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daxwritesstories · 1 year ago

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Starry Anomaly: Part 2 - Starry Eyed

Summary: Starry spends the majority of her life feeling lonely until one day a mysterious girl named Anna appears in her town. The two quickly become close but Starry soon realizes that there’s more to Anna than meets the eye.

Four part story. Each part is inspired by a different song.

Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4

Word Count: ~7.4K

Song lyrics from "Starry Eyed" by Ellie Goulding and "Loreley" by Blackmore's Night.

Take me in and throw out my heart and get a new one

I awoke to the sound of sporadic tapping on my window. Sitting up, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked at my balcony doors. I discovered the source of the tapping as a tiny rock hit the window. Confused, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and hopped down to investigate.

I unlatched the lock on the door and carefully opened them, keeping an eye out for stray rocks. I approached the railing and looked down to see Ramona standing on the path outside with a fist full of pebbles.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she called. “It’s almost the afternoon.”

That was a shock, I almost never slept in. I must have been exhausted from the previous night, which at that point I was convinced was all a dream.

A ship sailed by no one appears at the dock in the dead of night and a strange girl wearing a cat mask departs from it without explanation. It was the stuff of fairytales and something that my mind definitely made up.

“I’m going to explore the jungle today. Do you want to come with me?” Ramona asked.

I nodded and rushed back into my room to get dressed.

Ramona was waiting for me by the front door when I came downstairs. We told my parents where we were going and they told us to be careful and not to go too far. Then the two of us were off on a new adventure.

“I guess you haven’t seen that girl yet, since you’ve been sleeping,” Ramona mentioned as we strolled. through the town.

I nearly stopped in my tracks. Was it not a dream after all?

“What girl?”

“There was a girl who appeared in town this morning,” Ramona explained. “Nobody knows where she came from. Apparently she won’t talk to anyone and she wears this weird mask. No one’s seen her face yet.”

“What? Where is she?” I asked, trying my best to hide the desperation in my voice.

“I dunno. I haven’t seen her yet either. Some grown-ups near the marketplace just told me about it.”

That time I did stop walking. So Anna was real. I needed to find her as soon as possible. I needed to ask if anyone knew where she went.

I quickly told Ramona that I couldn’t go to the jungle with her and that I needed to go do something. I apologized and ran off. Ramona didn’t argue with me, or at least not that I heard.

Frantically racing around town, I asked everyone I saw if they’d seen where the mysterious girl had gone. Most people didn’t know but a couple of grown-ups in the square said she went in the direction of the beach. It was a long shot, the beach was huge since it stretched around almost the entire perimeter of the island, but it was all I had to go on.

I made my way to one of the few sets of stairs around the town that went down to the beach. Taking off my shoes, I went down the steps, careful not to trip. I could have jumped down from the edge of one of the paths but that was dangerous for a kid like me to do, especially since I was still so short.

Wet sand slipped between my toes as I walked closer to the waterline. I thought that if I was closer to the shore I would have a better view of the area. I didn’t want to miss Anna if she was out there.

I walked along the beach for what felt like hours. Anna was nowhere to be seen and I was starting to give up on the idea of seeing her again. She had probably already left and gone back to wherever it was she came from.

Defeated, I stopped at the next large rock I came across and sat in front of it. I leaned my shoulders back against the rough stone and let out a long, tired sigh. It must have all just been a fantasy. I didn’t know what was going on. Perhaps I’d misheard Ramona. Maybe the townsfolk just gave me a fake answer so as to not upset me.

“Starry?”

Startled, I straightened my back and whipped my head around to see who had called my name. I nearly cried when I saw a white cat mask looking down at me.

“Anna!” I scrambled to my feet and despairingly wrapped my arms around her. When she didn’t reciprocate the embrace, I let go of her. “I was looking everywhere for you.”

Anna giggled and swayed a bit. “I told you I’d come find you. You didn’t have to look.”

“Sorry. I just really needed to see you again,” I explained.

Reaching out, Anna gently took both my hands in hers. “Here I am.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach together. We ran along the shore hand-in-hand, splashed around and danced in the water, and collected shells, giving the prettiest ones we found to each other. All of those things were Anna’s idea. I almost never went to the beach, so I didn’t know what people even do at the beach.

Ramona hated the beach and always refused to accompany me to the sandy shore. She preferred exploring the jungle, which was fun too but it could get boring sometimes.

Anna, on the other hand, told me that she loved the beach. She said that she would live on the beach if she could. I thought that was a strange thing to say. I’d heard of people living on the beach before, that was just something you could do. When I asked Anna why she couldn’t live on the beach though, she just shrugged and playfully splashed me with water.

By the time the sun started to set we were both tired out so we sat against the rock and watched nature’s beautiful display of light and color.

“My friends will be here soon,” Anna said.

“Who are your friends?” I asked.

Anna didn’t respond. It seemed that she didn’t like answering questions.

We sat in silence for a long moment before Anna spoke again.

“Have you ever been in love, Starry?”

“Aren’t we still too young to fall in love?” I responded. “I thought only grown-ups could fall in love.”

“I don’t think so,” Anna said.

I thought about it. No one ever told me what being in love felt like. When I asked my parents they told me that it was hard to describe and that it feels different for everyone. That didn’t make any sense to me.

Now that I was next to Anna again, there was no pain or emptiness in my chest anymore. I knew that love came from your heart, so maybe that was what love felt like? Maybe that was why I felt so complete when I was around Anna.

“I think I might be in love with you,” I said, thinking out loud.

Anna turned her head to look at me for a second and then faced the sunset again, the orange light tinting her mask. She didn’t say anything and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.

“Hey Anna, what do you look like?” I asked.

That caught Anna’s attention. She shifted to sit on her knees and turned her body to face me. Her hands rested neatly on her lap and she sat with perfect posture.

“I’ll show you if you want,” she offered.

I nodded and Anna brought her hands up to the mask. She placed one hand on the bottom of it and one hand on the top. She carefully lifted the mask, pulling the top back so that it rested on top of her head.

You look at me, it’s like you hit me with lighting

Before me I saw an angelic, otherworldly face, indescribably beautiful in a million different ways. It was perfect yet wild and unexpected. I felt like it was the first time I had ever seen another person’s face, no one else compared. My heart filled with joy when our eyes met and I felt that sense of peace even more strongly than before.

“You’re so–”

Anna cut my praise short by leaning forward and pressing her lips against mine. They were soft and gentle and I instinctively shut my eyes. I’d never kissed anyone before but that’s what I saw my parents do when they kissed. They would look lovingly into each other’s eyes, then they would kiss and both close their eyes, staying still for a few moments. Anna did the same thing, then pulled away after a few short, sweet seconds passed.

I opened my mouth to speak but Anna held a slender finger over her pale lips, silencing whatever compliment was going to come out. She then pulled her mask back down over her face, returning it to its normal place.

“They say my face is dangerous,” she said, looking down in shame.

“Why?”

Anna did not answer. She left her head hanging and I felt her sadness. Maybe she didn’t know the answer, or maybe she didn’t understand it. What a cruel thing to say to a young girl.

“Who says that?” I asked, warmly placing my hand on top of hers.

“The sailors.”

Sailors? I hadn’t had many interactions with sailors before. My parents told me to stay away from the sailors when I was alone. They never said why I should stay away or that the seafarers were dangerous in any way. I never questioned it though, most sailors didn’t try to approach me anyway. The only times I’d spoken to them were during the town’s festivals, when everyone was merry and dancing.

“Did you come here with sailors?” I asked. “Were they on that boat with you?”

Anna finally looked up again and deliberately shook her head. She did not elaborate and that left me confused. It shouldn’t have been possible for a kid to sail a ship that large all by herself.

The beach was painted a bright orange hue that was slowly turning red, signifying that the sun was almost down. Anna flipped her hand up to wrap her fingers around mine and bring it up to her cheek behind the mask. She nuzzled her cheek against my hand and I felt her messy hair tickle my skin.

I smiled at her and somehow I could tell that she was smiling back at me. I wished we could have stayed out there all night, but the beach was a dangerous place to be after dark.

We waited until the sun was just a sliver on the sea’s horizon before we walked back to town, hand in hand. A chilly evening wind ruffled my hair and slipped through my sweater. I shivered and glanced at Anna, whose dress flew up a bit in the breeze. She seemed completely unphased by the cold, not a single goosebump appeared on her fair skin. I asked her if she was cold and she shook her head.

We kept walking until we got to the street that my house was on, right at the edge of town, less than a minute away from the ocean. I squeezed Anna’s hand to get her attention and pointed at my house. She stopped to look in the direction I was pointing.

“This is my house,” I told her.

Anna nodded and thoughtfully tapped her fingers on the chin of her mask. “It’s beautiful.”

“You think so?” Beautiful is not a word I would have used to describe my house. It was old and broken down, the paint and wood peeling from years of harsh storms. The windows, despite being clean, were all cloudy around the edges and the roof was being eaten away by rust. Tall weeds had overtaken the bottom floor walls years ago, even one of our kitchen windows was covered by them. It looked like most of the other houses in town, there was nothing special about it.

Anna nodded again and then turned to face me. She took my other hand and swung both of them side to side. I giggled at the amusing motion.

“You should go inside,” Anna said somberly.

“Come with me,” I pleaded. I didn’t want to part with her yet, not after how wonderful spending the day together felt.

“Another time.” Anna reached out to lovingly caress my cheek. “I have to go.” She stepped back and walked past me.

“Wait! When can we see each other again?” I called.

“I’ll come find you,” was the only answer Anna gave me. She ran off again and was quickly out of my sight. I wanted to chase after her but I was scared that it might make her mad.

Instead, I complied with her wish and went inside. My parents greeted me and offered me dinner. I thanked them for the meal but decided to go eat in my room, not wanting to explain why I didn’t go to the jungle with Ramona.

I hoped that Ramona still had fun by herself. I felt a bit bad for abandoning her at the last minute but I knew there would be plenty of time for us to go on more adventures. There was no telling how long Anna would stay in town and I had a feeling that she wouldn’t tell me even if I asked her.

I spent most of the evening sitting on the floor of my balcony. It wasn’t storming that night so I took the opportunity to look at the stars and listen to the waves. It might have just been my imagination, but the stars didn’t seem to shine as brightly as they usually did. Compared to the way Anna made me feel that day, the stars felt like distant strangers. Maybe they always were and I just hadn’t noticed.

~~~

I knocked on the front door at Ramona’s house early the next morning to apologize. I wanted to make up for our missed adventure the day before, if she was available. Her grandma answered the door and happily invited me inside. She told me that Ramona was still in her room crafting something. I thanked her and went upstairs to Ramona’s bedroom.

“Ramona?” I called, letting her know it was me coming in.

When I began to open the door, I heard Ramona quickly stand up and shuffle some things around. The door opened wide enough to see her slam a drawer in her workbench shut, nearly knocking over some of the crystals she kept on the corners of the desk. She turned around and smiled, blocking the drawer with her body.

“Hey, Starry.”

“What were you making?” I asked. Ramona always showed me the projects she was working on, whether it was a modified trinket or an original creation. The fact that she was hiding it roused my curiosity.

“Um.. it’s a surprise,” Ramona answered. “Come on in.”

I shut the door behind me, the old wood moving with a loud creak. Her mattress dipped beneath me when I sat on the edge of her bed.

“Ramona…” I glanced around the room, trying to find the right words. I wasn’t quite sure how to explain myself but maybe I wouldn’t have to. “I’m sorry for running off yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s alright, Starry,” Ramona said with a smile. “You missed out on some cool stuff though.” Ramona went on to tell me about the wonderful adventure she’d had by herself. She saw a flock of the most vibrant-feathered birds either of us had ever seen. She’d climbed all the way up a centuries old tree and at the top she could see miles of the seemingly endless jungle. She even found a few trinkets left behind by someone who couldn’t appreciate them the way she would.

It was a captivating story and it almost made me regret not accompanying her.

As Ramona showed me her newly found trinkets, she asked what I had done yesterday. I told her about my encounter with the masked girl and Ramona was immediately intrigued.

“What was she like?”

“She was amazing.” There was not much else to say about her, at least not anything that anyone else would understand.

“Where did she come from?” Ramona asked.

I shrugged. I didn’t want to tell Ramona the truth that I saw Anna arrive on the ghost ship. She might have thought I had lost my mind. Besides, I still wasn’t entirely sure that it was even real and not a dream. Anna was definitely real but ghost ships shouldn’t be. I even passed by the harbor on my way to the beach the previous day and there were no new ships. There hadn’t been any for a while.

Ramona gave me a confused look, wanting a real answer.

“She doesn’t talk much,” I explained. “She did tell me that her name is Anna though.”

“Anna, hm…”

“What?”

“I dunno. I just thought she’d have a more spectacular name, since she’s so mysterious.” Ramona had a point. Anna was an uncharacteristically simple name for such an enigmatic person.

I felt the need to tell Ramona more but a part of me was scared to. I was like a pirate who’d found a glorious treasure, wanting to flaunt my newfound riches but, at the same time, afraid of having them stolen. Ramona was the person I trusted most in my small, secluded world though, so I thought that it might be okay to tell her a bit more.

“I saw her face,” I blurted out.

Ramona stopped playing with the metallic trinket that she was holding. “She took her mask off?”

I nodded. “Only for a minute.”

Ramona asked me what she looked like. I told her that it was too hard to describe, any string of words I could put together wouldn’t do it justice. So Ramona started asking more specific questions.

“What color were her eyes?”

“A color I’ve never seen before.”

“What was her smile like?”

“She didn’t smile.”

“What shape was her face?”

“The perfect shape.”

Ramona soon realized that she wasn’t going to get any specific answers from me. She tried to get me to compare Anna’s features to other things we’d seen before but nothing was even remotely similar. I felt that making comparisons would do less to help describe her than saying nothing at all.

We gave up on description and Ramona decided she would just have to see for herself. I thought it was a good idea and I told her that Anna was a nice person once you got to know her.

Part of me was still terrified of what might happen if Ramona saw Anna’s face. Would she fall in love with her too? Would she take her away from me? I wanted to believe that Ramona wouldn’t do that to me but I couldn’t be sure.

I just hoped that Anna would refuse to talk to her, just like she did with the rest of the townsfolk.

I spent the day in Ramona’s bedroom. She made alterations to some of her trinkets and I helped her paint some of her woodworking projects. Ramona was a talented craftsman, all of her creations and modifications had a true artistic quality to them. Not every project worked the way it was intended, but they all looked beautiful.

That was something Ramona was working toward, trying to find a way to put more emphasis on functionality without sacrificing presentation. I always saw improvement in her work and I knew she had a bright future with her skills.

~~~

In the evening we went to the square together. There was going to be music and dancing, something the townsfolk always did at the end of the week.

Ramona wanted me to dance with her but I wasn’t sure about it. We used to dance together a lot but that was back when we were the same height. Recently it was becoming embarrassing to dance with her because I thought we looked weird together. I had to stand on my toes and awkwardly bend my body to perform our usual dance moves. I told her that maybe I would but I mostly planned to just dance alone.

We arrived at the square where the music had already begun. Most of the grown-ups were sitting down, singing, or playing an instrument. The older kids were standing in a circle, clapping their hands but not dancing. Strange, usually the teenagers were always dancing.

When we got closer, Ramona shoved a few kids out of the way so we could join the circle. My eyes immediately went to the center of the circle and I stared in disbelief.

Anna was there dancing, all alone, performing graceful moves that none of us had ever seen before. Her midnight blue dress swayed as she twirled and kicked her bare feet. Everyone seemed thoroughly entertained by the display, smiling, clapping, and cheering.

Ramona and I glanced at each other but didn’t say a word. We watched Anna blissfully dance until the song ended.

Anna held one final pose for a second before looking around at the crowd she’d attracted. She saw me and gleefully skipped over to where I stood. She held her hand out, inviting me to dance with her.

Without hesitation, I placed my hand in her palm and let her escort me out to the center of the circle as the next song began. The way we danced was foreign to me but I just followed Anna’s lead, letting her guide me through the steps. I smiled at the masked angel as the songstress sang a shanty.

“Oh, the song of Loreley

Charms the moon right from the sky

She will get inside your mind

Lovely Loreley

When she cries

‘Be with me until the end of time’

You know you will ever be

With your Loreley”

Anna’s dance was dizzying, she spun both of us around so many times that my legs began to wobble. She kept me upright the entire time though, somehow unaffected by vertigo.

The world blurred around us and everyone else faded into the background. It was just me and Anna floating through space together as the song filled our heads.

“And the winds would cry

And many men would die

And all the waves would bow down

To the Loreley”

When the song ended I toppled over, falling into Anna’s arms. I was breathing heavily, as if I had just swam across the entire ocean.

Anna held me until I could find my footing again. I smiled at her so widely that my cheeks hurt and again I somehow knew she was smiling back.

I looked back to where I’d left Ramona standing but she was gone. My eyes searched for her in the crowd to no avail. She must have gone off somewhere on her own. It wouldn’t have been the first time, she got distracted easily.

Anna tapped on my shoulder to get my attention back. She fixed my sweater when I looked at her again, pulling up the sleeve that had fallen down my shoulder during our dance. I stared at the cat mask in front of me and an image of Anna’s face slowly faded over it until I could no longer see the mask.

Another song started soon and this time all of the older kids began dancing too. Anna twirled and danced a bit by herself. I stood still, mesmerized by her movements and a bit nervous to be in the center with the older kids. Ramona and I usually danced on the outskirts of the crowd in our own little world. I wasn’t used to being in the middle of it all.

Anna seemed to notice my hesitation. She stopped dancing, gracefully bringing her movements to a halt. She grabbed my wrist with an unexpectedly tight grip and weaved us through the crowd. She avoided all the dancing bodies with a calculated accuracy, not once bumping into someone.

We eventually broke free from the mass and Anna led me away from the square. When we reached the stairs I realized where she was taking me.

“Wait.” I stopped, causing my wrist to slip out of Anna’s grasp. She turned around and stared at me, breathing steadily, waiting for an explanation. “The ocean is dangerous at night,” I said.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Anna promised. She held her hand out, silently asking me to trust her.

Though I hesitated, I believed her. I just wanted to be around her for as long as possible. Even if it meant doing something that scared me.

I placed my hand in Anna’s and she guided me down the steps until we reached the sand. I paused to take my shoes off but Anna told me to keep them on. I questioned her but she said I would understand soon.

We stayed near the boardwalk, where it was lightest, as we ambled along the beach. Anna gently swayed our intertwined hands back and forth. She hummed one of the shanties that were playing in the square and I joined her. She had a lovely voice, soft yet powerful, just like the rest of her.

After a long time we arrived at a cluster of large rocks. I’d never gone that far on the beach so I didn’t even know it was there. Waves crashed against the furthest out rocks and water droplets flew into the air before landing with a splat. It was loud and kind of scary in the dark.

Anna stepped onto one of the smaller rocks and started climbing.

“Wait, you’ll slip,” I warned.

Anna looked over her shoulder at me and shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”

“What about me?” I didn’t want to be left behind after coming this far.

Fearlessly, Anna climbed onto the next big rock and turned around, crouching on its surface. She held her hand out, coaxing me to try.

I was scared but I took her hand anyway. I gripped it tightly for support as I stepped onto the small rock in front of me. Just like the first step of any adventure, it was easy and gave me a bit of confidence. I nodded at Anna and she pulled me up to the bigger rock she was on. It was a much higher step up and I had to propel myself upwards, meeting Anna’s movement, to get myself up.

Anna gave my hand an affirming squeeze as I stood up next to her. She led me up one rock higher and we were a few feet off the ground at that point.

I hated climbing. Ramona would always try to get me to climb trees with her in the jungle but I preferred to have my feet on the ground. I was mostly afraid to fall, something I’d seen Ramona do plenty of times. She always seemed fine, getting right back up after she hit the ground, but I didn’t believe that it would be the same case for me. My parents were always worried about me getting hurt and it made me feel frail.

As I set my back foot on the rock, my shoe gave way to the moisture on the surface and my foot slipped back a little bit.

I nearly screamed in fear and grabbed Anna’s arm with my free hand, clinging onto her like my life depended on it. Anna quickly turned to tend to me, holding me steady so I could regain my balance. I think she could tell that I was scared.

“You’re okay,” she soothed.

“I don’t wanna fall,” I yelped.

Anna paused for a moment, thinking, then nodded down at the rock. “Sit and you won’t fall.”

I listened to her, immediately sitting down. I could feel the seat of my shorts getting wet but I was so worried about falling that I didn’t care.

Anna remained standing, looking out onto the ocean before us. I watched her, noticing how still she was, her shoulders relaxed in perfect posture. The wind blew her skirt back and ruffled the top of her short hair but she didn’t seem to notice at all.

My hair was flowing in the breeze too but because it was long it quickly became tangled. Normally I would have tried to fix it with my fingers but I was too entranced by the way Anna looked.

She opened her arms as a large wave crashed against the rocks, welcoming the water as it splashed across her. She tilted her head up and she looked just like a sea witch from the fairytales I’d heard. Goddesses who controlled the ocean, always one with the waves.

We stayed there for a while, not speaking, just listening to the waves as they rose and fell against the rocks’ sides. The clouds drifted away to reveal the moon and Anna’s mask lit up under the light. For some reason, the longer I knew Anna the more the mask seemed to have expressions of its own. Of course it had the face of a smiling cat painted on it but it almost looked lonely. Lonely like me.

~~~

I slept in late again the next morning. I knew that making a habit of staying out late was bad for me but I didn’t mind losing some daylight if it meant I could be with Anna.

I got dressed, putting on my favorite fleece hoodie and some comfortable leggings, and went downstairs. My parents were already preparing sandwiches for lunch and I joined them at the table when everything was done.

“Someone came to the door this morning looking for you,” my mom said.

“Ramona?”

“No sweetie, it was a girl wearing a cat mask,” my mom explained.

“Anna,” I said, mostly to myself.

“Is she a friend of yours?” my dad asked.

“Yeah… Did she say where she was going?” I asked.

My parents exchanged a quick glance before answering. “The pier.”

I immediately stood up. I felt compelled to go look for her right away, afraid she would grow tired of waiting for me and go somewhere else. The town was small but Anna was free to go anywhere she wanted on the island, which was significantly bigger. It could take me all day to find her.

After wrapping up the remainder of my sandwich, I put it in the fridge and told my parents that I was going to the pier.

“Be careful around the water, my dear,” my mom called after me as I ran out the door.

When I arrived at the pier, I saw Anna sitting at the end of it and I breathed a sigh of relief. My shoes thumped loudly against the wood as I ran down to the end of the pier to join her.

Though she must have heard me coming, Anna didn’t show any signs of it, staying completely still as I sat down next to her. Our legs dangled off the planks as we looked out across the endless ocean.

“You slept in,” Anna said.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Anna looked at me, her hands gripping onto the edge of the plank as she leaned forward a bit. “I just wanted to see you again.”

A gasp escaped my lips when I heard those words. I wondered if that meant she felt the same way about me as I felt about her. I wondered if that was what love felt like.

Without thinking, I leaned over and wrapped my arms around Anna’s middle. I rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes. There were no words that could have expressed to her how I felt so a hug was the only thing that felt right.

Anna responded by placing one arm around my shoulder and rested her other hand on my head. I smiled when I felt the gentle pressure of her fingertips on my hair.

After a few moments she pulled away from me to speak again. “Can I sleep at your house tonight, Starry?”

I lifted my head to look at her. “Of course. But Anna, where have you been sleeping since you got here?” I wanted to know what she’d been doing every time she disappeared. I wanted to know if she had anyone to take care of her. Perhaps she was an orphan, left alone to fend for herself. How sad, I thought.

“Somewhere cold,” Anna answered, though that didn’t explain anything. I wanted to press her more for an answer but I knew it would be pointless. If she didn’t want to tell me, she didn’t have to. I somehow knew that she was okay, maybe just a little lost.

Fall head first like paper planes in playground games

Anna invited me to walk along the beach with her and I accepted. Then she did something that was so scary. She rose to her feet and jumped off the pier, diving into the water with perfect form.

I immediately slid backwards on the pier, pulling my feet up onto the wood. I called out to Anna in panic when she resurfaced, shaking the water out of her hair.

“Anna! Are you okay?”

She nodded, steadily treading in the water. “Come on, let’s swim to the beach. It’s just over there,” she said. She pointed toward the shore just a few feet away from her, keeping herself afloat with her other arm.

I looked over at the shoreline, considering the idea. My parents taught me how to swim but it was just as a precaution. They instructed me to never go in the water without one of them and to not even go near the water if they weren’t around. I broke that second rule a lot, like on that very day, but I never disobeyed the first one. I knew the currents could be harsh and unpredictable, even if the waves seemed calm.

Standing up, I gestured at the boardwalk behind me. “I’ll meet you there.”

Anna didn’t argue, she just started swimming in the direction of the shore. She looked like such a natural in the water. She must have had a lot of swimming practice, much more than I did.

I felt bad for not joining her as I ambled along the boardwalk. Anna wouldn’t have let me drown, right? I felt like I should have just trusted her like I did the previous night at the rocks.

By the time I reached the sand Anna was already walking out of the water. She squeezed the water out of the skirt of her dress as I approached her.

“The water is warm today,” she said.

I just smiled and nodded, a bit embarrassed about my apprehension.

The two of us walked along the beach in the direction of my house. We moved slowly, enjoying the warm afternoon sun shining down on us. During the winter it was warmest in the afternoon, when the sun was as high as it could get in the sky.

Anna held my hand for the entire journey. We didn’t talk much and when we did speak it was to share our admiration for the beautiful scenery. The deep blue water sparkled brilliantly in the sun. It reminded me of the countless crystals that Ramona kept in her room.

We stopped many times along the way to chase the waves or dance in the water. Anna was right, the ocean was warm on our feet and we twirled together on the shoreline. It was strange, the water was usually cooler around that time of year.

When the sky grew orange, indicating that the sun would slowly disappear soon, Anna suggested that we go to my house. I agreed and she led the way. I was happy that she bothered to remember where I lived since I made sure to tell her multiple times where my house was. Although she never responded the first time, I was now certain that she was listening.

We arrived at my house a lot faster than I had anticipated. It felt like we were walking at a slow, relaxed pace but we seemed to cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time.

My parents greeted us when we pranced through the front door, holding hands. I said hello and Anna waved at them. I told my parents that she was going to sleep over and they encouraged us to have fun and go to bed early.

Anna and I ate the dinner that my parents had prepared before we got back. Then I took Anna up to my room so we could relax together. I sat on my bed and Anna stood at the open balcony, gazing out at the sea. I began sorting through the pile of books that had formed on my side table, allowing my guest to do whatever she felt like doing. I wondered if Anna would want to read any of my books and a thought occurred to me. Did she even know how to read? Many fugitives who arrived on our island were unable to read. If she was a fugitive, that is. I would have been more than happy to teach her if she didn’t know.

“You have a beautiful view of the ocean,” Anna commented.

“Yeah, it’s nice that I can see it from my own room,” I agreed.

Anna stepped back into the room and closed the balcony doors, saying that it was getting late. She joined me on the bed and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was trying to organize my books. Anna picked up one of the books that I had set down beside me. She examined it, carefully inspecting the covers and flipping through the pages.

“Anna, can you read?” I asked as politely as possible. I was slightly concerned that I would offend her with such a question.

“Not your language,” Anna answered.

Since I wasn’t expecting that answer, I put the book that was currently in my hand down and turned to face Anna.

“What is your native language? I have books written in a few different languages,” I offered.

Anna glanced around at my various bookshelves. “I don’t think you will have books in my language,” she said. The tone in her voice lowered slightly at the end, as if she were feeling sorrowful.

Sensing that the subject of her native tongue was making Anna feel sad, I tried to shift the conversation a bit.

“How did you learn to speak Esalezian?” I asked.

“The sailors taught me.”

That was the second time she had mentioned the sailors. I began to wonder how and why she had spent so much time with sailors. Was it possible that she was on a ship with them? A ship full of sailors was no place for a child like her. It was dangerous work.

The last time I asked Anna to elaborate on the sailors, she was uncooperative and changed the subject. I figured the same thing might happen if I ask again, so I just left it.

“I can teach you to read Esalezian, if you’d like,” I offered.

Anna tilted her head just slightly to the side, raising her shoulders a barely noticeable amount, and I could tell she was smiling. She nodded and I shuffled closer to her on the mattress. I thought the book that was already in my hand would do just fine. It was one of my favorites and it was easy to read.

Our little lesson went well, Anna turned out to be an incredibly fast learner. We did have a rocky start when it became apparent that Anna was unfamiliar with the alphabet of my language. Thankfully, Anna was able to quickly memorize all of the letters and what sounds they made. The next step was putting the letters together into words and dissecting the sound they would produce together. Anna recognized a lot of the words as soon as she was able to read them outloud. She seemed happy to finally know what the words she’d been saying looked like when they were written out.

We stopped our lesson a while after night had fallen. I suggested that we go to bed and Anna sleepily agreed. I offered her comfortable clothes to sleep in, assuming she only had that one dress. She was hesitant but eventually accepted the clothes.

When we finally settled into bed, I noticed that Anna was still wearing her mask. I asked if she was going to take it off to sleep, since that would have been more comfortable.

“Someone might see me while I’m sleeping,” she said.

“It’s just us in here. My parents won’t come in without knocking,” I told her.

“It’s dangerous.” Anna’s voice was calm with no sign of fear.

“Okay,” I said. If she was more comfortable with the mask on, then I wasn’t going to force her. I did have one itching curiosity though. “Can I see your face again?”

Anna didn’t answer but she stared at me with attention. Her breathing was still calm and rhythmic, so she couldn’t have been angered.

“Just for a moment?” I bargained. “I really want to see you one more time.”

Anna sat up and gestured for me to sit up too. She shifted closer to the center of the bed and I followed suit. Somehow, we still managed to keep a small space between us, precisely in the center of the mattress. We faced each other, sitting in the exact same way with our legs crossed. Mirror images of each other, separated by an invisible line on my bed.

Just as carefully as she had last time, Anna lifted her mask and let it rest on the top of her head.

I was immediately lost in her beauty again. It was even more wonderful than before, like it was my first time ever seeing her face. Just looking at her felt like the first inhale of fresh air after holding your breath for as long as you could. It felt like drinking cold water when you’ve been thirsty all day. Like being wrapped in a soft blanket on a harsh, windy night.

I felt so relaxed yet so excited. In her eyes I saw both adventure and home. The color of them, the prettiest color I had ever seen in my life, pulled me in. I leaned closer to her, my nose grazing that invisible barrier separating us.

Anna leaned in too. Her expression was welcoming, inviting me to get closer. As much as I wanted to, I found myself unable to move at all.

So we burst into colors

It was Anna who broke through the barrier, connecting our lips together in a gentle kiss. I closed my eyes to relax into it and found my mind ablaze with color. Colors I loved and colors I had never seen before. They danced through my blacked out vision like flames, wildly flickering. It was the most extraordinarily beautiful display I had ever seen. Could that be what love is?

Anna pulled away from the kiss first and when I opened my eyes, her face was still there in front of me. Though her expression was mostly neutral, her eyes were squinted and her cheeks were raised ever so slightly. I knew she was happy, just as I was.

After letting me look at her for a moment longer, Anna reached up and delicately pulled the mask back down.

“Thank you,” I said, though I wasn’t sure why.

Next thing, we’re touching

“We should sleep,” Anna said. She took my hand in hers and held them up between us. Her fingers interlaced with mine until we were locked together.

We both smiled -I know she smiled- and fell to our sides onto the comfort of the mattress. Anna rolled onto her back to get more comfortable but she never let go of my hand. We drifted off soon, hands held tightly together for the whole night.

#starry anomaly #creative writing #song inspired #oceancore #ocean aesthetic #sirencore #original story #this is a LONG ONE lol #this is a completed story btw so the last two parts will be posted in the next few days #been working on this for like six months so I'm v proud of it

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