1.
Julia didn’t sleep at all that night. Even though Jack and Katherine fell fast asleep. Even though they had been up late, and she should have been tired; she was not. And she didn’t sleep a wink.
The images and the sounds of … that place … swirled through her head. She could smell the sea breeze. She could feel it blowing thru her hair. She could see the stars against a black sky. All night long.
The next morning, she sat bleary-eyed over her cereal while Jack and Katherine devoured theirs. She just stared at her bowl and swirled her spoon.
“Good Job, Jack!” her mom announced as her brother got up from the table. Jack was skinny and always burning more calories than he took in, so they were always trying to get him to eat.
“You, too, Katherine!” Julia’s sister was finished and had gone to investigate something she saw moving in the underbrush at the edge of the woods.
2.
The weather was perfect that day. The sun was shining against a blue sky with white clouds blowing on a breeze out of the west. The sunlight glistened on the water. The air was warm, and they went swimming.
Afterwards, they sat on the dock. All of them except Jack who was still running into the water and out, burning his calories. Katherine was bundled in a big towel shivering in the breeze. Julia was dangling her legs in the water, watching minnows dart in the shallows. Ben sat next to her. Ben was their cousin, Jack’s and Katherine’s and Julia’s.
“Whaaat’s wrrrong?” he asked, drawing out his vowels, splashing water on Julia’s legs, bumping her with his shoulder.
He had been on the couch the night before when they were all telling stories, when she told her story. When she saw … that place. Julia looked up and mumbled something.
“No, really,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“You don’t want to know,” she said.
“Oh, but I do,” Ben said with a drawn-out “dooo” and a big smile on his face as he leaned into her again.
3.
She didn’t want to say anything. She didn’t want to tell. But in the end she did.
She told them about what she had seen. About the big hole that had opened up in the air right in front of her that night. About the waves crashing in the distance. About the stars in the night sky. About the sea breeze. And about how she had to run to get back out, to get back into the room in the cottage where they had been sitting.
“What!?” said Jack. He had ceased his charging up and down the beach and had come over to listen to Julia’s story. “What!?” he said with his eyes wide open and his jaw agape.
Katherine rolled her eyes. She had this knack of silently rolling her eyes to show indifference or disbelief or disinterest. She clearly didn’t believe a word Julia had said.
“You don’t believe me,” Julia said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Katherine rolled her eyes again. Julia got up to leave.
“Wait,” said Ben. “Don’t go. I believe you.”