Everlasting (3 page)

“Yeah.” I clutched my towel tight, fighting the urge to shove my thumb in my mouth.

The blast of heat hit us when we stepped out—the sun radiating its intense intrusion of summer rays. I loved the heat, but this humidity would take some getting used to.

W
e trudged
through the hot sand, heading to the crescent beach. The droves of people playing and laughing were as thick as roaches in a city gutter, and my adrenaline rushed—I couldn’t wait to join in on the fun.

We found three beach chairs and threw our towels and sunscreen on them, then ran for the water. Mandy and Matt didn’t waste any time plunging in. I ran fast, but screeched to a halt at the water’s edge as the familiar quiver grabbed ahold. It started at the top of my tummy and worked its way down to the pit—my chicken-self taking over.

Gathering a small amount of courage, I squeezed my eyes shut and dipped the tips of my toes in. Hundreds of colored fish darted around in the water and headed right for me. My imagination ran rampant.
Did I really just see the yellow fish’s teeth gnashing and
snarling at me?

I jerked my feet out like a spazoid on steroids. “Eek!” Arms spinning like a windmill, I overdramatized the move and flailed back on my heels, butt-planting into the wet sand, leaving the sassy imprint of two round butt cheeks.

My hands shook, and I clutched my stomach, cussing myself for drinking so much orange juice earlier. I got back up again, and my head jerked to the right, then the left—looking for the millions of people who had seen me commit that horrid mistake.

I crept back to the water’s edge, forcing myself to stand and watch them. Maybe the fish weren’t as vicious as I first thought. In fact, they were beautiful. My heart slowed down and took its place back in my chest. I edged my toes back in again, and after taking a deep breath, inched in a little farther.

“Get in here, Sophia, you’re missing out on all the fun.” Mandy waved at me from the waist-high water that she and Matt were standing in.

My lips trembled and my voice shook. “I will…just trying to savor the moment. Take it all in.” Truth is, it wasn’t just the fish I was afraid of. It was the vastness. The ocean was so big and unforgiving—water overwhelming. Seagulls screeched overhead, but I got braver, slinking my way farther into the deep.

Matt and Mandy splashed one another, laughing. There was no mistaking they were lovers, and I waded toward them slowly and reluctantly, my feet dragging—pushing the heavy water. An intruder in their world.

I squinted into the sun, the water swooshing around my legs. “Comin’ in hot.”

Mandy rolled her eyes, snickering. “It’s about time.”

Matt wouldn’t leave her alone. He cupped his hands and splashed water in her face.

“It’s just all so…staggering.” Goose bumps prickled my arms, teeth chattered. The chilly water may have been the culprit, but I think my frail nerves took hold—eating their way in and sanding me raw around the edges.

Mandy slapped at Matt’s hands. “Quit it…. Just swim a little, you’ll get warmed up.” She dove under the water.

My gaze was on Mandy and other creatures of the deep. When I glanced away, I saw Matt was situated on his surfboard, riding high on a wave.

My eyes flicked wide. How did he escape without me seeing him? “Matt’s awesome.”

His arms were spread out on each side of him, legs bent just a fraction. He had this surfing thing down to a science.

“Ha, he just likes to show off.” Mandy waved at him while he rode another wave. “But keep your hands off him…or you’ll be sorry.” Her expression pinched tight, teeth clenched, eyes loomed with a stark stare.

My words tremored, voice shrill. “Um…you know…you know I’d never do that.” I scratched at my temple, and my stomach fluttered.

She softened. “I’m sorry, never mind me. We’d better go get the snorkeling gear.”

My legs weakened with Mandy’s unforeseen threat and lodged a pain deep in the back of my throat—the rough edges of rocks poking and stabbing. I wanted to lie down and rest. Stop this throbbing in my head. She wasn’t the same person that moved away four years ago.

T
he line to
rent snorkeling gear went on forever, winding around the food huts, sprawling onto the sand. Evidently, snorkeling must be the thing to do around here.

I wrung my hands.
Why did we have to do this?
Mandy didn’t know what she was getting herself into with these ideas. She wanted to teach
me
, who was
more
than a little paranoid of sticking my head in the water while trying to breathe, and also a little freaked about getting close to fish, to snorkel.

My stomach churned, doing flops like a circus act. “I don’t know about this, Mand.” I crossed my arms tightly over my stomach. “My swimming is pathetic, and the fish freak me out. Maybe we should just leave…yeah, let’s go.” Lifting myself up and down on my tippy-toes, I inched closer to the rent-a-gear window. I pulled on her arm, one last dig at desperation. “Let’s go sunbathe…sounds like a great idea to me.”

Mandy waved it off. “You’ll be fine. Here, take this money and order two sets of gear. I need to go to the bathroom.” My lips mumbled—jumbled up words to let her know one more time I wasn’t happy—as she hurried off to the bathrooms. She didn’t hear a thing I said.

I took one more step, squinting into the sun and also into the unshaven face of a pudgy man at the window. “Two sets of snorkeling gear, please.”

“That’ll be twenty-four dollars.” He handed me the gear.

“Whew, whatta relief. Needed that.” Startled, I spun around. Mandy stood right next to me. “Well, let’s go.” We walked toward her favorite snorkeling place about two hundred yards from where we’d just been swimming and searched for a place to put our stuff.

We found a spot next to a lady wearing a hot-pink one-piece, rubbing sunscreen onto her young boy’s face. Mandy dropped her bag to the hot sand. “Better than nothin’.”

My stomach tickled—soft butterfly wings brushing, scrambling to be released.
What am
I doing? I don’t belong here. I’m not a pro like the people here.
Mothers were helping their children put their gear on, and the children didn’t look scared at all. In fact, they jumped around, begging their moms to
hurry up
. But they had probably grown up snorkeling—had years of experience. Yep, that had to be the reason they wanted to do this so-called fish-watching. I tucked my arms close to my sides, my shoulders sagging, wanting to shrivel and disappear—just be a spectator.

Mandy handed me a flipper. “Okay, here’s how this stuff goes on.”

My face contorted at the silly looking mask and gigantic flippers. They were odd, to say the least, and I was a bit skeptical about putting them on. But I struggled into them, and we waded out to the knee-deep water. She put her face in to show me how to breathe. I stared at the water and took a deep breath, gathering courage. When the cool water hit my face, I gasped, fighting the urge to rip it back out. My movements, short and jerky, had me looking like a monkey bobbing for bananas as I struggled, holding my breath.

“You can’t hold it forever. Take a breath. That’s what this tube’s for.”

I put my face back in and drew a quick breath. Gasping, panicking, and flailing, I jerked my head out again. I yanked the tube from my mouth, coughing and heaving, my hands groping—sliding over my face—clearing the water away. “That’s horrible. I don’t like it…don’t like it.”

“For the love…you’re fine. You’ll get used to it. Quit being a baby.”

That’s it. No one’s calling me a baby
.

I dipped my head again, taking one breath, then another. My confidence began to boost and I smiled inside—to myself. Maybe I was getting the hang of it.

I became braver. We swam out to deeper water.

“I think you’re getting it. There’s some cool fish over here.” Mandy pointed off to an area on the right. “This’ll get anywhere from ten to fifteen feet. Just keep calm, and watch for me. I don’t want you to get too far away.”

“Ha, you know that ain’t gonna happen. I’m not getting eaten by any fish.” I stuck the tube back into my mouth.

Mandy rolled her eyes, and we both poked our faces into the water, beginning to swim again.
I got this…nothing to it.
Proud of the quick way I caught on to this snorkeling thing, I swam on, taking deep easy breaths, my ego inflating my lungs.
What had I been so afraid of?

But my elation ended as quickly as it came. A gush of salt water rushed into my nose and mouth—plunged down my throat. I shot up, gasping and coughing, ripping the tube back out of my mouth, fighting to breathe—to live.

I gulped…once, twice…heaved…then gulped again. “I hate this!” Smashing my fist to my chest, I tamed the cough and caught my breath. “I think I’m drowning! What happened? I thought I was doing everything right.” Ready to vomit, I coughed up rivers of water and heaved again.

Mandy’s face became pained, worried, but only for an instant. Her face now struggled to hold back a laugh. “Oh, ya weenie. Ya just got a wave over your tube. You’ll live.” At least she had enough class to smuggle away a smile. “Blow out next time.”

“Got so involved, I forgot. At least I did it.” I shrugged and rolled my eyes, wishing we were done.

For another hour we snorkeled, then decided to head back to our chairs. We scurried—running on our toes to get out of the hot sand—when a movement in the swath of trees to the east startled me. My breath caught, and my hand flew to my heart. My gaze swept to the grove, catching a glimpse of men in long black cloaks. There looked to be about eight of them, their heads shrouded in black hoods, but they soon slunk away to the trees and vanished before I could see their faces.

A shock of coldness zipped through me, making the hair on my arms stand on end. “Did you see that?” I pulled on Mandy’s arm and stiffened my neck to avoid burying my head into her shoulder. “What were they?”

“What was what?”

“Strange people…scary people. Are you sure this beach is safe?”

She broke into a sinister, you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me laugh and her head balked, turning to look at me. “You’re delusional. This beach is harmless.”

I shivered, my shoulders tight, brushing it off—maybe the snorkeling had gotten to me. We planted our butts into our lounge chairs, and I pushed it out of my mind.

L
ater that night
, I sat in my room and pulled my pink daisy stationary from my suitcase.

Day One: May Twenty-Ninth,

My first day on the beach. Met Mandy’s fiancé Matt, and we hit it off right away. He’s so right for that girl, although at times, I wonder about Mandy and her motives. Almost drowned snorkeling, which made me hallucinate, but all in all, it was a good day.

Sophia Bandell

T
he next morning
, the three of us paraded our way back to the beach. I reached to wipe the sweat away from the skin above my top lip as the intense sun drilled its way in.

Mandy and Matt teased and laughed with each other, racing to see who would get to the water first. I joined them but wanted to take it easy today. The snorkeling yesterday had worn me out, and I wanted to work on my tan.

I swam for a while, but the water wasn’t as inviting today—cooler. My teeth chattered, racketing in my head the moment I stepped in. Yesterday’s sun had burned my skin and put a chill in my bones.

I left Matt and Mandy gamboling in the waves and got out, plodding back to my chair. After I shook my towel and spread it out, I sank down, ready to close my eyes and snooze. But first, I shook my bottle of sunscreen, arming myself against the villainous UV rays. The coconut-smelling liquid squirted to my chest when I flipped up the spout on the bottle. I rubbed it in, flinching when I touched my shoulder to apply more sunscreen. My skin singed red hot, stinging.

Ready to lie down, I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes and eased back. Before I’d even had the chance to touch the soft towel, something skimmed over my head. I whipped around. A red plastic saucer stuck in the sand next to me.

My face became moist, and I inhaled the hot breath of someone other than myself. I tilted my face, looking up into the eyes of a black dog. He panted, drool dripping. His tail wagged, ears up, and he lowered his head—eyes begging to retrieve his lost toy.

I gave him a pat on the head. “Hi, boy, is this yours?” His tail went wild, setting off a jingle from his collar.

Under his chin, a green name tag dangled. “Symphony, huh? Guess you’re a girl. Is your owner around here somewhere?” I glanced over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone close by.

“Symphony, where are you, girl?”

“She’s over here.”

It was there—sitting on my beach towel, burnt to a crisp, my hair stringy and wet, sand in every possible crevice, a dog’s hot breath in my face—that my gaze lingered, catching full sight of him. A soft curl of shaving cream swirled under my nose. I looked up and gasped, resting my eyes on the most beautiful human being
ever
.

His full lips held me, and his shock of thick black hair fell in waves over his head. He had a body that I was sure entered most girls’ dreams at one point or another…as in all of the time. The shaded stubble on his face was accented by dark sunglasses.

The muscle above my top lip twitched, and my skin tingled with voltaic sensations. I scratched at my arms, the itching already starting.

His smile curled my toes.

“Whoops, sorry about that.” His deep voice oozed sweet, sexy politeness with just a touch of Southern inflection. “Hope it didn’t hit you.”

I cleared my throat, preparing to make it sound its utmost best. Usually, this backfired on me and croaked out like a drunken frog. “No, not at all.”
Ugh, yep…horrible, that frog did it again.

My stomach welled with nausea. Fighting to find the right words, I handed the saucer back to him, and a slight quiver quaked through me when my hand brushed his. I cleared my throat again. “Does she play catch with you?”
It sounds a little better.
I patted the dog on the head again.

“Yep, she loves to play.” He pulled on the dog’s ear—roughing her up. “This is my black lab, Symphony. Symphony…shake.” Symphony raised her paw in front of my cheek, but her ears drooped. I don’t think she cared much for this trick.