Chapter Two A
Salt and Silence
The water stretched endlessly in every direction. No land. No birds. Just the groan of old sails and the low hum of wind sliding through the rigging like a song almost remembered.
Milo leaned against the railing, letting the breeze tug at his collar, eyes fixed on the horizon. The sea looked different out here — thicker, heavier, as if it knew he was coming.
Then it happened.
That feeling again.
Like a slow pull beneath his ribs — memory rising.
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Then…
The beach was quiet, except for the waves laughing against the sand. Eliora's laughter was louder — wild, unfiltered, and beautiful. She was spinning in circles barefoot, arms wide like she could scoop the sky into her chest.
"C'mon, Milo!" she called out, grinning. "Don't just stand there like a stiff ghost!"
Milo, in his old canvas shirt and boots full of sand, gave a mock bow. "I'm merely admiring the goddess in her natural habitat."
"Flatter me again and I might let you kiss me twice this time," she teased, tossing a shell at his feet.
He chased her down the shoreline, both of them stumbling in the surf, their laughter echoing off the rocks. Later, they lay on a blanket tangled in each other, watching clouds turn golden.
She whispered things like,
"Do you believe time is real?"
and
"Promise me if I disappear, you'll find me in the sea."
He'd said yes to both. Stupidly. Lovingly. Completely.
---
Now…
A tear slipped down Milo's cheek before he could stop it.
The memory ended not with her smile… but with her scream. The sound of metal. The ocean swallowing. The last glimpse of her hand disappearing below the waves. No body. No closure. Just silence — and a storm that came out of nowhere.
The official report called it an accident.
Milo called it unfinished.
He snapped the journal shut, his chest tight.
Beneath the boat, the water changed.
It grew darker. Colder. Quieter.
He looked over the edge and — for a breathless moment — saw something:
A glimmer. A shimmer.
Like fingers reaching up through the deep.
Then it was gone.
He stepped back, heart hammering.
This place wasn't just a destination. It was a mirror. A reckoning.
And somewhere within it, Eliora's voice still echoed.
> "Find me in the sea…"
He clenched his fists.
Not just grief. Not just ghosts.
This was a journey to the soul's edge — and he wasn't turning back.
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