Love Beach

I woke up on the beach. The waves were crashing, the seagulls were cawing, and the sun was tingling on my skin. I grabbed a fist full of sand and watched it crinkle between my fingers as I swigged a soda in the other. As the velvet clouds glittered in the sky, I took in the serendipitous moment and let the cool air fill my lungs. I was lost in nautical motion.

My name is Leyland and this is what I do. No, not just take naps, I like to draw, too. Actually, I make art for a living and so does my family, which I don’t think I would do unless my Mom hadn’t pushed me to do it when I was in pre-school. I’m also an only child— go figure. Some say I’m spoiled but honestly, I just like to lay at the beach and look at cute girls.

“BOO!” A random Layla appears.

“ACK! What the hell!” I turn around ready to bite. “Layla?” I ask surprised.

“Hey peanut, you miss me?” She hums a flirty tune.

I toss sand in her face.

“Really?” She snorts back.

“You yelled ‘BOO’ in my ear… of course I missed you, loser.” I carry her into my arms, pulling her in like the tides, into my chest. I hug her tight and she hugs me tighter. Softly and silently, the shore sweeps us into stillness. Her finger begins to play on the back of my neck as I breathe deeply into hers. She quickly pushes away with a sly smirk.

“Huh?” I reach around my neck and feel an object. “What did you do?” I asked.

She lifts a small silver locket from the torso of her pink tank top. Bobbing and fishing, it spins around before I realize it’s in the shape of a broken heart. I look down and notice one around my neck, too, so I raise it to my eye to see it more closely. They appear as if they could fit into each other. Using my thumb and index, I picture it as if the lockets were touching together.

Naturally, I shift my gaze from the locket to her facial features. Her tiny nose. Her sharp stare and soft wavy hair. Her golden-brown eyes and brown freckles and little brown mole. She’s a photograph to look at. Even the way her smile sparkles would stun a driver off the road. Without thinking, I grab my heart as she grabs hers, and we connect the locket together.

“Wow, I love this but… Was there something else you wanted to tell me? ” I respond.

“Yeah, well— I don’t know…” Layla steps back, snapping the lockets apart. They sway and tumble for a moment. “Let’s just talk later. I need to go get something.” And so she runs off.

It’s been months since I’ve seen her and she disappears and reappears like a magician. She’s usually more confident and outgoing, too. Except she seemed more awkward this time.

Layla and I moved to Florida after graduating from high school in Texas. Actually, I didn’t even know her until I met her here, just sitting alone on the beach. She was stunning. When I laid eyes on her, the planet slowed down. Earth was in a shadow. And the hues on her skin seemed to glow underneath the crescent. She caught me staring in plain sight to say next…

“The thing I love most about space is that it makes me forget that we exist.”

She was right. Not that I knew exactly what she had meant, but it was how she said it that made me forget my own existence, and that felt right. The stars had brought us here. We would spend almost every night like that gazing out. And as summer passed by, the stars began to make more sense. I think I was meant to meet her on that fateful night.

One day, we were set to meet up at the usual time on the beach. On the walk there, I journaled through the sunset and let the wind guide my hand on the manilla paper. My eyes were half-closed as I began. First, I started with a background. I drew the scenic sun shining over the sparkling sea and silver sand. Next, I drew an outline of Layla over it. I penciled in her neck, cheeks, shoulders, hair, lips, ears, nose, eyebrows, lashes, and eyes. Finally, I pronounced the shadows and darkened the edges to make her lift over the background. It felt surreal. I rushed to the spot to show her and she was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found a strange white notecard.

Dear, Leyland

I hope that you find this writing because I didn’t have the heart to give it to you in person… And If you’re reading this now, I’m already on my way elsewhere. I want to learn more about who I am. These sights are beautiful but there is so much more, is there not? I’ve realized that maybe I should embrace the world instead of just watch life go by each night wondering about it… And maybe we should go chase those stars instead… That being said, I just need some time to figure out what life is on my own. I hope you understand…

Best Wishes,

Layla M. Myers

That night I ripped out the pages. Her leaving was a sign that hope was gone and whatever that feeling was inside my chest was taken with her. Now here she is again repeating the process. Or maybe I just acted too fast and didn’t get to hear it from her yet. Let me call her.

I dial her phone number and it starts ringing.

Bzzzzzzzzzzz…

Bzz—

The line is answered.

“Hey, Layla… Look, I’m sorry for—”

“Layla’s gone.” There’s a deep distorted voice behind the line.

“Wh— Hello? I’m sorry, what did you say?” I call out.

There’s no response.

“Who is this?” I ask.

“If you want to see her, then meet us at the end of the coastline.” They grimly reply.

Call ended.

“What?”

I leaped to the edge of the coast, turning left and right, as the sun slowly sunk into the sea. Laughter and chatter began to echo onto the beach. My stomach churned. In a panic, I made a sprint across the shore, every tide pattering my feet and deafening the pant of my breath. Pain swiftly shot up my leg and cramped my thighs. My lungs were sore, my knees were burning, my eyes were stinging… My heart was beating, my blood was rushing, and my brain was shutting down. The adrenaline pushed me through to the end. In the blink of an eye, the sky was dark and I made it to the end of the coastline, but there was nobody there. I get a phone call from Layla.

I answer it.

“LEYLAND!” Layla screams in near pain.

My eyes peel open.

“LAYLA!” I cough out my lungs. “LAYLA! Where are you?”

“LEYLAND, HEL—AHHHHHHHHHHH,” Molly screams over the phone.

“LAYLA!” The call goes quiet as a new voice transfers over…

“Hello, Leyland Gladstone.” It’s an unfamiliar woman’s voice with a formal edge to it.

“Wh-who is this? H-How do you know me?” I stuttered.

“That locket you’re wearing— leave it where you are and we’ll give you back the girl.”

“What? What do you want with this?” I ask full of anger.

“Hmm, I don’t need to explain that to you.”

(Help me! Help me!) Layla’s screams can be heard in the background.

“Let Layla go!” My voice cracks in frustration.

“You see, Mr. Gladstone, you are not the first one of our subjects to be in this situation. We can’t afford to let her go until you give us that locket around your neck. I will not ask again.”

The air around me paused as I thought of what to do next. Those screams. Is Layla being tortured? I have no idea what’s so special about this necklace but it can’t be worth her life. I look down at the half-hearted locket before making a final choice…I grab it with my fist.

“Okay, I’ll take it off. Now, what do you want me to do ne—” And before I could ask, a blunt object hits me square in the back of my neck. I blackout.

~ Part 2 ~

I woke up on a table. Above me, there was a headlamp exposing my bare chest with the locket gone. Particles of dust faded in and out of the cone of light, leaving the rest of the room dark. My body was cold and my vision was blurry. All the while my head was throbbing with my wrist and ankles bound by the leather straps attached to the table. I was lost in silence.

The sound of a rusty metal door creaking open filled the room. I nearly gasped before realizing my mouth was duct-taped, too. Click. Click. Click. The footsteps came closer. I started struggling to break free, but it was useless. Click. Click. Click. It’s all over. A heavy hand grabs the edge of my mouth and rips off the duct tape. I start heavily gasping for air.

“Mr. Gladstone.” It’s that same voice. I shift my head to the corner to see another figure enter the room. As they step closer, the details of their clothing become more apparent— wearing black straight-legged jeans, a black blazer, and a white blouse underneath. Their face enters the light, revealing the identity of the speaker. “I’m Ms. Highwater, but you can call me Francis.”

I remain silent, studying her face furthermore. With wrinkles weathering down her skin and a steel stare of blue eyes, a shadow laid across her face as she stared intently at me. I felt her disgust. Her baggy cheeks and chapped lips and stubby nose told me a lot about how much sympathy she had for any sort of person. Let alone a guy like me. She lights up a cigarette.

“I despise men like you. Do you know why?” She asks facetiously.

“Screw you.” I spit in her face.

Quickly, I’m hooked in the face in the jaw by one of her guardsmen. My ears ring and I start to cough out blood. The pain in the back of my head starts throbbing even harder.

“It’s because they don’t listen.” She continues. “If you had just left the locket and left, we wouldn’t have had to go this far. Unfortunately, you took a little too long for us to be nice.”

“Whe— *cough cough* Where’s Layla?” I barely manage out.

“Oh, her? Why she’s just in the other room. Don’t worry, we’ll let you see her.” She gives a wicked smile, dragging a puff from her cigarette and blowing it in my face.

Suddenly, the table I’m on gets pushed through the door from where they entered. Upon entrance, dozens and dozens of lockets were hanging on the wall, just like mine. The walls were white with green translucent tubes each holding an entire connected locket. Below the tubes were labels with price tags on them, each averaging around $10,000 each. They lift up my table. Before me, there Layla was tilted on another table. We stared at each other like a mirror.

“Layla! Are you okay? What is going on?” I scream out.

“I don’t know!” She screams back. “They kidnapped me!”

“WHAT?” I answer back.

“Silence!” Ms. Highwater intervenes. “You two might think twice the next time you steal a necklace from me… Oh well, there won’t be a next time!” She curls out a wretched laugh.

“NO!” Layla and I scream.

As the guardsmen marches towards Layla with a knife, she mouths the words, “I love you”. I close my eyes inside a bad dream.