It’s mostly darkness ahead of me, although there are enough spots of boats and cruise ships to give a sense of the horizon.
The water is warm as it splashes over my feet. Funny, back home it’s always cold even at this time of year. Seems like nothing is cold here.
Except Lukas Thorn.
Is Lorena right? Did he drop me from the school because he fell in love with me at first sight?
I laugh again, the water moving up to my ankles. The squishy sand beneath my feet loses its solidity the further I move forward.
Shit, it feels real. This is a really detailed dream.
And if this is a dream, then Miami must not even look like this in real life because I’ve never been there. So did I fabricate all this in my mind? The names of the streets and everything? Is there really a Collins Ave? A James Ave?
I need to go out further.
It must be a dream. There is no way a man like Lukas Thorn would fall for me. He’s a man who dates supermodels like Clarissa Stock, after all.
That alone is proof this is all a dream. I press forward.
The water is up to my knees. I feel a sideways rush of water.
That’s the undertow. It’s all over the news, warning swimmers to be careful. A boy drowned just last week, swept out to sea by a rough current that picked him up and threw him away.
If I go further, I’ll be tempting it.
But this is all a dream, right?
So it shouldn’t matter, right?
“Is this real?” I say out loud to nobody.
I turn and look back at the beach. The lovers and beach bums on their blankets don’t seem to notice me.
“Is this real?” I scream louder.
No answer.
I take another step forward.
Now I’m feeling it. The sense of the ocean is powerful as it swallows me up to my waist. I raise my purse up to my shoulder to keep it from getting wet.
I have a purse. If this is a dream, I wouldn’t have a purse, right? What would I be doing with a purse in a dream?
Hm, now I’m having doubts.
I’ve got admit, this feels fucking real. My heart beats faster and my skin crawls with fear.
If this is real, I’m tempting fate.
I turn and look back at the neon glow again.
I need to know.
I really need to know!
“Is this real?” I shout one more time as I’m about to take another step forward.
“Yes!” says a voice from behind me.
I turn and look.
Oh my God! It’s Zander!
At that moment, a water current hits my right foot and pulls me under.
Holy fuck, I’m drowning!
I’m in a swirl of water, sucked inside of it, and spinning in circles. I inhale a mouthful of ocean as I try to right myself.
I try to swim, but it’s no use. The ocean has complete control over me. I can’t even tell where up is.
Fuck!
Well, looks like I’m going to die.
Walking out into the deep water was a stupid move, wasn’t it?
I guess it was all real.
Now I’ll never know.
Damn.
I’ll never find out if Lukas Thorn really loves me. I’ll break Trevor’s heart because he’ll think I killed myself over him. My dad will think it’s because of him and Karissa. I’m not sure what Karissa will think, because she kept so much of herself hidden from me. I don’t care what my mom or sisters will think.
Oh, well. It was fun.
I take a deep breath and inhale another lungful of water, accepting my stupid fate.
Then I feel hands on my shoulders, carrying me.
No, it can’t be.
Whatever.
I just let myself drift and fall into the vortex.
Chapter 7
A mouth is on mine.
Oh God!
A rush of water flows out of my lungs and I cough furiously, sitting up on my side.
I’m in serious pain as a final purge of water flows out of me and onto the sand, mixed with vomit.
I go into another coughing fit. Hands pat my back. Wait, what hands?
I turn and look. It’s a boy. Seventeen, maybe.
“You’re okay,” he says. “You’re going to be all right.”
There is a young girl next to him, the same age. They must have been on one of those blankets I saw.
After a couple of minutes, I finally get my breathing under control.
Yep, this is real.
No dream.
“Thank you,” I say.
“No problem,” says the boy. “I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
“No! I’m fine.”
He looks at his girlfriend with a quizzical expression. “I don’t know. I think I’d better call an ambulance.”
“Look at me!” I say in my best Lukas Thorn impression. “Don’t call an ambulance!”
They both freeze in position, staring at me.
“Here’s your purse,” says the girl. “It washed up beside you.”
“Thanks. Washed up?”
“Yeah,” says the girl. “It was weird. It was like you were carried by something and just plopped down onto the sand. Troy and I just ran over and brought you here to our blanket.”
I close my eyes for a long second. “So it wasn’t you that carried me into shore? I felt hands lifting me.”
“No,” says the boy. “We were just lying here on this blanket.”
“Are you sure you didn’t see someone? I swear I felt hands.”
The boy and girl look at each other again. “Yeah, we’re sure. There was nobody out there besides you.”
I look around. I’m still here. I’m alive. A little waterlogged, but okay. The girl stares at me with big eyes.
“Maybe it was a spirit,” she says.
A chill passes through me.
Zander! I remember now. I saw Zander!
I grab the boy’s arm and squeeze. “Did you see anyone walking around here? A boy about my age? Twenty-one. Tall and skinny with black bushy hair?”
They look at each other yet again. Both shake their heads and say “no” at the same time.
Okay, this is weird.
Gotta get the fuck out of here and back to the Redmond Apts.
“Well, thank you,” I say. “Thank you so much. It’s nice to meet you.”
They both smile and nod. “I’m Troy,” says the boy, “and this is my girlfriend Sherry.”
“Hi, Troy and Sherry, I’m Abigail.” I stand up. I’m a little wobbly, but I’m okay. “Thanks for saving my life. Look, I owe you. I’d take your number, but I think my phone must be dead after that. Where was my purse, by the way?”
“Right next to you,” says Sherry. “It just washed up and landed beside you, right over there.”
I look over at the spot to which she points. Nothing there now. “Okay, well, I’m on Facebook. Abigail Trowbridge. It says Concord, Massachusetts even though I kinda sorta live here now. Maybe. Friend me, okay? I’d like to be friends, seeing as you saved my life and all.”
“Yeah,” they both say at the same time.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” says Troy.
I look around one more time, scanning for any sign of Zander.
“Yes,” I lie. “I’m fine.”
As I walk off the beach back onto 15th Street toward Collins, I notice that the world appears much more solid. The pavement beneath my feet is hard. If one of these pavers were removed from its place in the sidewalk, its sharp edges would indeed cut me.
Hm.
This is real after all, isn’t it?
Chapter 8
It’s eleven o’clock the following morning. I’m sitting at an outdoor table under an umbrella outside of Starbucks at the Lincoln Road Mall waiting for my dad.
For a girl who nearly drowned the night before, I woke up surprisingly early and refreshed at seven.
First mission was to dry out the contents of my purse and get the sand out. Second mission was to get a new phone.