by Amy Durham
I opened my mouth to scream at them to stop, the noiseless action ripping from my body. The men with angry voices could not hear me over their own shouting.
I neared the rocks, terrified of what I might find on the other side.
My mind heard the pounding sounds, a beating thud that happened over and over again. And I knew.
They were hurting him.
I dropped to the wet sand and shrieked.
I wasn’t silent anymore.
CHAPTER 13
The shaking woke me up. At first I thought it was because of the cold rain and the grief in my heart. It took me a few seconds to realize it was my mom.
“Layla, wake up!”
My eyes finally unglued. Mom sat on my bed, arms on my shoulders, and when she saw my eyes open, she gently framed my face between her hands.
“Since when do you have nightmares?” she whispered. “What in the world were you dreaming about?”
I blinked my eyelids in an effort to clear the fog from my brain. “I can’t remember.” It was a lie, and I felt bad about it even as the scratchy words left my mouth. But I couldn’t tell her the truth. It would sound ridiculous. Not only that, but the pain that was still slicing through my heart would make it impossible to contain my anguish if I tried to talk about it out loud.
“What time is it?” I hoped I hadn’t woken my parents.
“It’s almost nine,” she answered. “Your dad’s almost ready to go open the store.”
Work! I was supposed to be there in an hour. Enduring my five-hour shift at the store suddenly seemed like a colossal impossibility.
“Don’t worry,” Mom said. “Your dad said he could handle it himself today. I told him you deserved a Saturday off. I thought you might want to see Lucas.”
Yes, I thought. Mom was exactly right. I needed to see Lucas.
Once I convinced her I was fine and the nightmare was nothing to be concerned about, Mom left me alone. I rummaged through the shelves in my closet until I found my black Vanderbilt sweat suit. After throwing it, and a pair tennis shoes on, I sprinted to the bathroom. I twisted my hair back into the clip from last night, but didn’t bother with the loose strands around my face or with make up. I did manage to brush my teeth and use deodorant.
Mom didn’t look twice at me as I left, and I knew she thought I was anxious to see Lucas. Which was the truth, but she had no idea why.
I had to make sure he was okay. Healthy. Unharmed.
I’d been to the beach once with Jessie and the girls, and I had a vague idea of where there was an outcropping similar to the one in my dream. I would start there. Find the place and assure myself that it had just been a dream. Then I would call Lucas and come up with some excuse to see him.
I parked in the small, public lot that served this part of the coastline. I shoved my keys and cell into the pocket on the front of my sweatshirt, and walked as fast as I could across the wooden walkway that led to the beach.
Stepping on to the sand, I looked to my left. The rocks were maybe a hundred yards from where I stood, and as I started in that direction, I realized I was walking the same path I’d run in my dream.
The same path I’d seen the woman running on my very first day in Sky Cove.
I picked up speed the further I went, until I was running full force. I fought the urge to shout for him, knowing he wasn’t there and my fears were irrational – it had only been a nightmare.
My breathing was rapid by the time I reached the outcropping, my legs burning from the force of my sprint down the beach. The sky was overcast and the cool morning air burned as I pulled it in to my lungs.
Salty, damp ocean air stirred around my face as I bent over, bracing my hands on my knees, trying to calm my heart rate, all the while glancing back and forth, proving to myself that all was fine and that no one had been hurt here as I slept.
I heard the hammering of feet just before I heard his voice.
“Layla!”
Luke sped around the rocks, skidding to a halt when he saw me.
My mind overflowed with questions. I wanted to ask him how he’d known I was here? Had he seen my car? If so, what was he doing driving by the beach this early in the day? Why did his voice ring with the same desperation I felt?
But when I opening my mouth to speak, the only thing that came out was a ragged, “Lucas.”
My voice broke when I said his name, and he was there, crushing me in his arms.
His hands traveled from my waist, all the way up my back and neck, and into my hair. The clip that held it all up fell to the sand as my hair tumbled down around his fingers. I snaked my arms around his waist as he buried his face in my hair, thankful for the warm, solid feel of him against me.
My mind was spinning, unable to comprehend what was happening. What had driven us both here, at this precise moment? And why did he seem to feel the same sense of panic and urgency I did?
Gradually, our breathing began to slow, and he pulled back to look at me. The moisture in his eyes caused the tears in my own to spill over, the grief from my dream finally finding an outward expression.
“You’re here,” he whispered, his eyes locked on mine. “And you’re all right.”
“Yes,” I breathed. “And so are you.”
“I was so scared.” His face moved even closer to mine.
“Me too.”
Gently, so gently it took my breath, he pressed his lips to mine. Tears ran freely down my cheeks at the calm, yet profound assurance that Lucas was unharmed and whole. His mouth moved with such sweetness, and I was torn between the confused misery I felt and the joy that bloomed in my heart.
When he lifted his face from mine, he wiped the wetness from my cheeks with his thumbs. My eyes searched his face in a desperate attempt to find answers. “What’s happening Lucas?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, his hands still framing my face. His thumbs stroked back and forth on my cheeks and my nerves began to calm a tiny bit. “I used to think I understood it all, but I just don’t know anymore.”
As uncertain as he sounded, it was clear he knew more than I did. Crazy as it might be, he must’ve had the same dream as me, and come here searching for the same reasons I did.
“What do you know?” I asked.
He kissed me again, this time with vigor, and wrapped me up in the warmth of his embrace. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there, entwined with each other, but when the kiss ended, he spoke with a quiet voice.
“It’s a long story, Layla. I’ll tell you everything I know, but I don’t want to talk about it here. I don’t think I’ll be able to breath easy until we leave this place.”
I nodded with major enthusiasm. I couldn’t have agreed more.
“Let’s walk back up toward the parking lot. I’ve got a blanket in my truck, and we can find a spot on the beach to talk.”
The romance of curling up with Luke on a blanket in front of the sea did not escape me, though something inside me told me the conversation that was coming was more serious than anything I’d ever experienced.
He held my hand as we walked back up the beach, and his fingers gentled on mine the further we moved from the outcropping. It mirrored the relief I felt in my own heart.
Whatever had happened in that dream, Lucas and I were here now. And we were together.
And that seemed more than right.
CHAPTER 14
While Lucas retrieved the blanket from the back of his Bronco, I wound my hair in a knot and clipped it back in place. I also placed a quick call to my mom and told her Luke and I were at the beach.
By the time I hung up, he was standing at the walkway with a blanket in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
“Ready?” he asked.
On the beach we went right, the direction opposite the outcropping. The sun peeked from behind the clouds as we walked, brightening the otherwise overcast morning. When we could no longer see the rocks, we spread the blanket out near the water. The tall grass and evergreens
behind us swayed with the breeze.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing for me to sit down first.
He sat beside me, close enough that our shoulders touched. I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. Lucas opened the water bottle and offered it to me. I took a few sips and handed it back to him.
We stared out at the ocean for several seconds. The soft rushing sound of the waves soothed my frazzled nerves.
“I’m trying to decide where to start,” he said, turning his head to look at me.
“Just start at the beginning.”
“It’s not that easy.” He reached up and ran the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “I don’t think my beginning is the same as yours.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” I whispered.
“How did you end up here this morning?”
I opened my mouth to speak, fully intending to tell him everything, but it all seemed so ludicrous when I thought about saying it out loud. How in the world did I refer to the people in my dream? You and me? He and she? Them?
“Lucas, I... it all sounds so – ” I stopped, took a deep breath. “Crazy.”
“Layla, trust me,” he said. “Nothing is going to sound crazy to me.”
He was right. Whatever this was, we were obviously both in it up to our eyeballs, given that we’d both done a frantic run down the beach this morning.
“I had a dream,” I began. “About you and me. It started off normal, harmless. Just pictures of us at the game last night. Then we were here, walking along the edge of the water. It was still us, at that point, like we really are. But then I was alone on the beach. I was wearing a weird, old dress. And I was running toward the rocks. There wasn’t any sound in the dream, but I could hear everything, like it was inside my mind. There were voices on the other side of the rocks. Angry voices. And I knew, somehow, all that rage was directed at you. I tried to scream for you, to stop them, but no sound came out. I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”
I had to stop there for a moment and close my eyes. I was fighting tears again, though I didn’t know why. It was futile, and I might as well just let them fall. He’d already seen me cry.
He seemed to know I wasn’t finished, because he didn’t say anything. I took a few seconds to get control of myself, and went on.
“As I got closer to the rocks, I heard a beating sound. A loud sort of thumping, like someone being hit over and over again. I couldn’t see, but I knew. I knew they were hurting you. I couldn’t run fast enough. It just kept on, and I knew I’d failed.”
I looked at him then, and I knew he didn’t think I was insane. His expression held nothing but compassion.
“I felt it all, every emotion, every fear, all the grief and sorrow. I fell onto the sand and screamed. That’s when my mom woke me up. Apparently, I’d shouted in my sleep. As soon as I could get dressed and out of the house, I came here. It was irrational. I knew that, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had to come see for myself that nothing awful had happened here during the night. I was going to call you afterward and come up with a reason to see you. I needed to know you were okay.”
“How did you know to come here?” His eyes looked at me with such tenderness, such understanding.
“I’ve been here before,” I said. “Once, with Jessie and Marsha and Tiffany, after school that first week. We just walked barefoot in the water. We didn’t go down to the rocks. But this morning, after the dream, I knew I’d seen that place before.”
“I had the same dream.”
His simple declaration almost knocked the breath out of me. I’d known it of course. Why else would he have come here this morning, running to find me and calling my name? But hearing it from him just made the whole thing even more unbelievable.
“What happened to you?” I asked, even though I was afraid to know. “What were they doing to you?”
“I couldn’t see that. I saw the same thing you saw.” He turned toward me, so that we now faced each other. The wind picked up a bit and blew the loose strands of my hair across my face. He took both my hands in his, holding them on the blanket between us. “It’s like whatever happened on the other side of the rocks was a blind spot. I just saw you, running down the beach. I could feel how afraid you were, and I knew it was because of me. And I knew you were running to save me, trying to stop whatever it was that was happening to me. But I couldn’t help you.”
He lifted our raised hands and kissed the knuckles on both of mine. He took several deep breaths, and I could tell this was as difficult for him as it had been for me.
“I was helpless, Layla,” he whispered. “I saw you fall on the sand, and I knew you were defeated, lost, anguished. And I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t get to you. I was so scared for you. Scared that whatever had happened to me would happen to you next.”
“Oh Lucas,” I said, putting my arms around him, letting him pull me into his lap. “I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” He pulled back to look at me. “There’s more I need to tell you. Things I’ve never talked about with anyone. Well, except for my mom.”
I moved to sit beside him again. He kept me pressed against his side with an arm around my shoulders. I melted against him.
“When I was eight years old I started having dreams. In the dreams I would see a man, and I knew he wasn’t from this time. I knew the dreams were from the past. I didn’t see details. The faces were all unclear, and there weren’t any specific locations or events. But somehow I knew the man in my dreams was me. I knew I was seeing glimpses of his life, whenever it had been.
“For about three years, I only saw him in dreams. And they weren’t scary or unpleasant, so I didn’t say anything. But then I started having these visions, or flashes, while I was awake. It was the same man, the same kind of things I’d seen in my dreams, only it was happening while I was conscious. That’s when I told my mom.”
I looked up at him. I was riveted. Completely captivated by his story. “What did she say?”
“Well, you’ve met my mom,” he said with a smile. “She’s not exactly typical, and she’s a bit kooky. So, I knew she wouldn’t think I’d lost it and try to pack me off to the psychiatric hospital. She started doing research, trying to figure out what these recurring dreams and visions were all about.”
“What did she find?” Could there possibly be an explanation for this?
“She told me she thought I was the reincarnation of the man I’d seen in the dreams.”
My mouth fell open. Lucas laughed.
“I know,” he said. “That was my reaction, too. But, after a while, I had to admit it was the only possible explanation. Mom said she thought the dreams and visions were just a way for me to see bits and pieces of his life, to get to know who he was.”
“Did you see me?”
“Not specifically,” he said. “At least not then. Like I said, I didn’t see details like faces or places. It was all very vague, but yet, very personal too.”
“At least not then?” I asked, repeating his words. “Does that mean that you’ve seen me in your dreams before last night.”
He nodded. “The dreams and visions began to get much more definite over the summer. The first time I saw you was July fourth. I remember it because there was a 5K run that day. I was running when the vision hit. That’s not unusual. It’s actually why I started running in the first place. The visions caught me off guard so often, and I found out if I could relax my mind they’d come then, rather than sneaking up on me. That day, the fourth of July, I was running the 5K. And I saw you... her... running along the beach. And somehow I knew that she was connected to the man I’d been seeing in my visions for years.”
Stunned was too mild a word for what I was feeling. I’d read books and watched movies where this kind of phenomenon happened, but never in my wildest imaginations could I have conjured a situation like this one. Dreams, visions, reincarnation? Had I stepped in to the Twilight Zone? Was Sky Cove
some sort of alternate reality?
“You saw me before you actually saw me?”
“It was really kind of nice,” he said, smiling. “Yours was the first discernible face in any of my dreams or visions, except for my own. And you were beautiful.”
How I could be flattered at a moment as serious as this I had no idea, but I was. That Lucas thought I was pretty was both thrilling and astounding.
Just then, something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. You said July fourth?”
“Yes.” He looked at me with a questioning expression. “Why?”
“We came here that day,” I said. “To Sky Cove. It was the first time I’d been here. We looked at houses. And I saw the same thing. We were driving along the coast. I could see the ocean from the car. I saw a woman running on the beach. I thought she was real, until she plowed right over a family on a picnic blanket, and they didn’t even move. It was like she was a ghost. I chalked it up to stress.”
His eyes widened. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Do you think I triggered something somehow?” I asked.
He nodded. “You coming to Sky Cove for the first time must be significant. Maybe my visions were waiting for you to arrive before they showed me anything else.”
“Be glad you at least had some idea what was happening.”
“I can’t imagine what this must be like for you. Being thrown into all this with no warning, no warm-up.” He kissed my cheek, and I felt his lips move against my skin. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not your fault,” I said, repeating his earlier words.
The sunlight landed on a patch of rocky sand beside our blanket, and a tiny, shiny green stone and caught my eye.
“What’s this?” I asked, reaching over and plucking it off the ground. It almost looked like glass, but it was smooth and frosted, like a gemstone.
“Sea glass,” Luke answered. “Sometimes it comes from shipwreck items. Other times it’s pieces of broken beer and soda bottles. They’d get tossed overboard by fishermen, and over time the broken pieces get tumbled in the water and tossed against other rocks, until they’re smooth like this.”