ROAD TO HEAVEN

CHAPTER SIX

We eventually arrived to the beach after a long walk from the station with our back loaded with luggage and our hands busy holding the fishing poles and the cooler (which contained the drinks). As we settled down on the warm golden sand and with the mighty sea in front of us, we started to deploy the luggage down, to rest our tired backs and harmed hands. We started to deploy the tent then we moved to the fishing poles, holding them together and hooking up the hooks with it. Then each one of us started arming his hooks with bait. I said: "The sea is calm today, so there must be lots of fishes nearby" then turned to Jack and continued: "just throw the line nearby" Jack nodded and then threw the line as I told him. I was going to do the same as he did, as soon as I was going to throw the line, I sensed strange wind blowing all over my face, and it was only my face on which this wind blew. It was the first time in my life I sensed such winds. somehow the wind seemed to be dry (didn't know how I felt it) as if the wind belongs to a dry and wet climate. I looked towards the southeast (which was the direction of the wind) and still, there's no physical evidence of its existence. I looked to the sea, and it's calm, having no evidence of the existence of this wind. I looked up to the sky, to see if it got affected by it, and in vain. The sky was cloud-free and having this sweet humid spring environment, even though it was the middle of the summer. I turned to Jack and said: "Hey mate, can you feel this wind?" Jack looked at me weirdly, with an eyebrow up and then said:"what kind of wind?" then, before I managed to give him a decent reply, he laughed and said: "are you drank already? we haven't even cracked our first beer, yet." That was quiet embarrassing wasn't it. I kept myself shut as the wind still blowing on my face. All of a sudden, the wind penetrated through me, and went into my chest (as I felt it) then I could've sense it go out of it and vanish into the thin air. As it was gone and I couldn't sense it any longer, I felt an unbearable pain in the chest: in my heart zone, or the place it should be in. I felt as if the wind has taken something from me. It felt as if the wind took my hear with it and went back to its destination. Something lit up in my mind, I got some sort of a theory about it. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled my phone, opened the map app and looked through the world's map. I rotated the map a bit and dag for the direction of the wind. as I drew the imaginary line, following the path of the wind. The line went through Vietnam then to the Philippines. From those two countries all together, I only know Jewel. That seemed weird, romantic and a bit crazy. As if she sent the wind to take my heart from me, is she some sort of a mage? or a meta human who can shape shift into the wind and wonder taking people's hearts? I pulled my eyes up to the sky, wondering what happened and why it's happening to me. Jewel, have you just pulled my heart out of my chest and held it to yourself only? "NICK!!" It was Jack, again, interrupting me from my thoughts, pulling me from my brain back into the real world. "Those fishes ain't going to walk out of the sea by themselves, don't you think?" I laughed then he laughed as well, he stopped laughed and gave me a serious look to remind me why we came here in the first place. I came back to my fishing pole and threw it into the sea. In less than a minute, the rod started vibrating so hard. "Hey, Jack I guess I could something heavy" then I started to pull the line faster and faster trying to uncover what gift had the sea gave me while Jack lost focus on his rod and focused over mine. As I pulled that gift, I felt impressed of what I've seen. I've been fishing in this sea for more than 10 years and this is the first time I see this kind of fish in my life: she was a long, big one with a pink-red color all over her back. "That's one strange fish you got there Nick" he said with his eyebrows going up and down out of surprise

- I know, but, it's one hell of a beautiful one

-yes you're right mate, now put her down and let's go back to fishing, shall we?

I put Pinky, as I named her, on the sand, rearmed the hooks and threw the line back to the sea, hoping it to gift me another Pinky. We spent the whole afternoon fishing, quiet and extracting lovely gifts from the heart of the sea. I pulled over 15 fishes from the sea, but none of them were like Pinky, not even a bit. All of the fishes were the same exact fishes I've been fishing since I was an infant. Pinky was unique, the only one different from every other fish I fished, seemed like a foreigner to them and to me, she was special. "Hey Nick, sun's going down mate" and here comes Jack all over again interrupting my thoughts and the same old thing happens again.