Where the Mountains Meet the Sea

by A. R. Breck

  “Where did you come from?” I ask before the thought even clicks in my head.

  “Illinois,” she sighs, like there’s a long story in just those eight letters. She turns her eyes toward mine. “I’d like to go down to the water. Do you want to come, Nora?” Her eyes swing to my sister.

  Nora frowns. “Maybe later.”

  “Can I play with you later?” Luna asks her.

  “Yeah.” A smile stretches across Nora’s lips before she looks back down and continues brushing the Barbie’s hair.

  Warmth hits my palms, and my fingers get tugged. My eyes widen as I look down, seeing Luna’s hand in mine. Her fingers aren’t laced against mine, just a simple handhold like my mom would do. But for some reason, it feels like so much more.

  “Show me the lake?” Luna asks.

  I nod, feeling the tadpoles in my belly again.

  We leave hand in hand. Walking down the stairs, through the basement, and out the back door. The air is thick and heavy as we head toward the water and sweat is already dotting along my hairline once my feet hit the sand.

  “Ouch!” Luna’s hand flies out of mine as she brings them down to the soles of her feet. She hops back and forth, the hot sand burning her as she jumps from foot to foot all the way down to the water. She looks weird. “That sand is hot! Doesn’t it hurt?”

  My feet burn, but it’s welcome against my skin. I’ve lived here for as long as I can remember. The heat reminds me of home. The slight fishy and beachy smell is refreshing to me instead of gross.

  “Not really.” I walk toward her until my feet slide into wet sand beneath the water. I curl my toes around the rocks underneath the sand, feeling as they scrape against the skin between my toes.

  “You’re kind of weird.” She bends over and dips the tips of her fingers into the water. The hem of her dress gets wet, the blue fabric darkening to an almost black.

  “I’m not weird. You’re weird.” I scowl at her, cupping my hand and splashing her a little. Only a little, though, because I know my mom will make my life hell if I drench the new neighbor.

  But when she brings both hands to her chest, palms out, and pushes a wave of water toward me, I can only think of one thing. I dive under the water, eyes open as I watch her legs move in slow motion in an attempt to run away from me. I wrap my fingers around her skinny ankle and pull her underneath the water. She slips beneath like a piece of paper, folding and bending under the water with her pale, thin limbs.

  I cut through the water until I reach the surface, laughing and rubbing the water from my face. Luna reaches the surface a second later, coughing and laughing. Her black hair looks silky as it lays down her back. I want to touch it and see if it feels as soft as it looks, but instead I turn around and go to the dock. Pressing my palms against the chipped wood, I push myself up and sit on the edge, leaving my feet to wade in the water.

  Luna follows my motions, walking through the water and over to me in her sopping wet dress. She has a harder time, hopping a few times until she finally lifts herself up and sits close to me.

  Really close to me.

  Her wet leg brushes against my wet leg, prickling goosebumps against my flesh. I keep my head facing the lake floor but shift my eyes to hers, wondering why she would choose to sit so close to me. I don’t even know her.

  “My friend used to live in your house,” I say, because I’m still angry about the entire situation. I never wanted my friend to move. But my mom says that’s what happens when people get a divorce.

  Luna looks over at me, her gray eyes trailing across my face. “I didn’t want to move here.”

  “Why did you?” I frown at her, wishing for a moment that she could go back to where she came from.

  “My dad got a job here, I guess. Something with cheese.”

  I nod. Wisconsin has a lot of cheese.

  The silence stretches taut, the invisible string between us growing thin, the tiny threads shredding until there is barely anything left. Just as it’s about to snap, whatever weird tension is building, I leap into the water and walk up to shore.

  The only other time I feel that uncomfortable thickness in my chest is when my parents are yelling at me about something I did wrong.

  I know Luna isn’t about to yell at me, so I don’t want to find out whatever it is that comes after that.

  “You can go inside and play with Nora if you want,” I suggest. “I’m going to catch some tadpoles.”

  “I like to catch tadpoles.” Her voice is curious and excited as she slides off the dock and into the water. The splash is tiny, like she slipped underneath without disrupting the calm waters. She follows me up to the beach. I keep my back to her as I walk toward my pail, picking it up and walking around to the other side of the dock.

  She follows.

  “It’s not really a girl game.” I stare into the water, even though I know our most recent disturbance of the water means they are far away from here.

  I just want her to go away. She’s making me feel funny.

  I can feel the heat of her anger burning me in the back.

  “Why not? I’ve caught tadpoles before! I bet I can do it better than you.”

  I turn around and look at her. Her hands are on her hips, gripping her wet dress in her fingertips as she glares at me in outrage.

  I lift my arm, pail swinging in my fingers. “Show me then. Catch a tadpole.” I taunt her with my tone. Nora has never been able to even come close to catching a tadpole. It’s hard for me to catch one.

  This gangly girl in a wet dress doesn’t stand a chance.

  But she does.

  She doesn’t catch one. She catches two, and I watch her in shock until her mom calls her in for dinner. She releases the tadpoles into the water and leaves me with a smirk on her face that I bet sticks with her all the way to her house.

  “I want to play with Luna,” Nora says over lunch, taking another bite of her turkey sandwich.

  “Go ahead.” I push the potato chips around my plate. Playing with Luna is the last thing I want to do. My friends should all be coming back from their summer vacations in a couple of days, and I’ve been bored without them. I’ve been staying in my house, too much of a chicken to run into Luna again. I need my friends to help me deal with her. Until they get home, I’m going to stay inside. My toes are aching to walk on the hot sand and slip into the lake, and the weather has been perfect, but the stupid feeling of fish in my belly keep me away.

  I’ve been watching from my living room window as Luna walks back and forth on the beach. She walks from her house to the edge of our property line, and back again. She stays close enough to the shoreline and on the wet sand, that each step she makes creates a tiny footprint. Then a wave comes, swallowing her prints and bringing them back into the water. But then she turns around and starts up her footprints across the beach all over again.

  I’ve been watching her do this. For days.

  She’s bored, and every so often, I can see her looking up at my house, like she wants me to come play.

  “Poor girl has been bored out there by herself, Roman. Maybe you and Nora can take her to the park,” my mom says over by the sink. Her elbows are propped on the edge of the counter, her pink rubber gloves full of suds as she scrubs the dishes with her yellow sponge.

  “Nora can go.” My toes hang on the edge of the seat in front of me. I rock it back and forth, and it knocks against the table, shaking my glass filled with Kool-Aid.

  “Knock it off, Roman.” My feet thump to the floor. “You can bring Nora and Luna to the park today. I don’t know why you insist on staying inside. It’s summer, you should get out and enjoy it.”

  “I don’t want to play with her,” I grumble.

  I can hear the slapping sound of my mom peeling off her gloves before she’s in front of me, her curled hair in a high ponytail that’s swaying as she stares at me. “What’s your issue with her, Roman?”

  “I don’t have an issue. I just don’t want to play with girls.�
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  She laughs at me.

  “I’d love to record you saying that, Roman. It won’t always be this way.”

  My face scrunches up, my muscles groaning in protest. I don’t want to like girls. I just want to play with my friends.

  She walks back over to the sink. “When you’re done eating, you can take your sister and Luna to the park to play.”

  I groan.

  “No more groaning.”

  I swallow down the protest and stick the sandwich in my mouth. The bread sticks to the roof of my mouth and it’s hard to swallow down.

  Nora is the first to finish. With only breadcrumbs left on her plate, she picks it up and brings it to Mom. “I’m going to go change,” she says, excitement making her bounce in place.

  I guzzle down my red juice once the sandwich makes it down my throat. It feels like a brick as it hits my stomach. I sigh when I know I’ve wasted enough time and pick up my plate, bringing it to my mom.

  Turning around, I start walking toward the front door. I’ll go barefoot, in only my shorts and striped shirt. It’s only a short walk down the road.

  Nora comes running out a second later in a red polka-dot dress.

  “Have fun, you two!” my mom shouts. Nora is already outside, running down the hill to Luna’s door.

  I follow her, staying behind a little and watch as Nora’s small fist pounds on Luna’s dark wooden door. The stained-glass on top shines in the sun, reflecting the blues, reds, and yellows against Nora’s dress.

  The door swings open, and there stands Luna. Her black hair looks even darker in the shadows of her home, if that’s possible. A wave of sweet scents come barreling out of her house, and my nose tickles with the need to sneeze.

  “Want to go to the park?” Nora asks, completely oblivious to everything in the world.

  Luna stares at me, her gray eyes burning into my chest. My hand itches to rub the funny feeling out of my insides.

  She’s in another dress, this one yellow like the sun. It seems like every time I see her, she’s in some sort of dress. She always walks along the beach in a dress, and I watch as a wave catches on the hem, darkening the fabric. It drips and gets full of sand, but she never seems to care as she continues walking back and forth along the lake.

  Luna spins around, her long hair flying over her shoulder as she shouts, “Mom!’

  Her mom comes out a moment later in a colorful dress. Mismatched patterns look sewn together in a long, flowing fabric that falls to her toes. She has a smile on her face when she sees us in the doorway.

  “Roman! I haven’t seen you in a couple of days. And this must be Nora. Your mom has told me so much about you!” Her smile lights up her face, her cheeks beaming a rosy pink. She smells like the sweet smell, and I rub my nose to stop the burning.

  “They want to go to the park,” she says, her voice soft and melodic, and I frown when she stops talking.

  “The park? That would be fun. Are you going to the one down the street?”

  I nod at her.

  Jane runs her fingers through Luna’s hair. I wonder how soft it feels. It slides right through her fingers like water, not snarly and messy at all like Nora’s gets after an hour of playing.

  “If Harper goes with you, then I’m fine with it.”

  Luna frowns.

  “Who’s Harper?” I ask.

  “My sister,” Luna grumbles.

  “I’ll go ask her.” Her mom walks off, the dress floating behind her as her bare feet pad across the orange carpet. Luna steps out of the house, looking at me with her sharp gray eyes piercing my brown ones.

  “You haven’t been outside.” She sounds hurt, like we had plans and I stood her up.

  I shrug. “I didn’t feel like going outside.”

  “Yes, you did.” Nora giggles, coming up beside Luna. “He looked outside every day. He watched you by the water.”

  Luna stares at me, and she blinks in what feels like slow motion as a flush covers my cheeks. I’m embarrassed, and I want to give Nora a snakebite on her forearm for being a tattletale.

  We get stuck in a bubble as we watch each other. A slight breeze picks up and blows her black hair across her face. It’s long, almost too long as it nearly reaches her waist.

  The door opens, breaking our weird silent bubble with an awkward pop. Luna swipes the hair from her face, looking over her shoulder to the open door.

  I glance up, seeing an older version of Luna staring at us. I swallow down the sudden lump in my throat at the sight of Harper. Her blackish hair has a slight wave to it, where Luna’s is pencil straight. Harper also has blue eyes, bright blue eyes that glimmer when she steps into the sun. She looks to be around eleven. She has on blue bell-bottom jeans that flare wide at the bottoms, and a tank top. She also has a strip of some type of hand-woven rope wrapped around her head.

  Just like the hippies my parents told me about.

  “Hi, I’m Harper.” Her voice is just as melodic as Luna’s, maybe a touch raspier.

  “I’m Roman, and this is my sister, Nora.”

  “Hi!” Nora exclaims, the shout coming from her making us all startle.

  “Ready?” Harper asks Luna. Luna stares at me, and I look between the two of them.

  Then I look back at Harper.

  “Ready.”

  I gravitate toward her, this girl that’s older and more experienced than me, even if it’s only by a few years. It’s like she’s almost a woman, even though I know internally that’s far from the case. She is tall, taller than Luna and taller than me.

  I walk next to her, feeling the most grown up I’ve ever felt as I bring this new crew to the park. I’m the man of the group. It’s funny, five minutes ago I didn’t even want to go. Suddenly, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.

  Nora stands on my other side, with Luna standing next to her. Nora talks to her about playing, things they want to do later, and maybe having a sleepover this coming weekend. Suddenly, Luna stops, walks behind us, and butts right in between Harper and me.

  Corn fields for days line our right side. It reminds me of that movie, The Wizard of Oz. I always feel like there should be a tornado in those cornfields, even if tornados are relatively rare here in Wisconsin.

  We’re all barefoot, walking on the side of the empty road. Pebbles dig into our feet, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m used to hot, rocky pavement. I only wear shoes to school or if I’m going somewhere important, otherwise I’m usually barefoot.

  Harper looks at Luna with a funny, scrunched up look on her face, chuckling a bit to herself as she continues walking. I stare at Luna, and she stares at me as we continue around the bend.

  Once the park, Tip Town, comes into view, Nora takes off into a sprint, running through the small rocks as she makes a beeline for the slide. Harper follows her, heading toward the monkey bars. She climbs up to sit on top of them and looks around. It seems like she’s sitting on top of the world. Queen of the castle or something.

  Queen of Tip Town.

  “Stop that,” Luna snaps, pulling on my arm.

  I look down at her slender fingers gripping my skin, her nails so deeply embedded in me, my skin turns white. It hurts, but my shock overpowers everything else.

  “What?” My eyes narrow at her words.

  She drops her fingers. Crescent shaped nail prints are left in my skin. “Stop looking at her like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you think she’s pretty. You can’t like her.” Her voice is small, sharp, but still soft and melodic.

  My eyes blink quickly at her words. I don’t like her.

  I don’t like girls. Girls are gross.

  “I don’t like her.” My tone is almost angry as I growl the words at her.

  She looks hurt, a little angry, too. “I can tell you do. But you can’t, because you’re supposed to be my friend. Not hers.”

  My mouth opens like a fish and I grapple at her words. Wait, what?

  “You’re my friend.
You’re mine.” She kicks a little dust at me, then turns around and speeds off toward the swings.

  You’re my friend.

  You’re mine.

  The words ring in my ears long after the dust settles.

  CHAPTER TWO

  LUNA

  I’m on the top of a cliff. I’m not sure why I’m here, or where I am exactly, but I stand over the cliff and watch the angry waves below me, roaring against the rocks below. They echo all the way up, making the crashing noisy. So noisy I feel like I’m inches from the waves. My toes curl around the side of the cliff. One wrong move and I’d plummet over the side. I take a step back because it feels like I’m too close.

  Sand grates against my bare feet. It feels like a different type of sand, a little chalky, dusty. It starts raining sand, and it blows me toward the edge. There’s nothing to grab on to, the wind too strong I can’t even force myself to the ground. I open my mouth to scream, but my mouth fills with sand. I cough and cough against the grainy thickness filling my tongue. The wind and sand push me closer to the edge even as I try my hardest to back away from it. It rains harder, the sand making the visibility impossible.

  I reach the edge once again, my bare feet scraping on the sharp corners.

  And then I plummet.

  I jackknife from my bed, the fall feeling so real, like I was falling in real life. The entire dream felt real, from the cliff, to the sand, to the scrape on my foot.

  My foot throbs now, and I grab my foot, feeling along the sole to make sure it’s not bleeding.

  It’s not.

  I hear the water lull against the beach outside, and I shiver, wanting now more than ever to escape the water. My sheer curtains blow in the wind, and I so desperately want to go climb in between my mom and dad and snuggle with them in their own bed.

  Mom says I’m too old to sleep with them, though. And nightmares are something I seem to have frequently.