A Boy Named Lix

The beach is a remote and small place. Sand the color of ebony coats the land, and rocks with a variety of sizes place themselves in different places. The clouds hide the sun, and soon it could rain. The air had a salty tang to it, no doubt the work of those waves crashing into the shore.

You shout to Lix, who was busying himself by looking at a gnarled seashell, his blonde hair blowing across his face. He turns to face you, a scowl on his face because you interrupted his examination. Stop that and look at the sky, you tell him, pointing to the darkening clouds that were threatening to pour its tears onto you.

“Fine,” Lix huffs, and picks up his seashell for later.

You take his hand in yours, your long, brown hair blowing in the wind. You and Lix stick to each other to avoid the cold as much as possible. You wish you changed into pants instead of your skirt, but you thought you were going to a nice warm beach. You didn’t expect the weather to turn out this way. What could you do?

You reach the hotel a few minutes later, and soon your room. The time you spend after that passes by in a blur: Lix changes into his pajamas. You make ramyeon and eat it, brush your teeth, climb onto bed and wrap your arms around Lix and he hugs you back.

You sleep.

And there it is again. You’re dreaming of that crow perched on top of a tree, staring into you with its black beady eyes. It turns fully towards you and cocks its head to the side, and squawks at you.

Suddenly, the trees behind it shake violently, and a cloud of black crows eject from the trees and plunge towards you.

You wake up, wrapped in Lix’s arms, a cold sweat slicking your shirt to your back. Lix wakes up next to you, his eyes blinking away sleep, but clouded with concern. “A-are you okay?” he mumbles. You reassure him, but he gives you a soft smile and wraps you in a warm embrace, burying his face into your shoulder. You two stay like this for a while. You quickly pull him from the bed and you grab him a towel from the vanity, push him to the bathroom, telling him to go shower while you make breakfast. He has an almost startled look on his face, but he obeys and closes the door behind him.

You lean against the wall and slide onto the floor. You hear the shower knob turn and the water running. Your head is throbbing for some reason, possibly from the dream, but you shake your head, as if it would disappear from your memory. You get on your feet. You pull some bread off the cupboard and decide to make some tuna sandwich. A smile curves your lips as you remember they’re one of Lix’s many favorites. you remember the first time going out on a trip. A picnic on a meadow, when you two were still best friends. The day he said how much he loved you. The day he said he wanted to be more than friends.

Lix steps out of the shower, steam pouring from the bathroom the second he opened the door. He gives you a quick smile and walks to his seashell from yesterday. His eyes sparkle as he looks at its strange shape - purple at the edge with weird creases. He plucks a sandwich from the plate you hand to him and examines the seashell further, and you see faint traces of memory flash across his eyes.

You try not to dwell on it too much.

“Can we go to the beach again?”Lix asks suddenly.

“But we went there yesterday.”

“Its a very interesting beach.”

You frown.

“Please?”

Well now you couldn’t say no.

You jam some trousers on and wear a beige sweater (Lix loves you so much when you wear it) and as soon as you open the door, Lix runs to the direction of the beach.

You were panting by the time you caught up with him.

The beach wasn’t much different from yesterday. All gloomy and dark, so you were truly getting a bit suspicious as to why Lix was so invested in the seashell.

His eyes sparkle as he takes one glance at you, smiles, and walks toward a giant boulder. You decide to let him do his thing and scan the horizon. Yep, nothing different from yesterday. In all honesty, this beach was a bit ugly. You couldn’t see why Lix was so intriguing about this place. You look down at your feet and see broken bits of seashells. You kick the sand up. Look at yet another boulder. You run your hand across its smooth surface.

You suddenly get a feeling something is wrong.

“Lix?”

You turn around, but Lix is nowhere to be found.

“Lix?”

Panic floods your senses. You run across to the boulder you last saw him near and examine its surroundings.Lix is nowhere to be found.

You find yourself running around the beach, searching for Lix. You search every nook and cranny, behind every boulder.

You can’t find him. It’s been 2. Entire. Hours.

You collapse onto the ground. Tears blur your vision. No. No. He couldn’t be gone. What happened, you could not process.

Your ears started to ring. You claw at the ground, unable to believe what happened. You couldn’t lose him. Not him. Anyone but him.

You yank your phone out again, and he hasn’t called you back the past 20 times you called him. You run back to your hotel and slam the keycard in and yank the door open. All you find are your rumpled sheets on the floor, and a few of his favorite hoodies.

He was just…gone.

You lean against the wall and slide onto the floor. Sobs wrack your body. Your chest heaves, and big, fat tears roll down your face.