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Rhiys got home from school one afternoon and was told by his mother that they were planning a beach trip for Saturday and wondered if he would like to invite Sam. As if it was even a question.
Rhiys grinned and picked up the phone, eager to find out immediately if his best friend could join.
Sam said he’d check with his parents, but for Rhiys not to hold his breath. Still, Sam promised to study extra hard to gain their favor. He really wanted to go to the beach, especially with Rhiys and his family.
With enough arm-twisting and begging, Sam was given permission to join Rhiys’s family at the beach that Saturday.
They may have lived in Port Metro which was right on the water, but it wasn’t much for beach-type activities. They would have to drive for at least forty minutes to get to somewhere with sand and places worth exploring.
That Saturday, the car was filled with beach toys, loud music, and the smell of sunscreen. Sam couldn’t remember feeling happier. Rhiys sat in the back next to him, laughing almost the entire trip, pointing out the window at interesting things they drove past.
Sam loved spending time with Rhiys and his family. When he was with them, he could breathe easier. He didn’t have to pretend. He could be himself.
When they got to the beach, they unloaded easily, giving Sam and Rhiys lighter things to carry. Setting up was the hard part. Beach towels, an umbrella for shade, the cooler full of snacks and drinks - Rhiys just wanted to get to exploring!
Sheila insisted the boys not go too far, but to have fun and stay together if they went exploring.
Rhiys grinned as his mom insisted he wear a hat, plopping a bucket-style hat on his head. Rhiys stuck out his tongue, a little annoyed, but didn’t mind all that much. Sunburns hurt.
Rhiys and Sam headed off towards the trees where various creeks fed into the ocean, knowing that there had to be something interesting in the trees.
They explored for a long time, finding cool bugs, colorful birds, interesting shaped rocks. Rhiys lost his hat early in their journey.
Sam saw the cave first, and decided before Rhiys even said anything that he didn’t want to go inside.
Rhiys’s face lit up. “C’mon, we have to!” he insisted. “What if there’s like… Treasure inside?!”
Sam hesitated. “What if there are bears inside?” he countered.
Rhiys laughed. “Bears don’t live by the beach, silly. Let’s go!”
“I don’t know, Rhiys, I kinda-”
“I’ll protect you, I promise! Are you nervous?”
“A little....”
“Is it the dark?” Rhiys asked, frowning. “I don’t really like the dark either, but… We’re together. Nothing bad will happen if we’re together.” Rhiys held out his hand. “Let’s hold hands. I’ll keep you safe. I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.”
Sam looked from Rhiys’s hand to Rhiys’s dark eyes, full of mischief, but also honesty. He would never mislead Sam, not on purpose.
Sam nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”
He reached out and took Rhiys’s hand. Rhiys squeezed his fingers, grinned, and led Sam towards the mouth of the cave.
The cave was darker than Rhiys anticipated, and his free hand groped against the wall. They followed a couple of turns, the smell inside the darkness growing more and more damp, mildew all around.
“I don’t like this,” Sam whispered. Rhiys squeezed his hand.
“I’ve got you. Just don’t let go of me.”
Sam squeezed back.
Another little while of exploring and Sam stopped. “Do you hear that?”
Rhiys listened. “Yeah, what is it?”
“Is it...singing?” Sam asked, suddenly nervous, palms sweating.
“Should we find out?” Rhiys asked, a smile in his voice.
Sam frowned. “I...what if it’s a goblin or something waiting to eat us?”
“It can eat me first while you run,” Rhiys said. “Okay?”
Sam sighed. “That’s a terrible idea. But okay.”
A faint blue light shone in the distance, and the boys headed towards it. The cave opened to a larger room with a shining pool in the middle, the light from the pool glowing from within, casting sparkling shapes all around the room. In the middle of the pool sat what looked like a fairy. She was skinny and a little too tall, limbs and features elongated. Her hair was long and sparkled like the reflection in the water. Her clothes, if they were even clothes, looked like starlight, and glittered against the cave walls. She was singing, her song melancholy. It faded as the boys approached.
“A water nymph,” Rhiys murmured. Sam squeezed his hand.
“Are they nice?” Sam whispered. “I’ve never met one before.”
Mysterious creatures were not uncommon in Port Metro, and little was known about water nymphs. They were said to live in caves, or in ponds far from civilization, and watched the water for prophecies. If you met one in a particularly good mood, sometimes they would grant you a wish. Not perceived as dangerous, water nymphs were hardly a threat, but stories persisted of a couple of foolish people being drowned for trying to capture one for their own benefit.
“Hello boys,” said the nymph, looking up with large, round lashless eyes of deep blue, an ocean in their own right, wide and unblinking. Her voice was deep, and rumbled in the boys’ chests, though not unpleasantly. It was if she spoke from within the water. “Why have you come?”
Rhiys cleared his throat and stood up straight, fingers tight around Sam’s hand, grip steady. “We were exploring and found this cave.”
“Curiosity, then,” said the nymph. Her face was kind, a gentle smile on her pale lips. “Do you wish to see your future?”
Sam shook his head. “I don’t want to know.”
“Why not, young one?” she asked, gliding over to where they stood. Closer to the nymph now, they could see that her skin was silvery, like a fish. She was much taller than they were, even with her body mostly submerged in the water.
Sam shrunk back, both his hands holding tight to Rhiys’s. “I just don’t.”
“Honorable, to let fate decide,” said the nymph. “There is no shame in wanting to be surprised.”
She looked at Rhiys. “You, however, want to know, don’t you?”
Rhiys’s eyes lit up. “I’m curious,” he said with a smile. “But like...what kind of future could I see?”
“That is not for me to tell, but for you to discover,” she said. “Look into my waters, and see for yourself.”
Sam shook his head. “Don’t leave me here,” he whispered. Rhiys squeezed both his hands.
“I’m just gonna look.”
“Rhiys-”
“Remember what I promised?”
Sam sighed, nodding slowly. “Can we go back after? Let’s just go swimming or something.”
The nymph smiled, her eyes guarded. “Your Sam is wise to be hesitant. Are you certain you wish to see your future?”
Rhiys frowned. “How did you know his name?”
“I see all, young Rhiys. If you are curious, gaze into the water. Otherwise, leave and be at peace.”
Rhiys stepped forward and looked into the water. He watched for a moment as the water shimmered, and began to change, the nymph watching as well with an unreadable expression.
Sam, unable to ignore his curiosity, walked over to Rhiys, slipping his hand back into Rhiys's before looking into the water.
"Will we see the same things?" Rhiys whispered to the nymph as the images shifted.
The nymph smiled, mysterious. "Who can say?"
Sam frowned. "Is that us?" He asked, looking at the water, which seemed to reflect both of them, but slightly older, teenagers, eating popsicles on the pier.
Rhiys glanced at real-life Sam, and back to Future Sam, who wore different glasses and had slightly longer hair.
"It looks like us," Rhiys muttered. "I'm glad we're still friends."
"Why wouldn't we be?" Sam asked, squeezing Rhiys's hand.
Rhiys smiled softly as the image changed. Much older, an adult, Rhiys saw himself hanging out near the pier, laughing with a blonde girl who was eating a burger. She was very pretty. Rhiys was tall, wore his hair in a mohawk, and had muscles.
Sam was nowhere to be seen.
Sam, however, saw a large and spacious apartment through the eyes of his older self. He felt both calm, and also terrified. Where was Rhiys? Why did he feel so...empty? His older self had a phone in his hand with text messages from someone, a man's name he didn't recognize. The texts were vague, suggestive. On a nearby shelf, what looked like a small shrine with a picture of his mother, incense burning next to her picture. He felt overwhelmed by the apathy his older self was experiencing.
Sam squeezed Rhiys's hand tightly and tried to focus on his breathing.
"Sam-?" Rhiys asked, looking away from the blonde girl, and at his best friend, who had begun trembling.
"No, no, no – Not now," Sam whispered. He shut his eyes as he felt his breathing becoming unsteady, pain in his chest, but also felt Rhiys's hands on either side of his face, his best friend's forehead against his own. They must have seen different things. What had Sam seen that had shaken him so badly?
"You're okay, you're safe, you're with me. Listen to my voice, Sam." Rhiys spoke softly, calmly. "I've got you. I've got you." Rhiys knelt, pulling Sam to the ground with him, their foreheads still together. "Breathe with me, okay?"
Sam nodded, listening to Rhiys breathing, forcing his own breaths to happen at the same time.
The nymph watched all of this in contemplative silence, eyes sad.
Sam calmed down after a few moments, and Rhiys wrapped his arms around his best friend.
"You okay?" He whispered into Sam's ear. Sam nodded.
"Yeah, I – Thanks."
"Let's go."
Sam nodded and they stood together. Rhiys turned to the nymph.
"Thanks, I guess. It was kinda confusing..."
"What you glimpse may not be your fate. It is up to you to decide what your life holds. If you listened to a pool of water to make your decisions, what kind of life would you lead?" she asked, smiling softly.
Rhiys took Sam's hand. "Bye. Thanks for letting us look."
The nymph watched the boys leave, hand in hand again, Sam even more subdued than before.
When they made it into the clearing, Sam fell to the ground and let out a huge sigh.
Rhiys watched him for a moment before squatting next to him. "Sam..."
Sam looked up at Rhiys with wide eyes.
"What did you see?"
Sam looked at Rhiys, debating telling him what he had seen. The terror he felt at the future that might be. His mother dead, while he himself remained cold, unfeeling. A future without Rhiys.
Sam shook his head. "Nothing. I didn't see anything."
Not convinced, Rhiys reached for his hand. "C'mon. Let's go swimming, and then I'm gonna bury you in the sand and build a castle around your head."
Sam let out a giggle. "It better be the best castle I've ever seen in my life."
"For you? Only the best!"
They ran off together back towards the beach.
Behind them, the cave shimmered and dissolved, as if it had never been there, the sound of the nymph’s song drifting in the wind.
--
Sheila chastised Rhiys for losing his hat, but Rhiys had just grinned and argued back that a “crab needed it for a house”, and who was Sheila to argue something like that?
Rhiys’s ears and nose had gotten sunburned and while Rhiys’s parents packed up the car, Sam was on aloe duty. Rhiys stole the tube from him and rubbed aloe all over his face, chasing after Sam with his arms outstretched like a zombie’s.
“Uwaaaaahhhh...my skin is melting, I'm gonna eat yours!”
Sam giggled and ran from Rhiys, until Sheila called for them to get into the car. The drive home was a quiet, contented silence as Sam fell asleep with his head on Rhiys’s shoulder. Rhiys fell asleep moments later, lulled by the movement of the car.
Sheila turned to her husband and smiled. “Do you think they know?
“That they love each other?” Lars asked, looking at the boys asleep in the backseat.
Sheila chuckled. “Yes. I wonder how long until they realize it themselves.”
“Best thing we can do for them is to keep them safe. These are the memories they'll draw strength from when they're older, when times are hard.”
Sheila squeezed her husband's knee and smiled. “When did you get so wise?”
He chuckled, taking her fingers in his hand and kissing her knuckles. “I learned from you.”
They drove into the sunset, peaceful.