Shattered Blue

“You may tire of me,
cause our December sun is setting and I’m not who I used to be” Death Cab for Cutie

He stood still, staring blankly at the rippling water, with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. As always he was dressed impractically, in a pair of jeans and a white shirt. Would I be intruding if I broke this glass bubble of silence he had created? Maybe I could swim further upstream, I didn’t have to swim here even though it was safer. But turning around I accidentally trod on a dry stick fallen from a Blue gum…and broke his silence.

He whipped around, his brown hair swinging, his eyes dark.

I tweaked an apologetic smile and greeted him,“ ’ello.” Was that seriously all I could manage?

His shoulders relaxed and he smiled slightly as if it pained him. “Hey. Is this your swimming spot?” he was looking pointedly at the towel swung casually over one slim shoulder and I shook my head.

“Nah, it’s fine. I have plenty of places I use,” I lied.

“Oh,” was all he said, his eyes distant again as his mind roamed back towards inner thoughts.

This was my cue. “Well, I’m off. Sorry I bothered you.” I sprang lightly over a fallen trunk and took another path looping it’s way around my usual swimming spot. And then there was a crackling in the undergrowth and there he was, walking slightly behind my left shoulder.

“Mind it if I can come with you?” he breathed. Little Ant, you’ve always been a follower haven’t you? Who did you follow when you left?

Yes, I do mind. “If you really want to,” I told him. There was a sort of peaceful yet tense silence as we bush whacked our way around reeds and undergrowth too thick to penetrate. I grinned suddenly. “Can you remember me Ant…Anthony?”

His answer held no hesitation. “Should I?”

I laughed.

“Guess I have the wrong person then,” I said, giving him a rueful smile over my shoulder. “Or maybe I changed too much and you can’t remember…Or you just look a lot like him.” I saw the tempting glimmer of water under the midday sun. I dropped my towel and dragged off my shirt before taking a peek at the water. Good, it was deep here.



He was still mulling over her words when she suddenly vanished. He sprang forward only to hear a splash as she dove into water shadowed dark green by overhanging trees. How had he not noticed they were so close to the river? He just managed not to trip over the edge in his haste; there was a steep bank here unlike further downstream. He crouched down and peered over the edge. The water was too dark to see deeper than a hand’s breadth. Why wasn’t she coming up? Maybe there were rocks down there and it had been shallow this whole time without her knowledge…? He sprang to his feet about to scramble down the bank.

“Boo!” He jumped and twisted around at the sound of her voice only to lose his balance as the loose earth crumbled beneath him.

There was a tearing pain as one flailing arm was grabbed and pulled on. He fell backwards onto long grass and laid awkwardly on his side, winded, his heart thudding in his chest. Something dripped onto him and looking up he saw a grinning face shrouded by wet brown hair. “Phew, that was a close call. If you had hit your head−”

He smacked away her offered hand and climbed wobbling to his feet. “Which is precisely why you shouldn’t have pulled a stunt like that!” he hissed. What an idiot he had been, caring about her safety. Little monkey, he thought, looking away from her.

“Hey, I’m sorry Ant…”she said sounding a bit worried.

He took a few steps away from and stopped. “Don’t call me that! I only remember a quiet girl who minded her own business, not…”he stopped himself just in time before lumbering away. The pain in his arm and hip was already fading. But his affronted pride made him spiteful. What a pleasant guy I am, he thought cynically.

He risked a glance backwards. But she was gone only leaving behind a patch of bent grass. “Dammit,” he muttered and carried on walking, his arm still wet from where she had grabbed him.

She was just another person he had pushed away and he would regret it.