A M E R I C A
When we finished dinner, Harry and I drove to Pacific Beach right away where we saw a few people who had camped out to stay here for the night. I don't know why we were here but Harry has bought two bottles of beers for us even though we had managed to finish the bottle of red wine earlier. I gathered a few logs and made a fire while Harry rented out a tent for us to sleep in tonight. We set up our tent and sat back down on the sand as we stared at the bonfire and the beach in front of us covered in total darkness.
"Why did you want to come here?" Harry asks me.
"There's something about this beach that speaks to me."
Harry nods, "I agree with you. There is something unexceptionally magical about Pacific Beach."
I nod back at him.
"Did you know that the water of this beach is connected to the Pacific Ocean?" Harry states a did-you-know fact which was surprising to me. "That's why the waves here are bigger and more monstrous. It's also a perfect place for professional surfers to surf."
He travelled his head back at me, "Why did you choose surfing as your hobby?" I asked right away.
"Because the first time I rode a wave, it was nerve-wracking and exciting to be able to stand on the board and riding a wave. It almost felt like I was walking on the waters. I really got addicted to it and I really wanted to know more about surfing bigger waves until I was able to join competitions that I won and it sort of became my source of income. It really helped me a lot voiding out thoughts that bug me."
I nod, "So you're using surfing to escape from your thoughts?"
"Sort of. I have a lot of things in my mind."
"I think we all do."
"What do you do when you want to escape from your own thoughts?"
I sigh inwardly as I stare out of the waters watching how the waves blanketing the sand. "I…" I trailed off as I look at him shyly. "Promise me you won't laugh at me."
He nods at me.
"I usually sketch." I say softly.
His brows creasing, "Sketch? That's not something to laugh at. You should show me."
I shake my head sideways, "It's not good, I swear."
"How will I know that if you won't even show me?" He insists and waiting for me to show him but I just stare at him reluctantly. "C'mon. I played the piano for you. I sang in front of those people."
I pulled my head backwards subtly, "Are you blackmailing me?"
Harry smiles widely, "Not really. Come on, show me." He starts tickling my side making me jump. He laughs, "I didn't know you were ticklish."
"Stop!" I push his hand away but he does it again while he laughs as he enjoys it. "Stop that!" He tickles me again making my body stiffen. "Stop Harry!"
He laughs, "Come on, show me. I know you have pictured it in your phone."
"Okay fine. Just stop tickling me."
I pulled my phone out and went to my gallery before I showed him a few of my sketches from months ago. He scanned through my sketches composed of city views in Atlanta when I was on a business trip there, some portraits of people that were on the same coffee shop as me, some beaches that were in my imagination and in my dreams and a whole lot more of other sketches.
"These look real, Merry." Harry complimented before he looks back at me, "These are really great."
I smile, "Thank you."
Harry stares at my phone eagerly with creasing brows before he stares at the beach in front of us then back at my phone, "What's wrong?" I asked him, also getting confused.
He pointed at the screen of my phone, "When did you draw this?"
I stare at the picture, "You can zoom in on the picture. I wrote a date on it under my signature." I tell him and he zoomed in on the date which says June 17, 2017. "That was three years ago. Why?"
His brows furrowing as he zoomed out on the picture, "You drew Pacific Beach three years ago."
"What?" I gaped.
I watch him zoom in on the lighthouse in the drawing and pointed on the lighthouse that was on a distant view right in front of us. "That's the same lighthouse in your drawing. Take a look at it and look at that lighthouse over there." Harry pointed out a fact and it gave me goosebumps realizing that I drew Pacific Beach absentmindedly a few years ago. "I thought it was your first time here?" He asks.
I nod at Harry, "It is my first time here in LUAHU. I didn't know I drew this beach before. I swear to God I had no idea. I might have dreamed about this beach years ago and I have forgotten about it. No wonder it feels so familiar being in here. I usually draw things that I see in my dreams when I wake up or when an imagination pops into my head. But…. how did this happen?"
Harry looks at me confusedly as he moved to the next image, "America, look at this one because this is much creepier."
I stared at my drawing of seven people with no faces, camping around the bonfire at night. There were three guys and four women on the sketch and it gave me the creeps staring at it. "This was us, at the beach house. The other night." He pointed and zoomed at the beach house on the sketch.
"That's the exact beach house where I live in right now." He tells me.
I zoomed on the date and I drew it last August 2, 2016. I drew this years ago and it had slipped my mind that I managed to sketch such detailed image of us sitting under the moonlight, gathered around the bonfire in front of the beach house but with no faces drawn. I stare at Harry who is looking at me hesitantly and we were both bewildered with what was going on because there was no absolute explanation how I managed to draw these sketches years ago and now it's happening in real life.
"Are you like a psychic?" He asks me.
"No. I… I don't know. These kind of sketches were in my dreams but I didn't know it will happen in real life." I tell him but he stares at me with doubt before he moved to the next photo. His lips turned pale and was unable to say anything when he stares at my phone while his eyes looking all baffled.
"What?" I called out to him.
Harry focused the screen of my phone towards me and I gasped as I covered my mouth with both of my hands when I was surprisingly shown an unfinished sketch. It was an outline sketch of half of Harry's face and his long curly hair but with no eyes, eyebrows, nose or mouth. I grabbed my phone from his hand and zoomed in on the date as it says Unfinished: April 14, 2011 and there was a little note below the date as it reads…
'Dreamed about this guy last night but I was not able to see his face clearly.'
"That… That's me now." Harry says.
I breathe out in confusion as I begin to feel a growing headache. "I have forgotten about this. I remember drawing this in class when I was in high school but I was not able to finish it."
"Merry, nine years ago, my hair was not this long. That clearly says 2011 and my hair was shorter back then." He tells me which makes me more confused.
"This is really creeping me out." I commented breathlessly.
"Don't you think… this could mean something?" He asks.
It must mean something but I decided not to answer.
"Your dreams from years ago are happening. Is it like visions?" He asks me again.
"I don't know."
"Why did you dream about me?"
I shake my head, "I can't remember, that was nine years ago. I was still 16."
"There is so much more about LUAHU's breath-taking view."
Harry and I pulled our heads up together when we heard another person's voice and found an old standing right in front of us. He smiles at us, "The island is magical and enchanting."