Clarity.

Rose’s POV:
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A strange man with a mask on his face seemed to tear the door of my room from its hinges as he swung it open. I awoke suddenly and he stared into my eyes, his full of anger and pain. He suddenly started toward me as adrenaline coursed through my body, pumping loudly behind my ears. My instinct took over as I lifted my window that I always left open while I slept and jumped into the bushes below in one swift motion. It hurt, but all I knew was that it was what I had to do. I knew he wanted to hurt me.

I saw the figure peer out the window down at me as I rolled from the bushes to take off running. I was in such a daze that I fled to the wooded area behind the house, instead of running in the direction to bring attention to myself for help.

I felt the all too familiar sting of the open wound on my knee. I’d fallen a few yards back on a patch of rocks amidst my flee. It was a really chilly night, and all I had on was a tank top and pajama shorts. But my legs gave in so much sooner than I wanted to believe, and the man’s heavy pant got louder as he got closer to me. He grabbed a hold of my long hair and yanked me backwards towards him. I screamed as loud as I could which proved to be useless.

I obviously hadn’t made it far; he lead me back into my foster parents home. The group of men had tied up my foster mother and father to chairs, guns pointed at their heads. I couldn’t understand why any of this was even happening. I swear I cried enough tears to fill the sea that night.

My foster parents begged not to hurt me and to take them instead. They talked about a lot of things I didn’t understand at the time. My foster mother looked me in the eyes one last time, hers wide with fear and tears pouring down her face, and said “I’m sorry. I lo-.” A bullet to her temple had cut her sentence short, leaving me screaming at the top of my lungs. The same was done to my foster father. All before my eyes.
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I quickly sat up in my bed, letting out a long heavy breath. Sweat was pouring from my forehead and my hair clung to my face. My eyes were open as wide as they might. I stared into the darkness of my room breathing ragged breaths, trying to calm myself. My breath finally evened and I wiped the sweat from my brow with my t-shirt. I reached for the water on my nightstand and gulped it down. My hands were still shaking and my breaths seemed shallow.

I’ve been plagued with reliving horrors from my past in my sleep. Every night I go to bed wishing for a dreamless sleep. A lot of the times, I’m just not that lucky. My nightmares always left me a wreck, making it seemingly impossible to heal. It seems that I’ll always be in the grips of pain.

I looked over at the clock. It read 4:43am. I sighed deeply as a wave of sadness crashed over my body. I needed to go to the ocean. It was the only way I could calm myself.
I grabbed a blanket since it was still chilly out. I threw on a different t-shirt since I’d soaked this one with my sweat. I grabbed a pair of flip flops and took off in the darkness on foot to the beach.

Once I arrived, I went out onto the pier. I wrapped the blanket around my body and hung my feet over the edge of the pier.

There was a full moon out tonight. Its soft glow sparkled on the ever-crashing sea that I adored. I closed my eyes and deeply inhaled the salty aroma surrounding me. Calmness immediately flooded through my veins. I listened to the waves kiss the shore over and over while I regained my composure. Finally I opened my eyes and stared as far out into the distance as my eyes permitted. The vastness and beauty of the sea never ceased to amaze me. Often times, I would talk to the sea. You know, to vent.

It seems a little weird. Maybe a lot weird. But sometimes I feel like the sea really listens to me and understands me. The sea is the only thing that’s always been there for me. I looked out to the water shining in the moonlight.

“You know,” I started, “sometimes I feel like none of this may be worth it.”

I went on to spill everything that was heavy on my heart as of lately.

I finally ended my conversation about the boy I’d seen at the beach.

Just as I said it, the waves seemed to crash a little harder.

Vic’s POV:
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“I have something to tell you.” Why was she crying?

“Anything, baby. What is it?” The last time I’d ever call her baby.

“I’m pregnant.” Right then and there, my stomach sank to my feet. My heart ripped from my chest.

“What?” I said, not believing it. This was some kind of sick joke. A dream. Anything but reality.

“I’m pregnant, Vic.” She said, stomping on my heart.

“By another man.” Stomp.

“I’m so sorry.” Stomp.

“I don’t know how any of this happened.” Stomp.
“I’m so sorry, Vic.” Stomp.

The world seemed to stop turning. I couldn’t even breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t do anything but play those words of madness in my head on loop. It replayed over and over and over. I just wanted to jump back in time and avoid hearing those words so badly.

I’d learned that nightmares don’t wait for sleep. Did she still love me? Had she forgotten everything we shared?
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My body jerked upright in my bed, my hair clinging to my sweaty face. My breathing was heavy and uneven. I’d do almost anything to stop having that nightmare. Going through it once was more than enough for me, let alone almost every night I went to sleep. It all felt so real, each and every single time. It seemed to hurt even more each dream, which I didn’t believe to be possible. I shook my head and forced my eyes shut again. My efforts to go back to sleep were useless. I read the clock on my desk. It was almost 5 in the morning. Despite the horrors of the nightmare, I still had the girl’s eyes plastered in my mind.

The most beautiful pair of eyes I’ve ever seen, staring into mine.

Rose’s POV:

The sun rose beautifully as always over the horizon. The light flooded the air and everything seemed to come to life. It was a gorgeous and breezy Saturday. I opened the shop at 11am. It was quite a busy day. Nothing too exciting, though. I caught myself on several occasions mistaking people for the boy I’d seen at the beach. I couldn’t believe I’ve even let myself think about it this long.

I finished up a board I had been working on all week, and set it on the rack on the wall with the other boards to be sold.

The flow of customers slowed down around 4. I hadn’t eaten all day, so I posted a “be back later” sign. I decided I’d grab a quick bite, then finish up the day afterwards.

Vic’s POV:

“Yo, Mike!” I called through the hallway, unsure of where he was.

“Yeah! In the den.” He called back.

I made my way to the den and found him sitting with Jaime.

“Hey, man. Let’s throw a party tonight!” Jaime said excitedly.

“Yeah we should. We could get some drinks, and some tree.” Mike said with a wink.
A party sounded great, actually. Especially with some good friends around. But I had to shake the idea from my head. I have to find the girl.

“Aw that sounds good man. Go for it.” I replied to them both.

“You made it sound like you’re not coming. You have plans?” Mike asked, raising his brow.

“Guys, look,” I trailed off with a sigh. Jaime and Mike sunk a little further into their seats, expecting some sort of speech from me or something.

“That girl,” I finally started. “I feel like … like I need to find her.”

“That sounds creepy, bro.” Mike said.

“No, no. Like. I don’t really have any other way of putting it. But I just have this crazy gut feeling to go look for her.” I blurted. “Trust me, I’m just as confused as you guys are.”

Mike looked at me worriedly. Any strange behavior from me is immediately attributed to me being so hurt after losing Cara. Which I can’t blame them for. It’s not really something you can “get over.”

“I talked to mom about it after dinner. She thought I was crazy too. But she said that I should look for her. I mean … I don’t know what else to do. This feeling in my gut won’t go away for shit.”

Mike and Jaime exchanged looks.

“Look, man. We just don’t want to see you get hurt. Your hope are through the roof, and we can’t just sit here and watch you potentially be hurt again so soon. Give it some time, man.” Jaime said in a genuinely concerned voice.

Mike looked at me with his brows pulled low, still trying to take in what I said.

“But I can’t just sit here.” I said. “ ‘Oh well’ is better than ‘What if’” I said, trying to defend myself.

Mike drew a breath then paused just as he was about to say something. He finally said: “Go for it Vic. I’ve never seen you look at a girl like that before. Not even Car-“

He cut himself short. Almost hating that he let that thought escape his mind. The guys tried their best to try not to bring her up. But sometimes its inevitable.

“Where are you going to look?” Jaime said.

“I guess the only place I can start is … back at the beach.”

I decided to come alone. I made my way up and down the shore to see if she was surfing again. I hunted down every long, brown-haired girl I could find. She was no where to be found. What if she didn’t even live here? What if she just had a day trip at the beach? What if I find her, she thinks I’m a total creep? Maybe I was only making myself believe that the gaze we shared was special. Maybe she thought nothing of it at. She probably had guys’ eyes plastered on her so often, making me no different from them. I started to feel defeated. Maybe I should drop the idea. Maybe I really was in over my head with my hopes through the roof like Jaime said. I felt so stupid for even coming back out here and practically torturing myself with false hope.

I sat down on the beach, letting the water run over my feet. I was all hot and sticky from walking back and forth along the shore in the sun.

Rose’s POV:

It was almost time to close up the shop. I began tucking things away and tidying up the place before I prepared myself to leave. The sun had just barely began to set. I had two more customers to cash out, then I would be locking up the place for the night. I took a trip to the back of the shop to grab an extra item for a customer. I heard the bell on the door ring, signaling someone else had just entered.

The last customer had a pair of swimming trunks in his hands. I noticed that his had managed to get a big hole on the thigh, so he was purchasing new ones. He nose was practically glued to his phone. After grabbing the shorts and scanning them, I raised my eyes to tell him the total, and he rose his.

Our eyes locked.

There was that feeling again. The world seemed to move in slow motion again. His chocolaty eyes held mine, and a smile slowly spread across my lips. I noticed that he was also smiling, and looked to be taken aback just as I was.

“H-hi,” He finally stammered.

Was this really happening? I could’ve sworn I’d never see the kid again, but here his is standing in MY surf shop of all places with the most adorable smile and a big pair of goo goo eyes. Was what had happened at the beach yesterday bothering him as much as it was me? There was no way.

“Hello,” I managed to get out.

He extended his hand over the counter to shake mine.

“I’m Vic,” He said in a smooth, but husky deep voice. It made me weak at my knees.

“I’m Rose,” I said back while shaking his smooth hand. My lungs acted like they didn’t know how to breathe.

Vic’s POV:

I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening right now.

One minute some stupid little dog snaps a hole in my shorts and the next minute I’m standing in front of the girl of my dreams.

Did I just say the girl of my dreams? I knew absolutely nothing about this girl. How could I possibly make that assumption? If any girl was logically the girl of my dreams, it’d be Cara. Having my baby. Not some other guy’s.

“Nice to meet you,” I uttered. “You’re a very beautiful girl.”

The feeling in the pit of my stomach subsided. My veins coursed with another feeling I couldn’t describe.

The only thing I knew was that this was the beginning of something I’d never forget. Not for the world.