“I always did love the ocean” I thought to myself. It had been some time since I’d seen the nurturing power the ocean displays as it graces the golden trickles of time and light that stone had eroded thusly. The train Clinked and vibrated gently as it’s huge wheels pounded against the heated steel that the summer sun had been liberally displacing that day. The late evening amber glow filled the sparse carriage and tingled against my skin. Out on the horizon the green hill’s played against the light, giving the illusion that they were painted on. This felt like a dream. A hazy unreality. I drifted to my phone, no missed calls, no messages. I don’t know why it was the lure of the sea that had bought me to this train today. But the idea of it seemed to enthral me, the smell of the sea air and the crash of tides just left me with a feeling I hadn’t felt since I was a kid.
The train slowly began clambering to a halt. The feel of static in the air was amazing. I always found the train station to be one of the most wonderful places to sit and think up new ideas. The meetings, the breakup’s, the hellos and goodbyes, So many moments in people’s lives all boil down to this very platform. As I stepped off the train and left the station. I could feel the excitement beginning to rise in me.
I paced through a shopping plaza the streets were pretty vacant, the tourists were long gone by this hour. The gift stores were all closing up for the day and this little seaside town was just winding down for the evening. As I neared the end of the street that smell rose into my senses. The smell that had been in the back of my mind for all those years; the coarse smell of salt and spray.
It glistened beautifully, like a nexus of diamonds bound by a veil of elixirs. I felt so devoid. The sheer vastness of it overwhelmed my emotions and in one I was at peace. It was like my feelings had been swallowed by this great leviathan of earth. I had never felt so...enveloped, And yet so lost. The weight of the earth was heavy on my shoulders. So spotting some nearby steps that led to the beachy sands I sat down and gazed at it all.
“Hey...um...you dropped your phone...” I turned around still in very much a daze at this majesty...She was looking down at me, her white tank top tinted by the embered sky, she had a slender figure that led up to a face of captivation. Her lip’s were full, pink and rich like cherry blossom and her eyes. Oh her eyes. As blue as the ocean that had captivated me and almost as deep. I was taken by it...It was at this point that I realised that seconds had passed without anything actually being said. “Oh...um...thanks...” I reached out and gently took it off her she smiled with radiance and quality that I hadn’t seen in the city girls I’d met before. she flicked her hair bound in a ponytail and stared out with me “It’s perfect at this time” she said almost as captivated as I was. “You’re telling me” I replied in a similar fashion.
“Are you from around here?” she said with a fleeting will. “Nah...I’m just travelling through...I wanted to see the ocean for ages so today I thought...why the hell not?” without taking our eyes off the tides she sat down beside me. And in that moment. For the two of us at least. There was nothing more in the world just us, the steps, and the crystalline beauty before us. After a few moments I looked over at her and she looked back, those eyes. They were almost unreal the Waves complimented them and gave them a shine that drew me closer with each ride of the tide.
“So...” I said slightly regaining the confidence to even utter again “Are you from round here?”...”you don’t seem like a tourist” I responded. She turned back out to the sea and sighed whimsically “Mhmm...I’ve lived here most of my life.”...”Wow...that must be great” I exclaimed “You can get such beauty pretty much every day!” she turned towards me and smiled sadly before looking back out to the swirling currants “It’s one of the only things I really do love about this place. No one sticks around in a tourist town...winter is the worst not only are the streets empty, the coldness and overcast skies are some of the cruellest gifts I’ve ever seen. ”
There was another pause, a gentle breeze blew past the both of us as the waves continued to gently churn trickles of sand were swept into the air and gently danced along the shore. The faint echo of seagulls in the distance complimenting the waltz of the waves.
It was then I felt a vibration in my pocket It was an email. I quickly pulled my phone out and loaded up the browser “Fak-ku?”...I worded out...”Heh what’s that?” I showed her my phone and she shrugged, curiously I clicked the link. “...” the pause and embarrassment was audible. We both turned crimson “Ahh now umm...yes...err...well” I laughed nervously. “Oh god ...why did I have to click the link? Why couldn’t I have just waited till I got back on the train?” I thought as thousands of variations of those words raced through my mind. I again realised nothing had been said in an excruciatingly long period of time and I still had my phone facing her with the link open. I was about to snatch it back when she interrupted my rising mind. “Wow. Look at that artwork”. I paused. Looking at the piece she was pointing at. She was right, the curves the shades, the lighting and colour it was artwork. “It is pretty impressive”... there was another pause. I put my phone away and we gazed out till the sun was well past setting.
I began heading back to the train station. She offered to come with me. On the way we talked. I was captivated by her. We entered the train station and I sat on a bench while she stretched. Her limbs flexing against the pale lights on the platform. “So when are you heading out?” she asked passively pulling her knee up to her chest. “I’m catching the 10pm right out” I responded. It’d been such a brilliant evening the very best I could have hoped for. In the distance I could hear the faint rumbling. My train was coming.
I stood up expectedly. “Well that’s me.” I said. I must have sounded sad because she gave me a firm hug “Promise me you’ll come back someday” she said. Her eyes looking deeply into mine almost penetrating my soul. The memory of the oceans replaying in my head with every blink. “I promise I’ll come back” I said; still embracing her, I pulled my head back slightly and looked at her lips. They were perfect and nothing would have made me happier in that moment to have kissed them and felt the warmth of her love. She continued to look into my eyes and I felt numbness in my arms as I started to walk towards the train that had pulled in as we’d hugged. Just as I was stepping onto that platform I stopped turned and uttered “Oh...what the hell” I passionately embraced her and we kissed. She was soft, and gentle against my lips, her warmth was radiating and much like the swallowing feeling I felt as I first saw that ocean I felt swallowed in her emotions. We finished and I looked at her smiling. She looked deeply at me, as if she was looking straight into my very heart. “My names Lucy”...”Steve” I replied...she hugged me again as the train left the station. I had always felt that train stations were brilliant places, a point for hello’s and goodbyes meetings and breakups. A place where peoples lives and histories were written on the platform. and as I embraced her that night. I had never thought those words truer.