Night Surfing

Sunlight filtered through the canvas tent. Sahine opened her large black eyes, then stretched her arms upward. Her hands brushed against the seashell strands hanging from the wooden beam. Ine slept on her tiny cot a few feet away, her stringy hair splayed on the cloth.

After touching Ine's forehead, Sahine stepped outside and watched the ocean waves lapping against the shore. Sand clumped between her toes as she walked down the hill, leaving a trail of webbed footprints.

Sahine's hair unfurled around her like a halo when she dived into the ocean. She dug mussels out of the sand and stuffed them in a pouch. When she returned to the tent, she smiled, showing her pointed teeth.

I'm hungry, Ine said in their language as she played with a rock.

I'm hungry, too. Look at all the mussels I found!

Sahine upturned the pouch and dumped the mussels on the ground. Ine grabbed one of the shells and beat it against a rock until Sahine cracked it open. They dug the flesh out of the shells with their claws.

A while later, they walked to the cliff's edge along the coastline. Ine clung to Sahine's hand as she crept across the grassy sand. Sahine gestured to the paintings faded into the rock.

Look! That's our history.

The brown, dusty paintings showed humanoid figures landing on the beach, hunting fish and exploring the forest. The last painting showed the figures constructing a city out of huts. A single figure hovered over the ocean waves like a ghost.

Who's that? Ine said.

That's the last of the old kind. She disappeared into the ocean.

Oh. Why?

I don't know. It happened a long time ago.

Is she coming back?

No. I don't think so.

Why doesn't she just fly out?

She couldn't really fly. Her kind lived on land, like us.

Suddenly, an image flashed in Sahine's mind. The image was faint and distorted like a childhood dream. She started to tell Ine more about the paintings to distract herself, but Ine was busy digging in the sand.

When they returned to the camp, Sahine and Ine started washing their clothes in a stone basin. Something glinted in the waves. Ine suddenly dropped the fabric and hurried forward, then returned with a shell clutched in her fist.

I found a shell!

Yes, I see it! That's beautiful.

Sahine turned the shell around in her hand. The inside of the shell was a pearlescent white. Something about the sight stirred a distant memory, but when she tried to focus, the image flitted away.

I want to read, Ine said as they hung their clothes on a rope between two trees.

What do you want to read about?

The old people.

Again?

Ine pouted. Sahine smiled at her.

Okay. One more time.

Sand clung to their feet when they returned to the tent. Sahine reached underneath her bed and picked up a leathery book with a string for binding. The tent opening cast a triangle of sunlight across the faded illustrations. Sahine started to read out loud in their language:

ANOTHER RACE LIVED HERE LONG AGO. THEY HAD A GREAT CIVILIZATION ALL AROUND THIS GLOBE. WHEN WE ARRIVED, ONLY A FEW OF THEM WERE LEFT. FEW OF US INTERACTED WITH THEM. THE LAST ONE DISAPPEARED INTO THE OCEAN WHEN THE MOON WAS STILL WHOLE. WE HAVE OFTEN DREAMED ABOUT THE DAY WHEN THEY RETURN.

What's going to happen when they come back? Ine said.

I don't know. I don't think they're coming back.

Ine frowned. Why not?

They're all gone. Nobody's seen one of them in hundreds of years.

Ine toyed with a loose thread on her clothing. Sahine hesitated, waiting for Ine's mood to plummet.

I bet the nets have a lot of fish, Ine said abruptly.

Sahine smiled with relief. Yes, I think so, too! Let's check.

They spent the rest of the day cleaning the tent, cooking fish and making jewelry from the bones. That evening, Sahine sat on the cliff overlooking the ocean with Ine in her lap. The moon hovered over the waters, a chunk missing from the rock. As Sahine studied the waves, images flashed in her mind.

A woman with brown hair grinned, flashing two rows of shiny white teeth. Her eyes were bright white with a black circle and green ring in the center. She laughed as the wind blew her hair around her face. The woman's skin was strangely tanned and soft.

Sahine brushed Ine's hair out of her eyes, then idly played with her claws. Ine looked at her quizzically.

I'm okay, Sahine said.

Another image glinted in her mind. The woman watched lights flashing in the dark sky above the ocean. An indistinguishable voice murmured over the waves.

Ine patted Sahine's knee. Sahine wrapped her arms around Ine and watched the grasses rustling in the darkness. A bird hooted nearby.

Are you getting tired? Sahine said.

Ine nodded silently. Sahine scooped her up and headed back to the campsite. Insects trilled outside the tent as they climbed into bed.

After waiting for Ine to fall asleep, Sahine crept out of the tent. She wrapped her arms around herself as she crept toward the hillside. Moonlight glimmered on the waves, illuminating her greenish skin.

The woman flashed in her mind again, walking along the shoreline as the waves grazed her bare feet. Sahine's mind wandered back to the figure on the cliff painting. She imagined the woman standing in front of the waves and looking back over her shoulder before she stepped into the ocean. The water crept over her chest and shoulders until her hair floated on top of the waves, then disappeared like a flame.

---

Mallory smiled faintly to herself as she walked down the beach with Leah beside her. A silver clip held Leah's brown hair out of her face. Dozens of stars glinted in the dark sky.

"I just had deja vu again," Mallory said.

Leah glanced over. "Did you really? What triggered it this time?"

"Looking at that cliff. I just felt like I stood there, and--this is going to sound crazy, but I felt like I had a child."

"Really? Boy or girl?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you're seeing glimpses of your future life. You know you could still adopt."

Mallory toyed with the ring on her finger. "Maybe. But it feels like--okay, this is going to sound really crazy, but I feel like I'm not human? I don't know. I feel like I'm something different, like--it's like a human, but different. Does that make any sense at all?

"If you're not human, than what are you?"

"Maybe I'm a ghost. Maybe I go here when I die."

"Well, that sounds morbid."

Mallory laughed. Her dress brushed around her ankles. When they returned to their vehicle, a group of teenagers had parked beside them, blasting music as they unloaded a surfboard.

"Night surfing." Leah shook her head as she unlocked the car. "It's so dangerous!"

"I think it would be fun, especially on the Fourth of July. Can you imagine surfing under the fireworks?"

"Oh, sure. Perfect conditions for a firework to hit you in the face."

Mallory rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Leah smiled at her. She reached back and unclipped her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders.

"I'm serious, though," Mallory said as they started driving. "It's so odd."

"What's odd?"

"The deja vu. I felt it when I was here last night with Sandra, too."

"Maybe it's just your brain glitching."

"Maybe. I don't know. And the really weird thing is--it's daytime, but there's nobody else around. Everything's just silent."

"Sounds relaxing."

"I think so. Maybe my mind's just fantasizing about a tropical beach."

"I don't blame you. We'd all love to go there."

Mallory nodded, then took off her sandals and rested her feet on the dashboard. She rolled down the window and extended her hand, filtering the wind between her fingers.

An hour later, Mallory sat in her bedroom, writing in her journal. Cool air wafted through the screened window. Stars glinted between the tree branches.

As her mind drifted back to the beach, an image flashed in her mind. She saw herself diving into the ocean and gliding through the waters like a fish. Mallory focused for a moment, then shook her head and started writing again.

I have deja vu EVERY time I go to the beach these days! It's so crazy! I need to go to bed now, but I'll write about it tomorrow in more detail. Goodbye for now!

Mallory

Bubbles rose around her face in the vision. After hesitating for a moment, she closed the journal, then knelt in front of the window and folded her arms on the windowsill. The moon was round and full over the trees. Insects trilled in the backyard as she gazed up at the stars.