s not so bad.”

“How do you know I don’t like it here?”

“I can hear it in your voice. You sound so sad, like you had something taken away from

you.”

“Thank you,” I said softly after a while. She still didn’t turn to me when she responded, but her voice sounded genuinely puzzled.

“For what?”

I scoffed before I answered. “For saving my life, remember? Thank you.”

This time she not only looked back at me, but shifted her position so she was sitting towards me.

“You’re welcome.” She studied me again, though this time I couldn’t tell why. “What’s your name?”

“Chase.”

“You’re different from others, aren’t you?” She asked oddly.

“What do you mean? Different from who?”

I was puzzled. She seemed to realize what she had just said and looked as though she said too much.

“I merely meant that I’ve never met anyone like you. You almost died tonight, you could have a concussion, yet you don’t seem very scared or even rattled.”

“Well, I am a little shaken, I mean I did fall like, fifty feet. But it’s over and I’m alright. Plus I told my parents I was going to bed. I don’t think they’d be happy to find out that I sneaked out and almost fell to my death.” That’s when a question occurred to me. “What were you doing out there anyway? Good swimmer or not, if something had gone wrong you could have died.”

A smile slid across the girl’s face and she placed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“Like I told you, I’m a pretty strong swimmer. I like being in rough waters, you know, to test myself. Plus it helps to somehow calm me. I just like being in the sea, though I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone. So let me ask you something, why don’t you like it here?”

She now looked totally interested, as if I was about to tell the most fabulous story in world. I had to really think about how to answer, because no one had ever asked me that. My parents and grandparents seemed to think I should just accept being here.

“Well, it’s not that I don’t like it here. I just like my home in New York better. I have everything there—friends family, school. But here I don’t have anything. It’s just my parents and me.”

I knew I felt this way inside, but as I said this for the first time, I actually began to feel sorry for myself.

The girl looked as though she was about to say something, but suddenly she jumped up and looked regretful.

“I’m sorry Chase. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be with you or even talking to you. It’s not good for you to be here with me, so I have to go. I’m sorry.”

She looked like she wanted to say something more, but thought better of it. I, on the other hand, jumped up in surprise. I didn’t understand why she thought she shouldn’t talk to me. It actually kind of hurt when she said it, but when I tried to ask her she cut me off and said:

“There is a small public hut with a bathroom to the right at the bottom of the road, if you want to wash off. You should get home Chase, if your parents find you gone they’ll start to worry.”

And with that she turned and sprinted off in the direction of the hill and disappeared into the darkness. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and she was gone and I didn’t even get her name.

* * *

I found the stall without difficulty. After I was free of sand I made my way up the hill and back home. I was cold and my teeth were chattering so hard that my mouth hurt. When I got home I went around to right side of the house. Climbing the tree wasn’t exactly easy when my hands were so numb, but I made it. I crawled through my bedroom window and fell to the floor with a loud thud. I silently swore at the pain.

“Chase. You alright?” Dad called from downstairs.

“Yeah, I just fell of the bed.” I shouted back. I got off the floor, took of my wet clothes and threw them in the corner (I’d move them in the morning and put on a dry, warm pair of shorts, and a shirt—I don’t like wearing pyjamas) and climbed into bed. I wrapped the bed

covers tightly around me to trap as much heat as possible, still feeling the after-chill of the wind and cold sea water.

Obviously, I couldn’t get to sleep. My head was buzzing with the events of the night. It felt like my brain didn’t want to slow down; I couldn’t stop thinking about anything that happened tonight--about how I almost died. But mostly I couldn’t get the girl on the beach out of my head. As soon as I closed my eyes, the first thoughts that entered my mind were of her. I saw her in my mind sitting on the sand with her hair blowing in the wind, gazing out to sea. The sound of the waves outside only intensified the memory in my head. But I still couldn’t help wondering why she had said she shouldn’t talk to me. That was the first time we met, so it’s not like I did something to make her want to stay away from me. Maybe her parents didn’t like mine and told her not to talk to me. It was childish, but some people would do that. But that also didn’t make sense as she didn’t even know me when I told her my name.

At some point after I closed my eyes I drifted off to sleep and the picture I had in my head turned into a dream. I was back on the beach and there was a girl sitting on the sand, backing me. What was weird about this dream was I could see everything around me clearly-- the trees, the boats on the beach, the cliffs, even the small rocks on the sand could be easily seen, but the girl was the only thing in the dream I couldn’t make out. At first she was completely covered in darkness, and even then somehow I knew it was that girl, and I was sure she wanted me to see her face, if it wasn’t for that damned shadow. I walked up to the girl and stretched out my hand to touch her shoulder, but before I got too near a blinding white light emanated from her, followed by a horrible scream.

“No!” I shouted. I ran forward to grab the girl… but then I woke up. I bolted up straight in bed, breathing heavily. Sunlight came through my bedroom window and hit me right in the eyes, so I had to raise my hand to shield them from the light. I staggered out of bed and was about to go to the bathroom when I saw my clothes in the corner, right where I left them. After having to untangle myself from the tightly wrapped covers, I scooped up the still damp clothes, crept downstairs and threw them in the washing machine, since Mom already had clothes soaking in there. I went into the kitchen and saw Mom making pancakes.

“Good morning Chase,” she said, turning the pancakes over.

I barely lifted my feet as I walked, still groggy with sleep. To me it felt like no more than two hours had passed since I fell asleep, though the clock in the kitchen was saying 7:30 and I was sure I fell asleep long before twelve. I went to the fridge, opened it and gazed inside.

“Chase, how many times do I have to tell you not to open the fridge and just look inside? One, you’re wasting electricity and two, you could catch a cold, you just got out of bed.”

I reached in, took out the bottle of pineapple juice, and drank it from the bottle. Actually the bottle didn’t even touch my lips, I just tipped the bottle over my mouth and swallowed the juice, it was a skill I had acquired over time. Not exactly something to be proud of.

“Boy, how many times am I going to have to tell you to stop doing that and use a glass?”

“This way’s faster. And less washing to do later. Where’s Dad?” I returned the bottle to the fridge.

“He’s getting some stuff together because he’s going out on the boat later.”

“Really? Cool. Maybe I can go out with him something.”

I let that linger there for a moment, as I remembered the bump on my head. I placed my hand on my head and felt the bump there. Panic rose in my chest. I wasn’t sure, but I could have sworn it felt a little bigger. I had to push thoughts of tumors and blood clots out of my head before I said:

“So Mom do you think you or Dad can take me to a doctor or maybe a hospital later?”

I tried to make it sound like it was no big deal, but Mom looked questioningly at me with a hint of fear.

“Last night I tripped and fell down the stairs and hit my head. It’s nothing to get upset about.” But apparently it was.

“And you’re now telling me this? How’s your head? Does it hurt? Are you getting any kind of discomfort?”

Mom was trying to look for a bump in my head and, sadly, she found it. I heard a sharp intake of air.

“Oh, baby.” She sighed.

“Mom, I’m fine. Turn those before they burn.” I said, pointing to the frying pan. I heard a knock at the door and went to answer it. It was Gibbons. He was dressed in casual jeans and a striped shirt. Nothing fancy.

“You answer de door in ya underwear boy?” He asked in a kind of growl. I suddenly remembered I still wasn’t dressed yet. I was still wearing the boxers and shirt from last night.

“Where ya Dad is?” Gibbons asked.

I told him he was out in the yard, then I went back up to my bedroom and got dressed. Mom had wanted us to leave for the hospital right after I got dressed, but I convinced her I needed to have breakfast, as passing out from hunger wouldn’t really help things.

At about nine o’clock Mom took me to the East Island hospital, or EIH, as some people called it. Because it was the island’s only public hospital it was crowded with people who were there for check-ups because of injuries and other stuff. Surprisingly, Mom knew a doctor who worked there, Dr. Catherine Holder, and she had called ahead and the doctor kindly consented to see us. The hospital wasn’t very elaborate, not like one in New York or the entire US for that matter. It was four stories tall but had a lot of other buildings, which were probably other departments, connected to it.

Dr. Holder examined me and to my relief, and Mom’s of course, said I was fine.

By the time we got back home Dad, Gibbons and two other men along with Justin were waiting by the house.

“The doctor said I was fine.” I spoke before Dad could even ask. He didn’t make any effort to hide his relief. I really wished I hadn’t told him. I couldn’t even count on my own father to believe I was a little durable.

“We’re going out on the sea for a few hours, you want to come?” He asked as he handed some equipment to Gibbons.

“Yeah.” I responded enthusiastically. I loved going out with Dad whenever he went out on boats. It was one of the things we did together, one of the things I still loved doing with him.

As soon as everything was ready, we all bid farewell to Mom as she got back in her the car and headed off to work. Mom sometimes went along with Dad on the sea, professionally of course, but today her schedule was just too full.

Instead of a personal vehicle, parked in the driveway was a small, white pick-up truck that had a cover over the back which was where they kept the secured equipment for the boat. On the side of the truck were the words, East Island Marine Department.

As I didn’t feel like going on a boat in a long pair of jeans, I changed into a red beach pants and a blue shirt.

“So how do you fit into this?” I asked Justin once I was back downstairs. He was also wearing a blue beach pants and a plain white shirt.

“Last night your Dad told me that he was going out to sea today and asked if I wanted to come. He cleared it with my parents. I only went out on a fishing boat once, but that was years ago. But now I get the chance to go on a marine biology expedition. Totally cool.”

After all the stuff was loaded onto the truck we all hopped in (Justin and I in the front with Dad) and were off. I had wondered which beach we were going to, but when I asked out loud it was Justin who answered.

“St. Martain’s Boat Harbour, right? It’s about fifteen minutes from here.” Justin said, very sure of himself.

“That’s right. That’s where our new boat is, The Blue Crystal. Oh and she is a beauty.” Dad often spoke of his boats with passion; he used to say if he had never became a marine biologist, he would have been a fisherman or a sailor, or giving boat rides to tourists.

“Plus, this harbour is a lot closer to us then the one in Bermintown. And it’s less crowded. You’ll see.” Dad added.

Justin was right about the time it took to get to the harbour, because we were there in about fifteen minutes.

St. Martain’s Harbour was very small and there were only about ten boats there. There was a lighthouse situated on a little cliff just beyond the harbour. After we arrived in the harbour, Justin and I got out of the truck while the others loaded the equipment onto the boat. The Blue Crystal was a white crab-fishing vessel. As soon as Justin and I were on board, Dad had us put on life jackets.

“What are you guys doing today, Dad?” I asked as he finished loading the last of the equipment, which were two long boxes I knew held the guns they used to shoot tracking darts.

“Well, there have been reports of unusual whale activity around the island lately, mainly here. And not all kinds either, people always say it’s two, and always the same two. A Humpback Whale and an Orca, to be a little more specific about the species of whales.”

“Is it unusual to have whales around here?” I asked.

“Well, no.” Dad responded. “See, people would probably see a whale or dolphin every once in a while, but these whales are being spotted every day and they have been getting pretty close to the island and they’re not following their usual habits, so we’re going to see if we can find them and tag them to see if they’re the same some ones or different ones.”

“And if they are, the same ones I mean.” I wondered aloud.

“Then we’ll have to find out why those specific two are attracted to the island so much.”

“Perhaps they like the attention. Fame has gone to their heads.” Justin joked. Everyone burst out laughing.

After a while, Justin asked: “So, how are you going to tag?”

Dad opened a box and took out a small, flat object with a one-inch metal rod on it. Just like I thought: a tracking dart.

“With this. It’s the latest in whale tracking technology. All we have to is shoot this onto the whale and bam, we can get sensor readings and sound recording. If something or someone out there is disturbing the whales, we’ll find out what it is.”

“Ya bess be hoping it ain’t wha I think it is.” Gibbons said while untying the boat.

Everyone laughed as Gibbons went to steer the boat.

“Mermaids on the mind again.” Joked Chris.

As we left the harbour and got further out to sea, we started to see flying fish, turtles and other sea creatures. It was about fifteen minutes after we left when we saw what we were looking for. A huge, brownish Humpback whale, about sixty yards away, rose out of the water and went back in with a huge splash.

Dad and the others began running around and shouting things as Justin and I hurried out of their way, but still kept good positions to keep the whale in sight.

“Get the tracker ready!!” Hoggie bellowed over the noise of the boat engine, the whale’s song and the animal splashing around.

“Why isn’t it already set to shoot? Gibbons get closer, don‘t lose it!” Dad shouted as Charlie handed him the gun, ready to shoot at the animal.

“Ya bess hold on then! Ha-ha!” Gibbson shouted, absolutely ecstatic as he spun the steering wheel to the left with all his might, causing some of us to fall to the floor. As I got up, I felt sprinkles of sea water on my face, and I saw Justin looking absolutely amazed and then

when I looked straight ahead I saw the whale once again go back underwater about twenty yards away.

“Damn, he’s gone!” Hoggie shouted, frustrated as he searched the ocean surface for the

whale.

“No he’s not. He’s coming back up, we’re close enough to take the shot.” Charlie shouted from the sonar inside the boat. A few seconds later the whale broke the surface of the water again.

“I’m ready for him.” Dad shouted, ready with the gun, but even as the whale remained visible he didn’t take the shot.

“What are you waiting for? Shoot!” Charlie shouted as he joined the rest of us on deck.

“Not yet! We gotta get closer first!” Dad shouted back, still keeping aim.

“Tag it now.” Hoggie prompted.

“A little closer.” Dad repeated. We were now about ten yards away.

“How much closer do we have to get?” I walked over to Dad and asked.

“Not much closer.”

The whale dove underwater again, and as soon as it came back up, everyone shouted “Tag it now!” I heard a small pop from the gun.

“You did it! Joe you did it!” Charlie shouted, after he ran back to the cabin and was looking at the computer screen. Everyone started cheering, but that came to an abrupt stop when Charlie said: “We got something else on sonar. It’s big but not as big as the Humpback. Might be the Orca!” And sure enough a killer whale flew out of the water and dove back in.

Dad was about to shout something to the others when Hoggie shouted: “Don’t worry Joe, I got the second gun armed!” He handed the gun to my Dad, who looked at me and said: “Chase come over here son.”

I ran over to him as quickly as was possible on the rocking boat.

When I was younger, Dad would always tell me stories about how he’d tagged whales, and how he loved to hear their sounds. I would always ask him if I could ever tag one and he would always say, “One day soon.” But I didn’t expect it would be today. Dad shoved the gun into my hand.

“Dad, what are you doing? If I mess this up, you could miss tagging the Orca.” I said, feeling a little scared. The gun looked like a rifle designed to shoot arrows. It already had the other tracking device in it.

“You always wanted to do this, here’s your chance. I’m here and I’ll help you. And if you miss it, it’s your first try and that’s okay. Now do you want to try this?”

I swallowed hard and stared at the rifle. “Yeah. I can do this.”

“Good.” Dad showed me how to stand and hold the gun and I had to admit that it did feel pretty good. By the time I was ready, the Orca was submerged again.

“Now wait till he surfaces, and we’ll tell you when we’re close enough for you to shoot. Make sure you’ve got a good shoot, then pull the trigger, okay?”

I nodded. I saw the killer whale surface about fifteen feet in front of the boat. I had never been this close to a whale before and despite the fact that I was ninety-five percent sure they weren’t going to attack the boat, my feet felt like they were going to give out on me. I knew that Dad was counting on me and I wasn’t going to disappoint him.

“Chase, shoot now!” I heard Dad shout, but I just couldn’t pull he trigger because somehow, the Orca had me mesmerized. It looked so graceful as it swam through the water and even from the distance of about eleven feet, I could have sworn the whale was looking at me.

I realised that everyone was shouting, telling me to shoot. I pulled myself out of whatever had happened to me and pulled the trigger. Along with the small pop I heard, the

force of the gun shooting the tracking made me stumble back a little. I heard everyone cheering behind me. Someone slapped me on the back and I turned to see it was Justin.

“That was so cool!” he shouted.

Dad was laughing proudly. He looked at me and said: “Good work Chase. That was great. I’m proud of you.”

I handed him the gun back. My hands were shaking like crazy and they were kind of tingling, and I looked over the side of the boat because all the tension had made me nauseous. That’s when I saw it. The sickening feeling I was having must have been making me see things, because I thought I saw a boy swim past the boat under the water wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.