It had been a long trip but the four had made it to their destination. The sea air was around them, and the sound of waves crashing was very near. So as soon as they parked all the teens piled out, except Daimen. Daimen sat in the driver's seat carefully emptying out a little baggy of crank. He poured it on top of a dollar bill that was resting on his favorite book, a book of poetry by Charles Bukowski. The three other teenagers -his 2 good friends and his love, Melody- emptied out the trunk, and where excited to hit the sand. Yet Daimen sat calmly at the wheel, and proceeded to crush the crank into the fine powder it should be. He dropped the powder off the bill and onto he book, than with his school ID, began cutting it into 4 lines. The size of eyelashes, crystal eyelashes.
His friends yelled at him to hurry, but he paid no attention, he just rolled the dollar bill into a tube. A tube with tiny holes on both sides, the size of a pen's tip. He than put one end into one of his nostrils, and shut the other with his finger. He quickly snorted one line, and tilted his head back. With his head back he continued to sniff, so that none of the powder would fall out. As soon as he felt his nostril begin to burn, he snorted another line. Tilted his head. Began sniffing so that no more powder would drop. Felt the burn get a bit stronger. Than down again to snort another line. Tilt his head back. And sniffed a long sniff, to make sure everything stayed. The burn became stronger, and he became hesitant to do the last line. But he dipped his head down one more time, and snorted the last line. Tilted his head back and took a long hard sniff. He just felt the burn for awhile. It was like every nostril hair was on fire, like a candle. The heat a soft intensity, but it didn't matter.
He got out the car and continued sniffing. Melody was waiting for him. He put his arm around her and they began running to the sand. The sand was of the most beautiful warmth. When it went between the toes it felt it made the feet feel as if it were in some luxurious powder, which made the feet reel in pleasure. He slowed down and held Melody's hand, as they walked slowly in the sand. Daimen kept looking into Melody's oceanic blue eyes. He gave her a smile and she gave him one too.
He felt a salt watery gel begin to drip from the top of his mouth. It was like a concentrated form of the ocean, turned to a tar. He spit it out into the sand. Melody despised this act, and tried to discipline Daimen by giving him a gentle tap in the bum. Daimen just took this as a sign that Melody was in the fun mood. So he began playing with her as well, softly slapping her -more like a gentle push on the cheek- and pulling her hair a bit. Than he ran away, and Melody gave some chase.
By the water Daimen's 2 friends had already set up the towels and chairs, and were just getting ready to enter the water. Daimen took his shirt off as he ran, threw it at his friends, and ran into the water. As soon as the water was higher than his knees he dived under and felt the salty water over his body. He could feel each little salt grain in the water hit his body. The coolness of the liquid eased his body; he felt the sensation that is blood began to freeze. As he surfaced, he began a little backstroke.
By the time Melody hit camp, Daimen was a far into the ocean, alongside a pair of surfers. She just sighed and sat down, near Daimen's two friends. She admired Daimen and his love for the sea, but she never truly understood it. It was Daimen's obsession, and Melody was jealous of the sea. She knew that if Daimen had to make choice between her and the ocean, he would eagerly choose the ocean waters.
Daimen just floated there and conversed with the 2 surfers. There were no big waves coming, so those surfers were lounging it on their boards. They told Daimen, that in a couple of minutes the waves would come, they could feel it. Daimen felt much more though. This sea was part of him. The pacific was he. It was the womb where he had emerged. In him he felt the emotions of the water, and knew that today the waters would stay calm. So he just slowly swam to deeper waters.
Melody and the 2 friends got bored of just sitting there and entered the water. Melody took off her shirt and shorts to reveal her body in a most beautiful bikini. It was a dark tan, much like her own skin. The 2 friends tried not to look, out of respect for their friendship with Daimen, but curves on Melody kept their eyes fixed upon her.
Daimen just floated in the water. He felt the gentle swell of the water. It was breathing. He softly kicked with his legs to push himself deeper in the sea. The cool water and the warm sun were a pleasure that nothing could compare. Out there he had no worries. He no longer had to think about his family's poverty. His sick sister, or the newfound knowledge that his mother was being laid off. Out there all he had was pleasurable thoughts. Dreams of his future, dreams of him in the most luxurious fashion. He dipped his head into the water and began to swim beneath its surface.
Back in shallow water, Daimen's 2 friends were casually flirting with Melody, and although she was loyal to Daimen, she enjoyed this attention. It was nice not to be second to the sea. To be of such interest to someone. So there was light touching here and there, and jokes of skinny-dipping. Melody just played along.
Daimen reached the end. The orange buoy that marked the end of the pedestrian water. The rest of the ocean didn't belong to human kind. It belonged to the majestic creatures of the depths, and much more they had to remain a mystery to man. Something's man should not know. No matter how much he wanted to, because Daimen knew that in that deep ocean was the answer. The answer to what, he did not know. But he knew it was the answer he was searching for. So as he held onto the buoy and looked at the shimmering water continue to breathe, his thought wondered...
I am nothing. There is so much, and I am meaningless. Look out there. An endless sea. I have an end. An end that will bring no difference to all this. No, my life can't be like that. My life must mean something. It has too, or else why should I continue living...
He pondered that thought, and than allowed himself to sink into the water. Incredibly slow, his body floated down the blue-ness. His eyes were open and he could see the sky getting darker and darker, the deeper he got. His body was being tugged by the ocean pulling him outward. Pulling him deeper. Both deeper underwater and farther out to sea. It didn't matter though; his life was at the hand of something greater than he was. His life was left to the ocean. If that which controlled the ocean –which seems impossible to control- choose for Daimen to continue his life than it would do so. Otherwise his fate was decided.
Daimen's friends began asking Melody about Daimen. She ignored the notion of him, and said he was sprung on the ocean. That the ocean got Daimen off in a way she never could. One of the friends responded to the statement by saying that Melody could get him off in a way no one could. She laughed at this, a soft inviting laugh. That friend got closer to Melody, and began playing with her, and hoping that this play would lead to some fun.
The water just tumbled Daimen's body. He was like a rock in the ocean. His knees pressed against his chest and his head resting upon them. His air supply was nearly gone, and he began to feel a dream like state. His mind was clear. Clear as the ocean. He knew what he wanted to know, and he quickly sprung up and out of the sea. As he climbed the water, air leaving his mouth, he felt some spiritual dirt upon him turn to a fine dust, that the ocean absorbed.
When he hit that surface and took that deep breath of life, he sighed. The ocean had dragged him beyond the boundary of humanity. It would take a long while to swim back, nonetheless the journey was necessary. Odd though, the ocean had never brought him out farther than a few feet from the buoy but this time he was too far away. The thought evaporated from his mind, and he began to swim back to the sand.
It took awhile and he landed, far away from where they had left the stuff. It was a hard swim; he had to fight the strong current of the sea. Something else too, the waters began to lose control. They started to crash, and huge waves were emerging from the ocean that was so calm, only a couple of minutes ago. The surfers would probably be happy, but Daimen seemed perplexed by this sudden change in the ocean's mood.
Water dripped from him, and he was subject of much eyeing. Daimen wondered if it was because of his appearance. He was unsure whether the young ladies enjoyed his sight, or felt a disgust for him. It didn't matter to him though; he didn't care about what others thought. Soon he was insight of Jon, one of his two friends. He sat there in the sand, looking at the 2 surfers riding waves -rather attempting to, since the ocean was much too violent to be ridden-, and Jon was alone.
He approached him and asked what had happened to Melody and James. His friend took awhile to respond and than said they had gone to get some ice cream. Daimen nodded at this fact, he knew which ice cream shop they were at. He had taken Melody there often. So they began walking to the parlor.
Jon asked questions to Daimen, odd questions. He asked Daimen if he had ever felt lonely, and if that knowledge made him depressed. Daimen just pondered this, and simply stated, "we are all alone at some point in our life. Its not much fun, but solitude can bring much enlightenment" Jon nodded with glee "it can also bring insanity". Jon stood there thinking this, than told Daimen he had forgot something on the beach, and would be back. Daimen just waved him off.
Melody and James were eating some scoops of Vanilla, and Melody enjoyed seeing James squirm as she licked the Ice Cream ever so slowly, and let it melt on her tongue. She smiled and James licked his lip, she saw this and bit her own lip. He leaned in, as did she and they kissed. Daimen was able to see this. A tide of emotions came to him. His blood bubbled with rage, his heart dripped with sadness, and his mind, went clear. He could follow his first impulse, and just go over there and unleash an onslaught of blows upon his friend James. That would bring him a momentary pleasure. He could also just forget what happened, and pretend nothing had occurred. No, that was against his nature, he couldn't deny the plain and simple fact of what had occurred. In the end he just walked away. Back to the driver's seat, and looked at the water for a moment. It was getting worse.
Melody and James walked to where their stuff had been. Instead they found a crowd of people looking out into the sea. A couple of lifeguard trucks were around. They quickly went to find out what was happening. As soon as Melody overheard that someone out deep was lost, she screamed, and cried out for Daimen. She told the lifeguard that her boyfriend had swum out deep. The lifeguard only nodded. Melody began crying out, pleading to some supernatural power for the safe return of her love.
Out in the ocean lay that dead body. Deep in the water, tangled in some seaweed. The corpse of a young man, who had felt unloved, who had felt alone. The ocean had brought his death, but he welcomed it. Or maybe just accepted the ocean's decision that his existence was better, dead.
As the sunsets, a shadowy spirit sits on the sand. His eyes fixed on the burning sun, and cool water. Such a magnificent sight. A sight that had always brought him such pleasure. The shadow just sighed and spent his eternity enjoying that image.
