The Oceanview: Youth.... Rainfalls by Robert Garcia - HTML preview

The Oceanview (Youth)

He and she were by the ocean again. It was a bit brighter than before, as afternoon

had been passing by.

“Robert, what’s wrong….”

He was quiet.

She looked at the oceanview, with the bright sunlight of afternoon, warming the

shore.

The blinding sun.

“This afternoon….it reminds me of an afternoon when I was a teenager. It’s “one of

those days” I told you about, remember?”

“Yes.”

A wave fell from the bright sky. It splashed on the warm shore as the park vision

disappeared.

The memory formed in front of her and him.

Still looking down-this time, at the shore-he looked up to be treated to a truly

pleasant, special surprise.

“Oh-!”, he started, mimicking her cry of pleasant surprise.

She giggled a little at his response. “Ya. This was when I was a youth, Robert.”

The young girl in her vision was a girl that he only somewhat recognized. Her body was similar, but also different.

The curves that he recognized on her were much less development and visible,

although her strong body and strong femininity still remained to be identified with

her, despite her young age.

“Ya, I look different, huh? I think I was twelve here. I thought differently, too.”

“You thought differently, miss?”

“Ya…. You’ll see what I mean later in my life.”

The vision was of barely-hit-puberty girl. Her hair, a long brown, was falling over her left shoulder.

“Your hair is longer now.”

“Ya. It grew overtime when I was young.”

Her hair was shorter than what she had now, but it could still be identified as

belonging to her.

She was over at another house, the girl she was with relaxing and hanging out

together.

“I remember she was a friend I had in school. We got along so well, and her parents

got along with me and my parents so well, and the opposite way around. We went

to the same high school together, and we were close friends until she moved at the

end of high school. I still keep in touch with her, through her phone.”

“Oh.” A strange response. Almost sad. He put his head down again to look at the

floor of the house they were in.

She looked at him, concerned, leaning into him a little.

“Robert? What troubles you?”

“It’s nothing, miss.”

He looked back at the scene. She and her youth friend were talking with each other

on a sofa in her friend’s house.

“Are you sure, Robert?”

“You must have been popular in high school, huh? With all your looks and

everything, miss.”

She was quiet for a second, as measured by the ticking clock on the wall.

Then, she started laughing. Her distinct laugh, something he never got tired of

remembering.

“Well, I was kind of popular! Ya, it was because of my looks. I think people really

liked my personality too. I was well liked by a lot of people. A lot of guys wanted to date me, or be with me, or…. Probably have sex with me.”

“I thought so. You’re so cool, miss.”

“But I wasn’t as popular as you think. I didn’t even care, or want to be “popular”,

whatever that means. I was myself, and I guess I attracted a lot of guys and some

girls. Some girls that became close friends with me. A lot of guys who thought I was

attractive and wanted to date me.”

“…. But I was never one of them. I never knew you back then, miss.”

“Come one, Robert, what are you talking about?”

He looked at her eyes, so sad. His drooping eyelids.

“This vision of yours is lovely, miss. I see you as you were back then. It is a

wonderful sight for me. Thank you.”

“Oh. Of course. You’re welcome, Robert.”

She looked at the memory of her and her friend.

“Ya, she was a true friend. She really was. But she had to move at the end of high

school. I miss her, but I still talk occasionally over the phone with her, so…. she’s not lost, I guess.”

“That’s nice, miss. That’s so nice to hear. It truly is.”

They looked at the two girls laughing and talking.

The house still.

“So peaceful….” He muttered.

“Mmmhh? What was that?” she asked.

“It’s so peaceful. You look like you want to be with her.”

“Oh. I truly do.”

“That’s so peaceful….”

She laughed a little.

“I take it you like peace, Robert?”

He nodded a little.

The sun from the outside was bright.

“What season was this, miss?”

“I think it was summer. The strong sun gives it away.”

He stood there with her, looking at the girls.

“Seeing me like this….”, she began, “You know, it’s a little weird-feeling. I’m seeing myself in my past. I only kind of recognize myself. What a weird feeling. This isn’t

my life anymore.”

Robert said nothing.

“Would you feel that way if you saw your own life, in your past, before you, Robert?”

Robert was quiet.

“Do you…. want to stay here and keep looking at this memory, Robert? Do you want

to keep looking at my friend and I?”

“I do.”

“Ok.”

He and she observed the girls as they continued to talk and laugh together on her friend’s sofa.

The clock ticked on, in the friend’s house. The sun became a little less bright.

“I remember I went home soon after this time. The sun wasn’t setting, it had just

been a while. It was still day.”

“I can see, miss.”

Eventually, she left her friend’s home, waving goodbye.

A front door closed behind her.

“There I go.”

He looked at the girl that was her friend, sitting alone after she had left.

“Your friend looks lonely.”, he observed.

She laughed.

“What, her? No way. She was always fine by herself. She told me she found ways to

keep herself from being lonely.”

“Lonely….”

“Lonely, Robert?”

She locked eyes with him.

“I’m terrified you’ll leave me lonely, my miss.”

She was so quiet.

“Robert, do you want to move on to another vision?”

He locked his eyes with her.

“Yes, miss. I want to move on to another one of your visions.”

She smiled.

“Ok.”

She looked back at her past friend, sitting alone in her parent’s house.

“Goodbye.”

The memory began to recede from sight, as her friend in the vision fell asleep on

the couch.

“This next memory is one when I was a bit older.”, she said to Robert.

“Ok.”, he said back, “Please show me, miss.”

A wave in the sky splashed down over the memory. The friend disappeared from

sight.

The oceanview was a little less bright now, as the day had continued on.

The wave splashed on the shore and formed the vision, which showed her, a bit older, in her bedroom-

“I remember this was a morning I woke up to go to school. I don’t know why I

remember this specific morning. It’s interesting.”

“I see, miss.”

She was lying in bed, wearing light pajamas. The sheets wore uncovering her, and

the bedsheet below her that she was lying on was crumpled and untidy.

She slept on the left side of her bed, and empty pillow and space, that was a little

less untidy and wrinkled, to the right side of her bed.

“How old were you here, miss?”

She thought for a second, as counted by the ticking clock above her bed.

“Let’s see…. It was 2003, if I can remember correctly. I think I was thirteen-years-

old. I’m twenty-eight now, so that makes a lot of sense. I was in elementary school

still, I think.”

She looked at the her lying in her adolescent bedroom, surprised by who she was

looking at.

“Looking at me like this is really…. strange.”

“You look so peaceful in the morning, miss.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“Do you look that peaceful when you sleep nowadays, miss?”

She laughed.

“I hope I do!”

“I would have liked to see that.”

She giggled and locked eyes with him.

“Why are you saying that? Didn’t you say you thought speaking in the past would

make it sound like I was dead?”

He blushed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, miss.”

“No, you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m not dead, Robert.”

He looked to the empty right side of the bed.

“Why are you sleeping alone, miss? Did you mind that back then?”

She smiled at him. The sun outside was early morning, but it wasn’t very bright. It

blended into the sky, not showing too much among the clouds.

“I don’t know. I never really thought about filling my bed with someone else back in

those days. I guess I was ok sleeping by myself, Robert.”

He looked at the carpet in her room. He was so quiet.

“Robert, why do you keep doing that-?”

“This carpet seems like a past that was lost a long time ago, miss. Like I’m looking at another period of time, just by looking at it.”

She thought.

“Well, I remember my parents removed the carpet later on, when I was an older

teenager. Hardly even a teenager anymore, if I remember correctly. I think they

wanted a change for my room. I was going to be moving out shorty after, anyway,

so….”

He started walking to her bed.

“Oh!”, she exclaimed surprised, “What are you doing?”

Robert lay down in the bed next to her, filling the empty pillow and empty space on

her right side.

“Oh….” She watched him.

He pulled the sheets over his body and put his head on the pillow to rest it.

He turned to his left, and cuddled with her, hugging her close to him. She still lay on her back, face-up to the ceiling.

“Oh…. Robert….”

With his eyes open, he looked at her.

“You’re still asleep.”

“I was still asleep, yes. I remember I was.”

“You look so peaceful.”

She laughed. “Wow, you really think I look peaceful, huh?”

“I do.”

The sun outside continued to mold into the clouds. A few chirping birds started to be heard.

“Please don’t wake up, miss. I want to hold you like this forever.”

“Oh, I don’t wake up until a little bit later.”

He continued to cuddle her.

“Do you…. want to see more, Robert?”, she said, after a long time had passed. The

thirteen year old her was still asleep, facing up in his arms.

A strong breeze blew in from outside, cooling the bed. Her hair blew on the bed a

little. He let it settle on his face.

“That wind….it belongs to a past.”

“Ya. I guess it does.”

He cuddled her a bit tighter, then looked at her teenage face.

He faced her at eye-level, straddling her directly.

Her eyes were closed.

“You look…. different, yet the same. I can still tell it is you, miss.”

He looked at her closed eyes and sleeping face for a few more seconds, counted by

the ticking of her bedroom clock.

“Did you want to move on?”

“…. I can only look at you for so long.”

She smiled, coyly.

“Ya. Did you want to move on?”

“I want to look at you forever.”

Her coy smile of flattery grew bigger.

“Ya, I know you do. Sorry that you can’t look at me forever, Robert.”

….

He kept looking at her sleeping-teenage-girl-self.

“Would you like to move on?”

He continued to look at her. Faintly, like she was fading.

“Yes.”

He got off the bed, as the bed creaked beneath him. It did not wake her.

He rejoined the twenty-eight-year-old her, standing near the open door of the room.

Outside the door, it was a somewhat dim black, though still visible in a mild light

coming in the house.

The memory evaporated into the water that made it come to life.

The sky was even a bit dimmer now, with even less sun shining in the sky. Even still, It looked like daytime.

“The next memory is when I was a bit older, but still a teen.”

“Yes, miss.”

The wave from the day sky splashed on the shore, slowly replacing the earlier vision

and causing it to die.

Water drops, on the shore. The new vision formed into a living shape.

The vision that was shown to him and her was a vision of her-as a teen girl-in

school. She looked at bit older then when she was lying in her bed.

“Let’s see…. the year was 2005, I believe. I was fifteen. I had just started high

school.”

“Were you popular?”

She looked at him.

“Is that the first thing you think of?”

“Yes.”

She sighed. She looked away from him.

“I never cared. It didn’t matter to me. I was kind of well-liked in elementary school, I guess. But I never thought about it much. I had my friends then, as I had my friends

when I was in high school.”

“Oh.”

“Ya. I figured school is only a small part of my life, so why would I get so hung up

about it? I hoped I would have friends that lasted when I was older, but most of

them moved away. I kept in contact with a few girls by phone. Like that friend you

saw.”

She paused, thoughtful.

“Until some of them stopped answering my calls. I don’t think they ever really cared

about me.”

“Oh, miss.”

“Ya. I guess it’s whatever now, though.”

The vision before them showed her with a few girls, over at another house that

wasn’t hers or her friends.

“Whose house is this, miss?”

“This is the house of a girl I met during this time, If I remember correctly. A bit before, now that I think about it. It was a real nice house. It really left an imprint on my mind, because it seemed so nice.”

The house she and the few girls were in was very large, with a winding, spiral

staircase, and a barbecue on the wooden back porch, leading to a large backyard.

Inside, the girls walked and ran around with their socks on. The floor was wood.

“Ya, it sure was a real nice home….” She thought again, saying it out loud.

“You looked like you had a nice time, miss?”

“In this memory? Ya. It was nice.”

She looked at where he was looking. He was studying her as she lived.

“What do you see, Robert?”

“You seem…. different, miss. Not bad or good. Different. Your personality. The way

you’re acting. The way your speaking. Even your voice is a bit different.”

She smiled at him, then smiled, looking at her young self, and watched the past her

live her life.

“Ya….”, she started, remembering who she was.

“My voice was a bit different back then. It became a bit deeper and less…. girly, I

guess you could say, overtime, as I grew up. It sounded a bit rougher. I thought that, anyway. My friends noticed the change.”

“But it was me. So I was proud of it.”

Robert smiled.

“I bet you were, miss.”

They watched the girls have fun and talk with each other.

She was laughing. He recognized the same laugh, even from her past young girl

self. It was so distinct.

“You still have the same laugh I remember, miss.”

She laughed. “Ya, I did, didn’t I? It changed a little when my voice got deeper, but

people always said they could tell me from my laugh.”

“I don’t blame them. It’s easy to tell that it’s you, miss.”

“Thanks, Robert.”

The girls in the vision had gone outside on the wood balcony, with the barbecue.

There was a man out there, cooking on it. Steam rose up into the air.

“Ya, we went out into the backyard at this time. I remember the dad-of the girl who

lived here-was cooking barbecue that day. I was hungry, too. So it worked out well.”

More steam rose in the air. In the backyard was a table and some chairs.

After a bit, the barbecue was done. It was served, along with other food. The girls

sat down at the table outside to eat with each other.

“Who made the other food?”

“I think it was the girl’s mom. We didn’t see her, because of the way the kitchen was set up, but she was cooking in there.”

He thought. There was a faint sizzling sound from inside the house in the vision.

“I did hear something that sounded like a stove.”

“Ya. That was her.”

They watched the girls eat and talk with each other.

The day outside, in the backyard of the house, was a little sunny, but also cool.

Wind blew through the tree leaves in the backyard, far above the house and

surrounding homes.

“I think it was spring. If I remember.”

“I thought that too, miss.”

He started walking to where the girls were seated.

“You’re going to cuddle me again?”

He was a small distance away from her.

“No. I’m going to sit with you, miss.”

She looked at him.

He sat down in an open chair, one that happened to be right next to her.

She looked at him from the porch.

She looked at him join in the group, with her young self and the young girls.

“This is so strange…. I can’t get over seeing how young I am…. I think they even

sold this house….the girl doesn’t live there anymore.”

Robert had sat down next to her, on her right, in the chair. He was looking at her,

observing her life as it passed him by.

Wind accidentally blew some of the cups on the table over. Some liquid spilled out.

He saw the teenage her laugh at this. A real distinct laugh.

The other girls laughed at this, as well. Robert watched as she got up, running to

the porch, and disappeared inside the back door.

The twenty-eight year old her watched herself, as she ran past her to go inside.

Watching them side-by-side, he saw only little differences.

It was still the same girl, then and now.

But he thought she still seemed different….

Somehow, she was so different….

Her teen self came running back out with the dad behind her. He had a cleaning

fluid and a cloth.

The dad walked to the table, stepping off the porch. He walked into the backyard, and sprayed the table while wiping it down to clean it. The girls were sitting down

and standing around him.

Robert continued to stare at the younger version of the girl he was with, standing up this time, but still to her near right.

Close enough to touch….

The older girl stood on the porch, watching him and the vision she remembered

unfold.

She was quiet.

The spring wind blew the tree leaves, so far above the backyard. A few leaves flew

off, into the air, to be carried by the wind away from the home.

He was reaching his hand out the feel her….

“Did you want to see another vision? It feels strange, seeing me this young.”

His hand was touching her. He could feel her.

He let his hand fall off her. He slumped and looked down, before he continued to

admire her.

He couldn’t feel her much.

“Yes, miss, I want to see more of your visions.”

She smiled at him from the porch.

She felt a bit of sadness for him.

“Robert….”

She didn’t know what had caused it.

Something about him touching her.

She saw he let her go.

The water of the memory drained out. Water drops on a beach. The oceanview was

visible. The sky had lost a bit more brightness. The day had dragged on.

“I’m going to show you when I was an older teen.”

A wave splashed on the shore, forming water into the new memory.

The drops on the shore.

Some distant sounds of seagulls. The drops of water on the shore almost make

them hard to hear-they were so distant and faint.

The vision formed.

The teenage girl was visible again. Very close to the same age.

“Miss, how old were you?”

“I was sixteen, if I can remember. It wasn’t much long after my old vision I just

showed you.”

“Ok, miss. You look a little older.”

“Ya. Very little. I didn’t look that much older. I never thought I did.”

The memory was a scene of her teenage girl at a beachfront with her family.

“It was fall at this time of year, I think.”

He recognized the young girl’s parents, with her on the beach.

“Who are they?”

There were some other men and women, and some other boys and girls around her

age with her on the beachfront.

“Oh, they were my whole family, back then. The ones near my age were my cousins

back then. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, if you thought those were them.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Ya. The adults are aunts and uncles.”

“I see. You have a big family.”

She laughed a little at this.

“I always thought I had a big family. The rest of my family always thought we were a

big family.”

“It looks that way, miss.”

“Ya? Well, if you think that, we must be a big family. Everybody seems to think that.”

For some reason, this made him quiet.

“Miss…. something has been on my mind. You seem…. like you act differently now.”

“Can you be specific?”

“…. Maybe you’ll reveal yourself to me in time.”

She blinked at him, locking her eyes with his, but confused.

“….Oh. Ok.”

The air was very cool. The time of day looked like it was evening. The world was

dim, though visible.

Crumpled, fall leaves blew on and across the sandy shore, falling in the sand and

planting themselves there, or blowing away into the ocean water. Some had holes in

them, some where intact, but weak.

“I remember some friends and I had gone to see live music the night before this. A

popular band at the time. I barely remember who they were. I barely remember the

concert enough. But I remember enough to know that it was amazing. The music

was amazing. I loved it. They had these awesome visuals to go along with it.”

“Oh…. that’s nice, miss. That’s so nice….”

“Ya. It truly was. We had also gone down to the same beach the evening before,

around the same time. It was such a cool air.”

She stopped and felt the very cool, almost cold air.

“It felt just like this evening. I was with my friends, and then I was with my family the day after.”

He looked at the young her, conversing with her family on the beach.

“I had tried to swim in the water with another girl that evening, but the water was

way too cold. We felt like we were freezing, and the air didn’t make things any

better when we got out.”

She snickered a little under her breathe, looking down at the sand.

“I did some dumb things when I was younger.”

She looked up at her young self and pointed at the girl.

“Like right now.”

He looked at the direction of her finger.

She was pointing at the past her, starting to swim in the water.

He laughed at this.

“Miss, if the water is anything like the air, that is a bad idea!”

She laughed.

“I’m not even wearing a bikini. I guess I just wanted to swim.”

The young girl in the vision had started to swim in the water.

A moment later, she jumped out of it, Splashing water around her.

“OH, FUCCKKK!” Her response to the likely very cold water.

“I had never heard you swear up to this point, miss.”

She shook her head. “You’re right. I never said the f-word that much until I was a

little older.”

He looked at her, surprised.

“Why is that, miss?”

She was quiet.

“It’s my personality. I say it a lot.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

She was silent. The noise of the teen-her exclaiming dramatically how cold the

water was to her family, who were laughing at her response.

The noise of family talking.

“…. No.”

He didn’t know what to say.