Escaping to the valley

(Chapter 12: Moonlight jellies, void chickens, and a lot of venting)

(Summer 25)

After bringing Willy some supplies to fix up an old boat of his, I decided to relax, and do some fishing.

(Author: Fishing? Relaxing?! HA!)

Unfortunately, like usual, I wasn't really able to catch much.

"Uuuuuuuugggggghhh... Why am I so bad at this?" I thought, laying on the dock, with my fishing pole next to me.

As I laid there, I suddenly saw someone standing above me. I was surprised to see Elliott smiling down at me.

"Having trouble fishing, are we?" He laughed.

I just nodded, as I sat back up. "May I?" He asked, gesturing to the spot beside me. I nodded again, and only as he sat down, did I notice that he also had a fishing rod with him. "Hm... Didn't know this guy could fish. Though, I'm not really surprised, since he lives on the beach." I thought, glancing back at his little house.

After a short pause, Elliott said "So, I've happened to notice you hanging around that dark haired boy, um... What was his name...? Sebastian? was it? Well, that doesn't really matter at the moment, but what does is that you two seem to be quite close. Am I Mistaken?"

I then took my notebook out of my backpack, and wrote "He's my best friend." with an awkward smile.

Elliott chuckled quietly, tossing his fishing hook into the water. Soon after, I did the same.

"That boy seems like he could use a friend like you. Especially after that rainy day on the edge of the dock." He said.

"You saw that?" I wrote, feeling weird about the fact that I might have been being spied on during that dark and emotional moment.

Elliott looked surprised for a moment, before quickly saying "Well, yes, but... I just happened to be fishing on the dock across that little wooden bridge, enjoying the rain, and trying to get rid of some writer's block, when I happened to notice the two of you. I didn't stare. I just looked on for a moment, before going back to paying attention to the ocean, and hoping that everything was alright with the two of you."

I let out a quiet sigh, before thinking "Okay. He was just worried, that's all. Nothing creepy going on... Good." as I continued trying to fish.

After a long pause, Elliott started speaking again.

"So... Speaking of... Eventful moments at the beach... By any chance, will we be seeing you at the dance of the moonlight jellies?" He asked.

"What's that? Another thing similar to the flower dance?" I wrote, before thinking "Do these people just have a dance every month, or what?"

"No, no. It's not an actual dance, it's just... Well... Every year, at the end of summer, the moonlight jellyfish come to this beach. They're absolutely beautiful. I'm sure you would love to see them... I've even heard rumors of a rare green jellyfish, though I've never actually seen it." Elliott said happily.

"Oh, so it's a jellyfish migration thing. Cool!" I thought, looking at the water below.

After another pause, I wrote "Well, it was nice talking to ya, Elliott, but I'm not having any luck with fishing, so I might just head home... See ya at the dance of the moonlight jellies!" before getting up, waving at the man, and making my way home.

(Two days later)

"Okay, the dance of the moonlight jellies is tomorrow night. I'm really excited! By the way Elliott described it, it sounds like it's gonna be really pretty!" I said, hopping up and down with excitement, before taking out my phone to text the trio.