• The beat was loud, intrusive, captivating. Not many people were left. The earlier flame of the party was dwindling, flickering in time to the music. As the last few under-dressed party-goers were siphoned out, a new song came on, allowing us to talk as we cleaned up.

    “Bones, sinking like stones, all that we fought for.”

    I was back at the beach. That horrible, wretched beach. She was there with me, still there. The sun winked at us, alone, together on that horrible, terrible, pristine beach. We talked, our words occasionally punctuated with her soft, ringing laugh. She pulled me to my feet, smiling, and ran out to meet the waves. I ran after her, laughing. We splashed in the water, like we had when we were kids. Laughing, giggling, kissing.

    “Homes, places we've grown, all of us are done for.”

    The sun slowly made its way to the horizon, basking us in warm, red light. She pulled away from me, and swam out towards the endless ocean. “I want to swim to the sun,” she said, “I don't want to let it go down.” She swam and swam, and I watched and watched, from that hideous, monstrous beach.

    “We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do, we live in a beautiful world.”

    I could tell she was losing energy, slowing down, so far away from the beach, so far away from me. I dove into the water, feeling the tide fight over me. I kept my eye on her as I swam out, I was afraid to lose her. I thought my fear was irrational. She stopped swimming. She seemed to struggle just to stay above the water.

    “Bones, sinking like stones, all that we fought for.”

    I watched, helplessly struggling against the waves, as she slowly, oh so slowly, lost the battle against the tide. Her head dipped under, I was still so far away. She resurfaced, I was half way there. Again the waves consumed her, and again she came up, gasping for air. Almost there, almost there.

    “Homes, places we've grown, all of us are done for.”

    She called to me, inaudible over the furious, crashing waves. I saw her mouth, nose, eyes, hair dip under the water.

    “We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do, we live in a beautiful world.”

    She was gone. She didn't come back up, didn't conquer the waves again. I swam harder, faster. Almost there, almost there! I dove under the waves. She was sinking, sinking. Air, I need air! Sinking, sinking, sinking.

    “Oh, all that I know, theres nothing here to run from.”

    I swam down, down, down. I could see her, arms splayed out, hair flowing. She was sinking, sinking, sinking. Her lifeless body, sinking, sinking, sinking.

    “Yet, everybody here's got somebody to lean on.”

    I gasped, and sat up. I had been lying down? The song ended. She was gone. She was gone! No!

    “A-are you okay?” A shocked looking girl stared down at me.

    “Yeah, I'm fine.” I lied. I got up and started sweeping broken beer bottles up off the floor, the girl glancing nervously my way every few seconds.

    I'd never see her face again.