The archive of the forgotten

The better one ~ Pater noster

Beaches are only a figment of memory, I don't remember them very well. I know many lakes, I know many cliffs looking over the sea, but a beach was too peaceful for my mind to remember, a place of relaxation, where you can see the truth of the sea. Where you don't need to heed the scary waves, because they'll stop before they'll reach you. I notice that the sand is quite warm as I take off my shoes, my feet discover the grains as they slowly get used to them. I close my eyes as they sink deeper into it, the sun illuminates my face that feels more real now that the salty sound of the sea is accompanied by it. The wind surrounds me with the warmth that he has been brought up in. I welcome it with an open heart and a mouth that just welcome enough to taste it. I don't know what to do as the sea scares me from the front and the memories tell me not to look back. Maybe I will just watch and learn how to be him, from afar.
But he doesn't give me that option, as he runs past me he snatches the newspaper boy cap off my head.
"Hey!" I exclaim as I run after him. The early morning wind rushes through my hair as we run through the dunes towards the real sea. Thrjel sprints towards the water that reflects the same saltiness of a fresh tear, he stops just before verge of the water, I see him take a deep breath as he spreads his arms. I look at Sostrate and she nods, I run to Thrjel and push him forward.
"You!!!" He can only scream, because he is too busy with regaining his balance so he doesn't faceplant into the waves. I laugh as he turns around and I can see he wants to laugh too, but also wants to act as if he is mad at me. I chuckle and shake my head, "You asked for it."
"Okay, I might've." He says with a smile, he gives my cap back and as I take it back a suden image flashes through my head. What if we would have known each other when we were younger. The childish blue eyes of Thrjel aren't hard to imagine, and I know what I used to look like. What if I had met him if I still had a smile too, maybe if we would have understood each other like we do now both our lives would have been better. Maybe I would have never suffered, maybe my sister would still have been alive. Maybe Thrjel would have felt like he does fit in somewhere. Perhaps healing would have been easier. His smile, how can he still smile like that..... Why does the world deserve to something that beautiful when it hasn't been kind to him? How can he be so forgiving? And how did I deserve him?

I put the cap back on and stare at him. The morning sun shines too brightly in his eyes, and so he looks away. I look around us, the beach is surprisingly empty, and I wonder if the luxurious Awnlunds have finally learned their lesson about parading around with their fancy dresses and suits.
"It's quite early, that's why it's so quiet." He says as if he knows how my mind works, he starts to walk along the shoreline, the waves melt into the shore. I walk into the water and let it envelop my ankles in the swirls of the white foam. I stare at it, the beauty reflects the sun and makes hundreds of other stars. Or at least the impression of some. I smile as they dance around and I tilt my head, I feel warmth spreading through my heart and take a deep breath, why not. Why shouldn't I relish life, why would I be bothered by the world around me when happiness is so easily obtained. The water convinces me to follow it's rhythm, the waltz makes its own music through the winds blowing around me and the waves crashing into the shore. My hair follows the same daze as my body, spinning around and around, creating small maelstroms of hair, of water, of happiness. The freedom of the wind carries me and adapts to my body, as if I really am free, as if that would even be something I could dream about.
I stop and look back to Thrjel, his eyes shine brighter than the sun had dared to. His lips slightly parted as he looks at me as if I have completely intoxicated him, that he can't believe what I am, that he can't believe we are here. And frankly I don't believe it either. The tears in my eyes might be small, they might not be overwhelming, but they're more beautiful than any I have experienced before. He looks at me with faith that I will succeed, with the knowledge that I try to be good, even if I don't succeed, with the knowledge that his forgiveness will come before our wrongdoings. I am happier here, and not because my rationality tells me I should be.
The wind picks up again and tears on my blouse and body, knowing I should be more courageous than I am. The small droplets reflect the light in the most golden rain I have ever seen. Thrjel picks up his camera and points it at my face. But I ignore the lends and look right through looking for his eyes, that is what deserves the honesty, not a lens, not a picture, he deserves this, we deserve this. Happiness as some would perhaps call it.