Night Marchers

  KAI P.O.V.

  "No!" I sit up gasping for breath. Looking around my small room I realize that it was only another vision. Steadying my racing heart, I comb my hands through my hair and get out of bed.

  The natural light streaming in through the window tells me it's late afternoon. I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour. So much for trying to take a nap. I barely got any sleep last night. After I saw her, I couldn't bring myself to leave. I've been having the same visions for years. I thought they were nightmares of my Heleya but no, yesterday changed everything. She is real! The girl from my dreams, the one who looks like my lost love.

  When I saw her yesterday my heart nearly stopped. I thought I had finally gone insane. The possibility had even occurred to me that I was dead and finally reuniting with Heleya. Then I saw the boy who accompanied the girl and I knew that this was no vision. An odd sense of jealousy ignited within me and I did my best to push it aside.

  I stayed hidden in the distance making sure she was safe. In my visions I always see her swimming. Such a simple action, yet there never ceases to be an intense underlying feeling of fear and anxiety that could only foreshadow the danger that follows her closely.

  I couldn't bring myself to leave her last night. It wasn't until the sun had risen to it's highest that I made my way back home.

  The visions come more frequently now. I change my clothes, grab an apple and decide to find her again. Something bad is looming over the girl and I have an ever-pressing need to stay near her. I don't know who she is, but the resemblance to my Heleya is eerily remarkable.

  The walk to the beach passes quickly. Standing amongst the dense foliage, I look out onto the water that I've become so familiar with. I feel like I know every grain of sand, every wave that strokes it and the sky that lines the horizon on this part of the island. For more years than I can count, I've been coming here. Looking for something I didn't know existed.

  A movement off in the distance catches my eye. I look over to see the girl walking down the beach. A lump is stuck in my throat and my stomach clenches at the sight of her. This is not my Heleya. I feel as if I've chanted the same reminder to myself at least a hundred times since I first saw her yesterday. Even still, I can't stop the emotions that stir in my chest at the sight of her. Her long flowing hair is the perfect color of chestnut. She walks with elegant poise down to the shoreline . Her eyes are filled with wonder as she looks off into the vast Pacific.

  She hasn't noticed me and I question whether I should introduce myself. What would I say though? My name is Kai and I've been dreaming about you for hundreds of years? No. Or, My name is Kai and may I just say that you bear a striking resemblence to my dead fiancé? That would surely not scare the girl off.

  I watch her wade into the water. I wish I knew her name. If only I could bring myself to ask her for it. Watching her swim off into the distance, the uneasy feeling begins building up inside of me. She should not be swimming alone. Does she not know how dangerous that is? I move out onto the beach, prepared to help her if the need should arise. The feeling of danger sticks with me as I recall the visions that were nearly identical to this scene. Is this the reason I had them? Was I warned in advance to protect her?

  The girl swam too far out. I worry that I will need to go in to retrieve her if the tide continues to pull her away. As if sensing my worry, she turns around to head back to shore. I'm not close enough to see her eyes but I can tell that she sees me. She treads water for a moment staring in my direction. My body tenses and I open my mouth to call out Aloha, but nothing releases from my tongue. Instead I watch in horror as a wave builds and takes her down underneath its crushing force.

  I slip off my shoes and take off in a run. The second my toes hit the water she bobs back up. I breathe a huge sigh of relief that only comes out halfway because a new wave, larger than the last, takes her under again. I wait for a second to see if she will surface but it seems like an eternity.

  I dive in and come up a few feet from shore to see her surface. I stand up in the water that is only waist high and stare at her. Only a hundred feet or so separate her from me. She stares at me with a curious expression. I can sense her intention to introduce herself and a feeling of hope sores within me. I am going to finally meet this girl from my dreams. I will finally learn her name. I fight off the nervous energy and watch her dive under the water and swim towards me.

  A sound of a slamming door in the distance startles me. I look back to see the boy from yesterday running from the house towards the path. I don't hesitate; I quickly wade back to shore and run towards the tree line. I want to meet her, but I certainly don't want to explain my presence to this boy.

  A feeling of disappointment envelops me as I watch her surface and look for me. Everything in me wants to go to her but I refrain. I watch her catch sight of the boy. Jealousy builds back up inside me once again. I listen in as he chides her for swimming alone. She apologizes but doesn't cower which impresses me. Then I hear it. The boy calls her by her name. Emma. The name runs a million laps around my mind as I take it in. It's funny how freeing and how fulfilling a single name can be. I'm taken aback by the magnetic pull, calling me towards the beautiful girl who I now know as Emma.