Sea Glasses

“I never thought these pile of rocks held my truth.” I said as I woke up.

Dreaming of other people’s lives; I cannot decide whether this was a nightmare or a dream come true. My dreams were not from my imaginative mind, but from the things I put under my pillow as I fall into a deep slumber. Young and naïve I was when I first realized I could do this, at the very same time, taunted me to never do it again for I have seen the most beautiful memories and the most gruesome past I never thought happened to human beings.

I wandered on a sunrise sea near my town, where I was supposedly left by my parents. Suddenly, I came across what seemed to be a sea glass. It glimmered as I held it up to discern its structure. It was an opaque colour of azure, just like the sea it came from, which made me feel like I was wrapping my hands around that sea.
Every break of dawn, I snuck out of the orphanage and strolled by that sea to collect those sea glasses. What was odd was that I had always found the same colour of sea glass I found then. My curiosity about it led me to a library, so I searched about what it really was. I found out that these sea glasses were actually pieces of a broken glass that weathered and smoothened because of the saltiness of the water they were submerged in. I realized that if these were broken glasses from before, they might have a story to tell.

For days I tried to stop myself from wanting to know what they were then; but it only stirred up my wonder, and so one night I did. The breeze that came from the open windows of my room signalled the arrival of winter. Then, I dozed off to the chill it brought me.

To the sound of two people talking and the chirping of the birds, I opened my eyes. These people were sat on a bench in a certain park without anybody else. I could tell they were a couple because of how they looked at each other with love and sincerity.
“Please accept this.” the man said offering the woman a blue jar with rolled papers inside it.
“What is this?” the woman replied with a warm smile.
“It’s a jar full of my promises. Promise me to read one every day until I am able to come back to you.”
“Are you really leaving?”
“I have to. I have so much debt to pay my uncle, so I need to leave and earn money. If he catches me here, he will literally kill me. You know what kind of person he is, right?”
“A criminal, indeed."

And then everything went black.

I woke up back to the real world. “Charles, can I have a word with you?” Ms. Lily, our foster parent, shouted from behind my door. I opened the door for her and gestured her to come in. She took a deep breath before speaking and said, “There is a couple who would like to meet you some time after this week and-“ I cut her off before even finishing what she had to say. “I’m not interested.” I uttered coldly. “I know how cross you are with the thought of having a family but please give them a chance, my dear.” “No. I will not let anybody leave me again like some sort of a stray animal!” I viciously exclaimed as I stormed off on the way to the sea.

I was there until the sun dived into the dark. Breathless and fatigued, I finally got to the orphanage and immediately, without a minute, I fell asleep, forgetting that the sea glasses were still under my pillow.
“Thomas, I’m afraid.” the woman said. Her cheeks were stained with tears. “I know, but I’m not going anywhere, Sarah. We’re safe here.” the man, I found out was named Thomas, told her with an unsure tone in his voice. “What about John? Thomas, we need to hide him.” Sarah panicked whilst carrying a baby on her arms. For some reason, the baby seemed familiar to me. They both put the baby beside the waters of the beach beach, behind a huge stone. A few minutes later, there were gunshots and a sound of a breaking glass.
“Mom! Dad!” I cried.

Reviews

[Jairah P.]

UGH IT HIT ME RIGHT ON THE FEELS, IM ON THE FLOOR GRABE. MY WIG FLEW AND SNATCHED. Your story is filled with beautiful words Harriet, so much emotions grabe i cant even express how great your works are. bagus bagus !! (arabic: good)