Gloria Kitchens

“Baby, we should move… Think about it. We’ve been stuck between these four walls for so long. We don’t even go out into the city that often. I don’t know what the outside looks like anymore,” Ji-hoon said. 

Mae paused halfway between stroking her hand along Ji-hoon’s slender back. Just before she rose over his mountainous shoulders, a lightning strike stopped her. She liked their apartment. It was small, modest, and free of commitment. 

“Look here.” Ji-hoon turned over, shoving a flimsy newspaper in her face.

New beachfront properties in Bradbury! Newly renovated and ready for immediate move-in! Test stays are available at a per night cost. The text was accompanied by a grainy image that Mae couldn’t wish to make out.

“You know I don’t like the beach,” Mae said. “We can’t afford that anyway.”

“We could just stay there for a few nights. Just try it out. Wouldn’t it be fun to think that we could afford a place like that?” His dark eyes lit up and his cut dark hair shook. “Come on…”

There was never any way of changing his mind, especially when he started whining. It stung Mae’s ears. Before she knew it, she was already in the car with her bag packed full of clothes that she hadn’t worn in months.

“What do you think it’ll be like?” Ji-hoon said, driving quickly. It only took the pair a few minutes to get outside of the city..

“I don’t know,” Mae said.

“You’re not at all curious?” 

Before she could answer his question, the dark and gloomy orange dust sky began clearing away and some blue shined through. “This has to be the best day that we’ve had in a long time,” Ji-hoon said. He threw his arm out of the car and seemed to revel in the sun’s warmth and the car began lurching into the next lane.

Mae grabbed the wheel and steadied the car.

The road was clear. And the only thing that stood between them and Bradbury was the long, crumbled road.

The light had already left the sky and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Mae smelled the salt in the air before anything else. It pinched her nostrils and sent tiny goosebumps up her arms. She hated going to the beach and was already regretting agreeing to come. Ji-hoon didn’t notice. He never noticed anything. Mae could feel herself getting annoyed being away from her own home and it wasn’t Ji-hoon’s fault, at least not yet.

A huge gate crested over the horizon and a large house stood tall behind it. The house was a creamy white with light beige accents. Mae could barely make out the front door from where she was.

“It’s bigger than I thought,” she said. Way bigger than their one bedroom apartment.

The car stopped at the entrance to the gate and Ji-hoon looked at his phone for instructions that the landlord had given them for when they arrived.

“Found it!” He leaned out of the car and entered some numbers into the number pad. A sharp, metal scraping sound ripped through the car. Mae gritted her teeth. The black gate opened in front of them.

Once they parked and gathered their belongings, Mae dug under the doormat and found the keys. Ji-hoon was the first to run in and explore the house. He was like a child going to Disney World for the first time. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least amazed by the interior. The ceiling sat at least ten feet above them with large skylights. The white staircase twisted upwards and had glass panes that acted as stair railings. There was no way that Mae could ever see herself in a place like Bradbury.

Mae was exhausted. Her legs ached. They hadn’t gotten out of the car for the entire two hour drive. Mae plopped down on the couch while Ji-hoon walked around looking at anything and everything.

“There’s like five bedrooms, Mae. Five!” Ji-hoon’s voice was far off. Somehow he’d already made it to the second floor in a matter of seconds of them being there. 

His excitement reminded her of her siblings and before the thought could hurt her, Ji-hoon was already running back down the stairs.

“Everything’s so white,” Ji-hoon said.

It was almost blinding.

Ji-hoon started to do a once over of the living room and said every thought that came to his mind. Zoning out of Ji-hoon’s loud thoughts, Mae noticed a square note on the coffee table. 

“Hey, Ji-hoon. Shut up, please.”

“What did I do?” he pouted.

She picked the card up and read aloud.

“Thanks for coming to the Bradbury Estate. I hope that you’ll find everything to your liking. The kitchen has been stocked. Towels are in the bathrooms. And the washer and dryer are in the basement. If you need anything, call the number you used to make your reservation and I will get back to you. Sincerely, S. P.S. There is a present in the fridge for you.”

Ji-hoon ran off to the kitchen and threw open the fridge door. He came back with a bagful of gummies tied together with a bright red bow and another tiny note that said from S. Printed on the bag was a tiny bolded red triangle with a symbol of a marijuana leaf inside.

“That guy really knows how to have fun,” Ji-hoon said, ripping open the bag. A fruity smell wafted over.

“Are you kidding?” Mae wrinkled her nose. “Are you even sure those are safe?”

“Don’t be such a square, babe.” Ji-hoon pulled a tiny gummy bear out and nudged it in front of her lips.

“He could be trying to poison us!”

“You’re so uptight. This can’t be the worst thing that you’ve ever put inside of your body,” he said. 

Mae turned away from him.

“Fine. I’ll take them alone, I guess.” Ji-hoon sighed.

 He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Give me a few, you asshole,” Mae said.

“Haha,” Ji-hoon said, perking up and pouring eight in her hand. “Of course, m’ lady!”

She took three and he took five. The cold, stiff pieces of gummy wriggled down her throat and Mae and Ji-hoon sat around waiting for their effects to kick in.

Mae’s body felt heavy. Her breathing slowed. Ji-hoon sat next to her on the plump couch. It felt softer than before. 

“I wanna go swimming,” Ji-hoon said, jumping up a bit sloppily but somehow stopping himself from falling over. He reached a hand out towards Mae to help her up.

“Can’t we go some other time?” Mae said, already deflecting. She’d planned to hold off on going to the beachside for as long as she could. Just until it was time for them to leave. At least then, it wouldn’t have been her fault for not going. But Ji-hoon pulled her anyway. And she didn’t fight it.

Something inside her wanted to see the water too. And another part of her loathed and cowered before it. But her feet followed Ji-hoon’s outside of the patio door and onto the sand.

The sea water was murky and washed up softly against the shoreline. Ji-hoon brought her just far enough forward that her feet got wet. The waves gently prickled Mae’s toes. And then there was that heavy feeling again. Like she was glued to one spot and the sand was gobbling her up. Her breathing felt sporadic and her face flushed. That’s when she finally noticed that she wasn’t holding Ji-hoon’s hand anymore.

“Uh, Ji-hoon?” Where was he? He was standing right next to her a second ago. She turned her head and everything moved in slow motion around her leaving streaks of buildings in her vision. This was the first time that she’d even noticed there were other houses along the shoreline. Warm lights danced in the distance and they got smaller as she tried to focus on them more. She suddenly noticed a blurry, pale figure that hadn’t left her side the entire time.

As soon as she found him, she stopped sinking. His skin looked perfect and his jet black hair swayed with the cool breeze. She’d never seen him look so beautiful as he stood there marveling at the water. The thought of the water shook her as goosebumps crept up her arm again.

“I think we should go back,” she tried to get out, but she didn’t hear those words leave her mouth. Her ears rang. 

Ji-hoon didn’t look like he’d even acknowledged what she said. Her heart beat so quickly that it made her face burn. And her attention threw itself over back to the dancing lights. And Ji-hoon was gone again.

“Come swimming with me, Mae,” he said.

His words nibbled at her heart. It reminded her too much of her brother.

“I don’t want to,” she remembered saying. Mae had just finished making a cylindrical house of damp sand and wasn’t ready to stop her creation just yet. She even picked out the shells she was going to use to decorate it.

“Mae,” her brother cried. “I wanna go swimming now!” Sammy was an annoying baby. Mae’s chubby fingers stayed glued to her sand castle and she didn’t even look at Sam but she could already imagine how red his face would turn if he didn’t get to go swimming on their last day at the beach.

“Just go then,” she said.

“But mom said you have to come with me.”

“Go and I won’t tell her.” Mae’s short bob rocked in the wind and a huge smile jumped onto Sammy’s face. He ran off away from her and into the water. Mae could finally focus on her sand castle. 

The harsh sun finally began to subside and her red skin cooled. It was getting dark. Mae created a sand castle worthy of onlookers. She wanted to show Sammy. Mae looked towards the water and didn’t see anything. The waves were rolling sickeningly in the distance. Where was Sammy?

Mae shook her head to try and knock the painful thoughts from her mind. The sky was pitch black again. And she tasted salt on her tongue and her stomach tightened. That’s when she noticed that Ji-hoon had made his way farther towards the water. His body danced with the waves and his feet entered a dark abyss. Ji-hoon’s khakis soaked darker and darker until they too entered a dark abyss.

Mae couldn’t focus on his body anymore. It was so goddamn hot. She touched her forehead to check for sweat but nothing was there. Why was she burning? She wanted to be with Ji-hoon. She needed to be there for him. Mae looked towards the water again and saw his head just above the water. Yes, that’s where she wanted to be. It’s where she needed to be. Mae’s insides burned and she stripped herself down to her panties and let the water swallow her feet.

The sound of the moving water tickled her ears. The water was talking to her and Mae had to get closer to hear what it wanted to tell her. The water washed the sand from in between her toes and that sinking feeling came back again. She couldn’t see Ji-hoon.

There was no bobbing head in sight. Just the long expanse of water that ripped away in front of her. She was alone. Was she too late again? Mae rummaged through the water like her skinny arms could move the sea itself. And everytime she moved a section away, the liquid came rushing back with a vengeance.

“Sammy? Sammy!” She still couldn’t hear her own words. They were leaving her mouth and getting lost in the sea. “Stop playing around.” It had to be a joke. Children always liked to play unwittingly cruel jokes. Everything was a joke to Sammy. He was probably getting a good laugh watching her freak out.

Mae slashed at the water around her. The water flashed from a clear blue to a dark menacing muddy purple. Sam wasn’t here. He wasn’t anywhere. Mae’s throat closed and she felt that she’d suffocate herself if she could. Tears welled in her eyes. Suddenly, she felt a splash hit her back, cooling her burning skin.

“Sammy?” she said.

Mae’s vision was blurry and it finally cleared enough for her to see the tall figure that she’d come on the beach with. His face was dripping. That jet black hair fell just over his dark brown eyes. And his dress shirt was falling off of his neck. She was burning again. Mae was sure that the water would evaporate around her. The burning went all the way down to her arm. She slapped Ji-hoon across the face. Her hand stung like hundreds of bees had pricked her all at once. She threw her body against his and wrapped him up in her arms. Her tears were salted by his dance with the sea. And she relished in the way that it stung.

Ji-hoon held her as she cried into him. Mae’s burning sensation finally subsided and her breath returned to normal. She could feel a headache beginning to form around her but for the first time in years her mind was clear.

Mae and Ji-hoon walked back inside and slept off their long night. They hadn’t even unpacked. Ji-hoon was the first to stir awake and he woke up Mae, who hadn’t slept late the entire time they’d known each other.

“I’ll get breakfast ready and then we can go back home soon,” Ji-hoon said, standing up, his clothes disheveled and wrinkled. 

Mae reached out and grabbed the end of his shirt.

“We don’t have to go home,” Mae said.  “Go take a shower and I’ll unpack our bags and get breakfast ready.”

Ji-hoon looked surprised but followed her instructions and went into the bathroom. Mae got up and rubbed the tiredness from her eyes and went to the corner of the bed to unzip her bag. Her clothes from last night were lying on the floor and she picked them up and placed them gently into the top drawer of the dresser and continued on with the rest of her clothes.