The Ocean knew My Name before I did

I had no idea why I felt like I was drowning on land.

Not in a literal sense.

It felt as though something inside of me belonged somewhere else.

Somewhere damp. Infinite. Silent.

Even thought I had never been there, I missed it.

Everyone referred to it as a phase.

I had a “weird ocean obsession”.

It wasn’t an obsession, though.

It resembled a pull more.

My bones seemed to recall something that my head had forgotten.

The month prior to my eighteenth birthday, it began.

I got to know him at that point.

That day, the beach was nearly deserted.

Strong wind. The sky low. Waves were louder than normal, as if they were attempting to convey a message that I was still unable to understand.

I had taken off my shoes and was sitting on the sand. Living there like I always did.

I became aware of him at that point.

A boy.

Roughly my age.

For someone who didn’t seem to belong anywhere else, he was standing awfully motionless.

Unlike most people, he was not staring at the water.

He was researching it.

As if it owned him responses.

I nearly disregarded him.

Nearly.

Then, though, he spoke without looking away.

“You come here by yourself every time?”

I gave a blink. “Is that how you always talk to strangers?”

At last, he turned to face me.

And grinned as if he knew I would respond.

“Only those who appear to be waiting for something.” He remarked.

That seemed so accurate, and I detested it.

That ought to have been it.

A strange talk on the beach. The narrative is over.

However, I ended myself sitting beside him.

Then conversing.

Then chuckling.

And inexplicably, we ended up becoming friends.

Caleb was his name.

He informed me that he recently relocated close to the coast.

I told him that the water “felt like home” which is why i frequently came here.

He didn’t chuckle.

The first odd thing was that.

Rather, he muttered, “That’s not a normal thing to feel.”

I gave a shrug. “Talking to strangers on beaches is also not appropriate.”

He grinned once more.

However, it didn’t go to his eyes this time.

We continued to meet every day after that.

The same beach.

At the same moment.

Like something that neither of us acknowledged was in charge of scheduling it.

Everything felt lighter because of him.

For example, my chest wasn’t always constricted without cause.

As if I wasn’t constantly waiting for something I couldn’t identify.

I detested how much I required that emotion.

But while he was there, the seas began to change.

Things that are initially subtle.

Waves are getting closer than they should.

Water that appeared overly conscious.

I once claimed to have heard my name in the tide.

And when I spoke it aloud, Caleb became silent.

He cautioned me, “You shouldn’t say that.”

“Say what?”

He didn’t look at me, but at the water.

“As if it were phoning you back.”

I dismissed it with a giggle.

However, he didn’t.

At that time. I was unaware that he was lying to me.

Not about his name.

Not about his residence.

However, he was there for a reason.

Because I wasn’t supposed to be friends with Caleb.

Before I turned eighteen, he was supposed to find me.

Before the upcoming full moon.

Before I was fully awakened by the ocean.

I unintentionally learned a bit of the truth.

Really overheard.

He believed I didn’t hear a phone call.

On the other end was a woman’s voice that made my stomach turn. It was harsh, controlled, and familiar.

“Avoid becoming attached”, she said.

“The transfer is why you’re there. Nothing more.”

Quiet.

Following:

“She is not yet aware. Excellent. Until the night of the full moon, keep it that way.”

I was standing there and Caleb didn’t notice me.

But eventually, I later saw him.

Additionally, for the first time….

He appeared to be guilty.

I ought to have departed.

I ought to have given up on him.

That would’ve been the wise course of action.

However, the issue was

When I wasn’t close to him, the ocean seemed louder.

It seemed to be lacking something.

As if I were lacking something.

So I stayed as a result.

And as my eighteenth birthday approached…

Everything turned stranger.

Near the water, my skin would become chilly.

I would be a second behind my reflection in puddles.

And occasionally, when I gazed at the ocean for too long…

Something glances back at me, I swear.

Caleb noticed as well.

Of course he did.

He was always the first to notice things about me.

“That will happen soon”, he explained one evening.

We were sitting at the rocks with waves smashing below us.

I didn’t question what he meant.

I already knew.

Something in me did.

“My birthday?” I replied quietly.

He nodded.

“And after that?”

He paused.

Just long enough for the truth to emerge through the fissures.

“That depends,” he replied.

“On what?”

On you.

But he didn’t say it.

Not yet.

The truth was revealed later.

Not from him.

It came from her.

A woman stepped onto the beach one night when the sky was unusually still.

She looked at me as if she knew my entire existence.

It was as if she had been waiting longer than I had existed.

Caleb became rigid beside me.

“Mom”, he stated

My stomach sank.

Because it wasn’t simply a mother.

That was someone who looked at me like I was something she owned.

She remarked, “You’ve grown attached.”

Not to him.

To me.

I froze.

Caleb slowly got to his feet.

He declared, “This wasn’t the agreement.”

The woman grinned.

“The agreement was always the key.”

She regarded me as though I were a door for which she had at last discovered the key.

She whispered, “You were never meant to live a normal life.”

“You were destined to go back to the ocean.”

My chest constricted.

The sound of the water behind me was…. louder.

As if it concurred.

Caleb looked across at me.

Additionally, this is the first time since I met him.

He appeared afraid.

Not for himself.

For me.

“I apologize,” he said.

And at last I got it.

I wasn’t friends with him.

The bridge was him.

The diversion.

The hand that kept me on land long enough for someone else to make the decision on my return.

I took a step back.

“No”, I muttered.

However, the ocean responded on my behalf.

A wave struck the coast more forcefully than it should have.

And I sensed a reaction within myself.

As if I knew who I was.

The woman grinned more broadly.

“In three weeks, the moon will be full”, she stated.

“She won’t need legs after that.”

Caleb gave me a look that suggested he had more to say.

Something genuine.

However, whatever he intended to convey…

It was too late now.

Since I was now beginning to hear it.

The ocean.

Not in waves.

Not like water.

However, it feels like a call to home.

What’s the worst part?

I believe I already knew the answer.

Even prior to her telling me.

Even prior to him.

Even prior to everything.

I simply had no idea that I was destined to return.

And now before I go to bed every night…

I hear it approaching.

The current.

The tug.

The name I was supposed to remember forever.

Mine.