Chapter Seven: Tidal Waves

“Run Lily, run!”

The voice called from the distance. Lily stood by the side of the beach, twirling and turning, searching and seeking the direction of the voice.

“I can’t see you!” Lily called out.

The voice was oddly familiar, but Lily struggled to recall whose voice it was just as she struggled with finding the owner of the voice.

“Run! Lily please, run!” The voice called out again, more urgently this time around.

Lily looked around frantically, her breathing growing faster and faster. She looked at the large body of water and the waves slapping against the tides. Lily stared in horror.

“Take Joe and run as fast as you can!” The voice urged, pulling at Lily.

Then it dawned on Lily; it was the voice of her mother. She would never have figured out the voice if she hadn’t mentioned Lily’s brother.

“Mummy!” Lily said and ran towards the water. She was certain now that her mother’s voice was calling her from the heavy tidal waves.

“Don’t come any closer!” Her mother’s voice became stern and stoic. “I told you to take Joe and run! It is dangerous out here,” she said.

But Lily did not listen as she continued to walk towards the water. She did not understand why her mother was playing hide and seek with her. That was a game only she and Joe played when they were bored.

“Can you come out already?” Lily asked.

The waves continued to slap against the tide and in the distant, Lily could see the waves overturning; and it called unto her, dangerously.

Or maybe it was her mother that was calling unto her from deep into the water, she could not tell. Her parents always went diving sometimes. It was not an ocean as big as this one, Lily was sure, but it was an ocean all the same. She had always wanted to join them, but her mother had always vehemently disagreed.

So maybe today was Lily’s lucky day.

“Get back!” Her other yelled at Lily at the top of her voice. 

“No,” Lily countered. “Not until I see you and dad,” Lilly said.

“Take Joe and run, otherwise the waves will swallow you up!” Her mother’s voice began to plead urgently this time around.

Lily turned around and looked around the large expanse of the sandy beach, and it was deserted and eerily quiet, except for the occasional sounds the waves made. Lily remembered being here earlier today when Christopher had practically kicked her out of their hotel room, and she also remembered seeing a couple of beach lovers in bikini’s and shorts.

She could not understand why it was so lonely and empty, and dark. Didn’t she leave the beach almost immediately after she came? Yes, she definitely did; when those ladies had accosted her. Hadn’t she had dinner in the balony of their suite and turned in for the night?

Why was she here again? 

Lily realized now that she hated the beach. She hated pools and ponds and any body or gathering of water, so why did she come back to the beach when everyone had deserted it.

“Take Joe and get away from here!” Her mother’s calling voice jolted Lily back from her train of thoughts.

Oh yeah, she was back because of her mum, but as Lily looked around the beach for the second time squinting her eyes to grasp everything her eyes could catch in the illuminating darkness, she did not find Joe.

“He is not here, mum,” Lily turned back to the flapping tidal waves and informed her mum. “Did dad take him diving today? I have always known he would take Joe first before me,” Lily whined.

“You are not listening, Lily! It is very dangerous to be out here. Take to your heels now!” Her mother urged, but something stronger was calling unto Lily.

It was the tidal waves.

Lily took further steps towards the ocean. Her feet stepped on the wet sand, and she waited for the water to come to her again.

“No, mum,” Lily found herself disobeying her mother.

“You have always been stubborn and belligerent, and your stubbornness have caused us our deaths. Now we are living in pain and agony as a result of it,” Lily’s mother said bitterly.

Then it came to Lily; the fatal accident, and she began to cry profusely. “It was an accident!” Lily yelled and her voice echoed deep into the night. “I miss you both!” Lily cried.

“You cannot miss us, we are gone forever…” her mother’s voice faded away.

Lily reached out, as though she could grab it, but it was like the wind, and it was gone. She cried and cried, allowing her tears to fall to the ground and mingle with the ocean. 

As Lily opened her eyes, she saw her father’s battered body, drenched in blood, gasping for life. Lily screamed and wanted to run back, but it was too late for her now.

If only she had listened to her mother and ran.

The waves came rushing like a fiery wind and before Lily could take some steps backwards, it engulfed her and dragged her into the ocean. Lily had never been a good swimmer, because she never had the opportunity to learn, but she flapped her hands and legs, struggling to stay afloat.

“You can’t survive. You won’t survive it this time,” a dreadful voice whispered into Lily’s ears in the depth of the ocean.

“No, I have to survive. Joe needs me. I am all he has!” Lily begged, but water and more water rushed into her mouth, making their way to her lungs.

Lily struggled and struggled, but the waves pulled stronger. They were stronger and firmer than anything Lily had ever known.

“Let me live for Joe! I owe it to my parents to protect him!” Lily cried as she swallowed more water and struggled to stay afloat.

Then suddenly, she felt two firm hands grab her, shaking her with fervency. Lily could not decipher whether it was the waves or a human hand, and visions of the gory sight of her father’s battered body in the accident flashed through her mind in quick successions.

“Ashley, wake up!”

Lily jolted awake like lightening as Christopher stared at her, a look of confusion on his face.