Waves crashed against the once dry sand, turning it wet and dark, dragging it away back into the sea. Seaweed and seashells make it to the shore, along with rocks of many assortments, a little ways away, into swimmable water, fish jumped and splashed.
The wind was nice today, cooling but not windy enough to be a problem, the sun had graced the islands with a nicer day, hot enough not to be cold, cold enough not to have to sweat. The perfect day.
The leaves moved with the wind, pulling tree branches to move with them, creating the song of nature that was accompanied by the song of the waves. A truly beautiful day. Picture perfect. So I wondered why I couldn't enjoy it.
"Riku!" A little boy's voice yelled, he sounded out of breath, appropriate for the running he'd just been doing. The boy was tanned skinned, blue-eyed, and had nice light brown hair that spiked up, he looked like an islander, a native. And he was my brother.
"Sora!" Another boy's voice teased the first, he looked ready to run a little more. He was taller, older by a year, pale, incredibly pale for these islands to be his home, where the sun beats down regularly on its inhabitants. He had blue eyes too, and short white hair.
I picked up a seashell, mom likes them and always smiles when I bring some home for her. Her smile is nothing like Sora's, it's fascinating to me.
"That race was no fair, you saw me trip on that crab!" Sora whined while Riku laughed. "No excuses Sora! I even gave you a five second head start."
"But your legs are longer, five seconds is nothing!" My brother complained. I grabbed another seashell, this one was pink and white, swirling among the twists and curves.
The boys keep talking, but I tune them out. I think I see a seashell that mom'll really like under the old bridge.
"(Y/n)? Where are you going?" Riku called out to me. I turned around and saw Sora running up to me, grabbing my hands, "Don't you wanna play with us, sis? We can do something other than race, if you wanna," his smiles so bright, and his eyes twinkled, waiting for my answer.
I smiled too, it doesn't feel right, it's different than his, not mirrored like how it usually is. "In a second, I saw something mom would like over there," I pulled my hand away and pointed under the bridge that connects the old shack to our lookout island, "and I wanna go get it for her."
"Ah, okay!" He let go of my other hand and ran back to Riku, "Just don't go too far, okay?" The white-haired boy said. I nodded, I wouldn't be long, and I'd still be in his line of sight. Nothing was going to happen.
So why did this seem so ominous?
I felt darkness on the other side of the beach, the boys didn't seem to notice. I walked closer to it, it felt overbearing. Like how it was when Sora made me laugh too hard and I didn't swallow my food correctly, mom said that was called choking.
I picked up the shell quickly, putting it in my drawstring bag filled with the other shells. There's a crunch of sand to my left, and I turned to see a person there. Wearing really strange clothes. They were woven with black and red cloth, they had a gradient on the arms and he had a lot of belts too. High boots and a black helmet that covered all of his face. The longer I looked at him, the sadder I felt.
I walked closer to him, holding the strings to my backpack. "Go away, kid." He sneered as I plopped down next to him.
"No," I replied curtly to him. I don't know why he was surrounded by so much sadness, but I could at least sit with him right? When Sora's sad and I sit with him he feels better, so it has to help.
He turned to me, "I said," he repeated himself, "go away."
I looked at him, "You're sad, and alone. No one should be alone when they're sad." I told him. He scoffed, "You have no idea what I feel."
I looked away from him, back to the ocean. "True. I don't know for sure how you feel, I've never quite been good at that. But," I turned back to him, "even so, no one should be alone when there's this much darkness in the air. It's not healthy."
"How do you know about that?" The mask muddled his mumbles, but I still heard them.
I brushed off the sand from my knees, "I dunno, how do you keep wearing that mask in this weather?" He's got to be hot under there, maybe that's why he was so mean.
He didn't answer my question, only standing up, "Sorry kid, it's time I go."
Didn't he hear what I said? The negativity in the air was hurtful, and it had to be getting to him. Did he want to bear it alone?
I grab his hand, even through the gloves I can feel it, "It's cold."
He pulls his hand away, "Don't touch me."
"It's coming from you, isn't it?" I asked him. The bad feelings in the air, it's coming from him. He's sad, and the darkness is clouding around him.
He's silent for a moment, I take the time to stand up and give him a hug, though I'm only as tall as his thigh. He pushed me off.
"Look kid, I don't exactly know how you can tell, but just stay away from me, okay?!" He snapped at me and started walking away. I frowned.
"You're lonely," He was alone, he kept pushing me off, and the darkness clouds him like a defense with no one there to cut through it.
"Stop doing that." I followed after him.
"But–"
"You know, people are supposed to be afraid of those who reek of darkness, or at the very least avoid them." We passed under the bridge, in the distance, Sora waved to me, and Riku looked as if he was about to drag me away from the stranger.
"Why should I be afraid? The worst you've done is push me, and the most all that darkness has done is sit there," I told him, standing so my back was to my brother and friend.
"You're a strange kid," his voice sounded just a tad bit lighter. "Look, how bout we make an arrangement, you leave me alone, and I'll work through my problems by myself. Promise." That last word had so much negativity in it, an almost hateful energy.
"I don't like promises. People are always saying how they're meant to be broken, I don't like that. If you make an agreement with another person you should keep it." I crossed my arms.
"Wow," he mumbled.
Behind me, Riku called for me. I huffed.
"Look, mister. Let's make a deal, okay? Next time we meet, you'll be less lonely, okay? Go make a friend! And I'll respect your feelings more, okay?"
"Fine, whatever." With that, he left toward the shack. Stopping at the handle to add one last thing. "Just so you know, kid, you can't respect others feelings without a heart. So, I'd get working on that." He chuckled before walking through and slamming the door.
A heart of my own? I put my hand on my chest, feeling it beat. Wasn't my heart right there?
Riku walked up to me, grabbing my arm gently, "Hey, (Y/n), it's time to go home. My dad's here to pick us up." He said. I looked at him, "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
The farther we walked away from the stranger, the lighter the air got, and the more my fear of the dark came back. It was overshadowed by my concern for the stranger.
But even so, the question stayed in my mind on the way back home the whole time. A heart of my own?
꧁ఌ꧂
"Aw, thank you (Y/n)!" Mom took the seashells from me, smiling widely as she placed them on her special shelf.
"Your welcome, mom."
She ruffled my hair, "My little sea star, you never fail to bring me back something special." Her voice is full of love and comfort. If I were like mom, maybe I'd have been able to better help the stranger earlier.
"Oh, I know, how about after dinner we read that book again?" She claps her hands together, looking expectedly at me.
"Sure!" It was an interesting book, one about different worlds and people with magical powers that would travel between them. Mom said that the author wrote the whole book after a strange dream.
"Sis, you coming?!" Sora called from upstairs. Mom giggled, "You should go clean up with your brother, dinner'll be ready when you come downstairs, okay sea star?"
I nodded and ran up the stairs, "Coming!"
꧁ఌ꧂
"Good night you two," Mom left the room with the book in her hands, closing the door behind her.
I shifted and grabbed at my covers, pulling them over my shoulders and right around my face, trying to keep myself nice and warm.
It was a couple moments after she left when Sora jumped out of his bed and tip-toed over to our nightlight.
"Sora, what are you doing?" I whispered, not wanting to disturb mom.
He looked at me, "Riku doesn't sleep with a night light. So I can't sleep with one either!"
I sat up, "But I have to, Sora! I'm scared of the dark," it unnerved me. An irrational fear that something was waiting in the dark, ready to strike. It almost made me want to cry thinking about it.
Sora pouted, "I know, (n/n). But can we at least try for tonight? I really want Riku to think I'm cool,"
I sighed, I can't say no to my twin. "...Okay."
He smiled and unplugged the light from the wall, I curled up in my covers and Sora made his way back to his bed happily.
I tried to close my eyes, but it just felt like I was blinding myself. Like whatever was there could be looking over my shoulder right now, breathing down right above me and I wouldn't know. I put my face under my pillow, but it was just uncomfortable. I tossed over to the opposite side of the bed, but my back was exposed to the outside of the room. I didn't like that, so I switched back. But it felt like there was something behind me on this side too.
I needed the night light back on. I tossed off the blankets and heard the sound of snoring, my brother was asleep, he wouldn't mind.
I couldn't see anything, as I tiptoed around our room, I stepped on some toys and leftover books, but I couldn't find the wall, or where Sora put the night light. And I was starting to get increasingly more scared about the lack of light in the room.
There was a noise, a creaking of the floorboard that made my tears start to roll and for me to huddle up on the floor.
I don't wanna be in darkness anymore.
Where's all the light?!
Where did Sora put the darn night light!?
I want light!
I need light now!
I can't do this, I can't, I can't, I can't..!
Please!
A soft weight and warmth manifested in my hand, and I opened my eyes to see myself carrying a giant key as it emitted light like magic, with a soft noise like sparkles.
It was so comforting.
The room went silent once again, but the light persisted. I realized I couldn't hear Sora snoring anymore and I turned to his bed. He was staring at me, eyes wide open along with his mouth.
"MOM!" He cried out, and he surprised me so much I dropped the key onto the floor, causing a large thumping sound.
There was silence for a moment before the sound of running from down the hall and our mom running through the door greeted us.
She looked around, then looked down at me. I followed her eyes from my tear-stained face to the cause of the sound, the giant key still lying on the floor.
She looked back up at me, in the eyes, before tears fell out of hers.
"Oh honey, oh no…"