A Blink Away

Did I imagine the whole thing? Did that stranger never exist to begin with? What was his name again? Hec…something, what was it?

Arya tried conjuring up his face, but the harder she tried the faster his face disintegrated from her memory. She desperately knelt down onto the sand and tried to note down his features, but it was like holding onto water. She fumbled as she wrote down the place where they first met, hoping that her memory would spark when she saw the words, but she couldn’t remember where or how they met.

His name! I should just write whatever I remember of his name! She drew a crude-looking “H” onto the sand and paused in confusion. She couldn’t remember what she was trying to write down.

She looked around in dismay at the nonsensical words written around her. What was she just doing?

She looked to her left. Mall. Amusement park. And to her right. Brown or green eyes. Arya stared down at the lonely “H” dug into the sand, and sat back cross-legged. A hollow feeling was burned into her heart. She felt like she was forgetting something.

The shore advanced towards her and washed over the empty words around her. A pang of pain hit her as the words disappeared. She felt like crying, but wasn’t sure why. All she could tell was that the void inside her would not be one that could easily be filled again.

Arya lay down on the sand and closed her eyes, letting the water glide over her, hoping the smell of the sea would invigorate that forgotten memory.

***

The cliff stretched down for a hundred feet with a glimmering river trailing all the way to the unknown. As mesmerizing as the scenery was, she was having second thoughts about making the jump.

“It’s best not to look down right before the jump, you’ll get cold feet.” Arya turned to face the source of the voice and noticed that they had strapped someone to the seat next to her. An ungodly grin was plastered onto his face and she could feel the buzz of contagious energy from him as he swung his legs back and forth like a child on a swing.

She let out a sigh of disappointment at the sight of the boy.

He raised his eyebrows, “Is something wrong?”

She wringed her hand against the thick rope of the swing, “I had specifically asked to make the jump alone, but I guess they must have made a mistake.”

The boy’s face contorted in embarrassment and hurt. She watched as his bright emerald eyes transitioned to a sludgy green color, and saw the blush extending from his neck and onto his face, “Sorry, I’ll let them know. I’ll just go on the next one.” He turned around to call one of the instructors.

Guilt riddled her as she watched the excitement drain from the boy. His legs were still now and the energy that previously emanated from him seemed to have vanished. She sighed, and called out, “No, stop it’s okay! Let’s not delay this further.” The boy turned around in surprise, “I wanted to go alone because I don’t want anyone’s judgment in case I cry. I hate these things as it is so just ignore me if I start bawling halfway down this cliff.”

His infectious grin returned and she could feel his energy being tapped back into him. He had the behavior of a child; disappointed easily and made happy easily. “Don’t worry about it! I’ll probably be bawling right next to you.” She fought down her smile and looked ahead again. She was slightly comforted with the thought of someone being next to her. At least she won’t be alone if she fell to her death.

The instructor stood by them and asked, “Ready to go?”

They both gave the thumps up and plunged down into the gorgeous abyss.

The breath was knocked out of her as they plummeted. A tingle ran up her spine as they covered the height of the cliff. She tried to scream but was surprised to find no voice. The impact was too shocking for her brain to comprehend and the only she thing she could hear was the wind in her ears and fragments of screaming from the boy next to her.

The shimmering river was so close now. She was sure she could dip her feet into the water, but the rope stopped short of the river and the momentum swung them right back up again. She felt the tingle in her spine again as the swing started going back down again and this time she was able to find her voice. She let out an exploding screech and grabbed onto the boy’s arm and dug into his skin.

She barely registered his shout of pain, “What’re you doing woman let g-” His words got swept away by the wind as they plummeted back down.

Arya sat by a large boulder as the paramedics treated the boy’s arm. She watched as they finished bandaging up his arm and strode down towards her. She moved aside to make space for him and he flopped down onto the rock beside her.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t really mean to do that.” She bit her fingernails up to the cuticles, her hands now raw and jagged.

He let out a chuckle and said, “Don’t fret over that, it happens. I guess you had good reason for wanting to go alone huh?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Regardless of that I feel horrible, so let me buy you lunch.”

He glazed over her offer and eventually nodded his head; “Sure, but first you need to know my name before taking me to lunch,” he reached his hand out, “I’m Hector, and you are?”

She took his hand and shook, “Arya.”

He gave his signature grin again, “Well then Arya, you can take me to lunch now.”

***

Water shot up her mouth and nostrils, and she woke up coughing the sea from her lungs. Her nose stung from the salt and her mouth craved the sweet bliss of unsalted water. She knelt on her knees and coughed up more of the sea.

She groaned in discomfort as she tried her best to dispel the water from her lungs. She remembered something and scrambled up in her wet clothes back to her car. Arya fumbled open the dashboard and grabbed her phone out.

She scrolled through the photos and saw pictures of herself at the cliff. The lake from her memory was glittering at the back. Her arm hung over an invisible person. She panicked as she scrolled through the other pictures. Her at the amusement park. Her at the mall. But it was obvious that someone was missing in all of the pictures.

She tore at her hair and screamed till her throat was raw. Where was the boy? Where was he? When did she lose him? She searched through her phone for chats or contact numbers but there was nothing. Yet she knew this boy existed and she knew him.

Where did he go?

She didn’t even know where she was before this. The beach. It must have some significance. Arya trudged back to her spot in the sand and knelt down.

She took a handful of sand and sifted through it. Something had happened here but she was unsure what exactly had occurred.

A phantom memory crept into her head. She was at the exact same spot, wearing the same clothes, but the boy was beside her as well. She was talking about going surfing, and the familiar chuckle rang beside her ear. “So how about it?” but there was no one next to her. She had heard his chuckle just seconds before; he couldn’t have possibly left without her knowing.

Yet there she was staring at the air, expecting an answer from a ghost. She blinked in confusion and searched for the bob of his curly dark head, but the beach was deserted aside from her. There was not a soul for miles ahead. She desperately swept her eyes over the sea, hoping to find his figure floating in the sea, but the sea exposed no one within its wraths.

It was his laugh that first disappeared from her memory.

Her brain hurt from the effort to remember, but his laugh had forever left her memory. All she could remember was that it sounded like a warm summer afternoon.

Arya knew he was more than just a figment of her imagination. The question as to who he was and where he went to, maybe those were questions that she’d never find the answers to. And she knew that eventually, she’d forget his existence again. But this time she was ready for it. This time she knew what to expect.

As the memories gradually started fading again, she wrote a single sentence into the sand and walked towards the shore. Each wave that swept past her, stole a memory of him, until there was none left to take.

Confused, she turned to leave and saw the writing on the sand. She knelt by and examined it, then swept a hand across the writing, erasing the last remnants of the boy who disappeared.