Nectar Behind the Clouds

Chapter 3 - The Pool

"This is my favorite spot," you said, as you led me to the cave. It was like a mythical sea beast about to swallow us whole. Back in the city, we avoided places like these, unless you were a stupid teenager hiding from the world. They were always ready to erupt with the angst they bided in their bellies. Or you sought these places when you felt you were lonelier out there in the world and wanted solace.

There was a claw in my chest, pulling me from going with you, but you seemed to be the good sort. Maybe it was how sure you were as you held your net on one hand, and with another hand still loose on my arm. I hadn't realized that I was letting you guide me all the way here. My eyes scanned the spot where your fingers curled around my bony wrist. I was fair-skinned compared to your tan. But a childhood under the sun did not hide the subtle scars running along your arm.

They were marks of adventures from growing up here, I knew. My classmates boasted their grazes and scabs as if they were prizes won from scuffling in the playground. Yours must be a daily, natural thing. I have a feeling you will earn more for days and months and years to come. I couldn't help looking at one particular spot near your neck, though. It looked different from the others.

I was still not moving. You were patient with me. "What are you thinking of?"

"That there may be a giant squid or octopus about to grab us and take us into its lair."

You chuckled. It was the first time I made someone chuckle. "Ha! I wish. Then nobody would come to bother our waters, and they'll leave this place alone." You tugged at my arm. "There's nothing inside but smooth rocks and more water. You'll like it. I'll show you."

You were the type of boy who smiled more often than frowned, I imagined. When I was younger, my classmates all teased me about being the most sensitive amongst them all; a shy plant drooping at the slightest touch of insult. Our advisor was exasperated every time I hid in the corner and cried. They all pushed me to bear the taunts because that was how I got tougher, they said. I thought that was how I simply survived; to be reduced to a role for all my own childhood and even beyond: a butt for all the sharp, pointed jokes. So maybe that was why I nodded and followed you inside. You led me again and gripped my arm tighter, and I felt my ears drown in the waves as the darkness covered my eyes.

It still felt like we were sliding down the mouth of a beast. I told you as much, and you smiled and squeezed my arm back for reassurance. There was a moist, cool breeze moving past us; salt air collected from the sea.

"To be honest," you began, voice echoing in the pauses between the waves, "I pulled you from the sea because you looked like you were about to jump in. And you have on a nice clean shirt, too. I'm not sure how easy it is to wash stuff out of that kind of white." Your practicality tickled me. I smiled in the dark. "But seeing as how you're shaking now, maybe you wouldn't have dared after all." He shrugged. "Still, your face..." and then you trailed off.

"My face?" I caught my breath when our bare feet stepped on soft weeds. I thought it was a tongue sliding between us. My toes gripped them so I wouldn't slip.

"I kind of get the feeling that I've seen you somewhere before," you said. We stopped, and I heard steady droplets falling from all around us. You turned towards me, close enough so that I could see the whites of your eyes. "But, you're a new face. And, well, not many people here wear the kind of clothes you're wearing. Are you from the mainland? Are you from the city? Is that where your home is?"

A simple question that seemed to stump me in the moment. Should I nod yes, that I came from the city since that is where I stayed, even though I didn't actually belong there? I didn't call that place my home. We lived in a silent apartment with two bedrooms. My father's bed is bigger but emptier. I only see Papa for two hours each night and an hour in the morning when he walks me to school.