"Are you guys ready to go?" Anthony said while he crammed his beach towel into his backpack. Everyone hollered their yes responses and gathered their things. They started to walk to the parking lot, just beyond the beach, when Anthony stopped. "Where's Jenny?"
The small group of friends turned and looked around. After a few seconds of searching, one girl pointed towards a mountain of rocks near the dock. "Over there," she said.
They all looked down the shoreline and saw Jenny sitting on a large tower of rock near the pier. Her dark blonde hair whipped her face as the waves from the ocean came crashing in. Even though she was 17, it was her first time at the beach and she was trying to get the full movie star experience. She leaned back and tossed her hair like they did in the music videos.
"Jenny!" Anthony yelled over the birds flying overhead. Jenny snapped back into the non-movie real world and looked around to see who was calling. She spotted Anthony, who yelled,"You coming Drama Queen?"
"I'll catch up later," she yelled back. Anthony gave her a thumbs up before walking away with the rest of the group.
Jenny adjusted her shorts as she stood on the rocks and looked out into the ocean. The sun was setting over the barely visible horizon, turning everything behind it red and orange. She stepped from rock to rock so she could move back to the sand, where she jumped down. She cried in pain as the sound of breaking glass filled her ears.
She lifted her foot, slowly, then looked down. There was nothing but glass and broken bottles at her feet. Luckily she had been wearing sandals, but a peice of glass had still manged to stick her heal. She sat down on a rock behind her and examined her bleeding foot.
The cut wasn't too deep, thankfully, and she was able to pull the piece of glass out herself. She threw it behind her and heard it hit what sounded like more glass. "Great," she said. "I'm surrounded by freaking glass." She turned around and saw what she guessed it had hit.
There, in the middle of the rocks, was a glass bottle completely intact.
"Wierd," she said. Surely the waves slamming against the rocks would have shattered it, she guessed. She stood, slowly, on one foot, and limped over to the bottle.
"This wouldn't be so damn difficult if I had two good feet," she complained. She lowered herself down, and once again, sat down on the rocks. She picked up the sealed bottle and examined it. There was something inside.
"Ooh...the mysterious message in a bottle. How dramatic," she smiled. After struggling for a few minutes, she managed to remove the top. Sure enough, when she dug inside the bottle, she found paper. "I'm so smart," she laughed. "I'll have to keep this as a momento." She pulled out the large wad of papers and listened to the waves as she read.
By the time she finished reading, it was dark. She was the only person on the beach, which she didn't mind. Someone would surely have asked why she was crying. She folded the paper and slid it back into the bottle, before placing the cap back on. She stood and hobbled her way back to the sand. She jumped back onto the sand, being sure to avoid the glass. Looking down at the bottle one more time, and whispered to the writer, "I wish I could have been there for you...." She hobbled on one foot for balance, pulled her arm behind her head, and threw the bottle, with all her strangth, back into the Atlantic Ocean. All plans to keep the bottle and it's emotional message were out. In her room, on her bookshelf wasn't where it belonged. It belonged with the ocean, like he intended.
Many people found this letter as Jenny did, in the years after that. Anyone who did, read it and felt the same way she did;
Karen,
Haha! I know you hate me to call you that but I just had to do it one last time. Got a few things to get off my chest and you were always the one I talked to when I had problems, so why stop now?
You remember when you nicknamed me Macho Man because I NEVER cried over anything sad? Remember? I was seven and I broke my wrist, but I didn't cry one tear? Or the time we all sat down and watched Titanic with the family and everyone was crying, but I never cried once? Well...I have a confession to make. When I broke my wrist, that night I laid in bed and cried myself to sleep because of the shooting pains going up to my shoulder. And the night after we watched Titanic, I went in my room and watched Armageddon and cried like a three headed step child. But I never cried in front of any other human eyes, because I was a man and men aren't supposed to cry, right?
Well, the funeral was great. They had pretty flowers just like you wanted. Everyone was mad at me though. I didn't wear my black tuxedo. I ended up wearing blue jeans and a tie dyed t-shirt. I know, you're probably calling me every name under the book, but I'm not sorry. I don't think your life should be mourned. I think it should be celebrated. Black is the color of darkness and sorrow. What looks happier than tye dye?
I mean you had a pretty good life, didn't you? I know you made my life great. Without you, I wouldn't have anything I have today. I wouldn't have flown to Orlando for Mickey Mouse Club auditions, therefore, I wouldn't have met Justin. If I hadn't have met Justin I wouldn't have met any of the other guys and you know what that would have meant.
Anywayz, back to the funeral. The church was beautiful. There were flowers EVERYWHERE. Everyone showed up on time, except me. (You know me. Always making a fashionably late entrance.) I think the headstone they picked out for you was perfect. We had a little saying scripted on it. "Whatever will be, will be..." When the preacher started reading from the bible, I made a break-through. I'm 27 years old and for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid for people to see me cry.
I haven't stopped crying myself to sleep since I got a phone call from Tyler at 3:30 in the morning about the accident. And that was 6 days ago! You were unconscience when they brought you in, but you still probably knew I wasn't at the hospital with the rest of the family. You were always good with things like that. I was at the beach, where you were supposed to be. Everyone else was cluless. "Where had she been headed to that late at night?" they all asked. But the answer was obvious, for me.
What was on your mind, is the question I was asking myself. I remember when I was young. You used to escape to the beach for hours whenever you had problems on your mind, and you never came home without an answer to those problems.
So I started what you didn't finish. I went to the beach, that night, and sat for hours, trying to find some answers. Why you? Why now? It came to me the second I stopped thinking about it. You've been the only angel in my life. God must have needed another angel too. Tell him I said he picked a damn good one too.
Everyday, I wake up and the first thought I have is a sense of calmness. Kinda like...I'm untouchable. It's just...a presesence more than a feeling really. But as I go on with the day, that feeling slowly vanishes. It's ripped away from me. Why? I haven't figured that one out yet...but I'm at the ocean right now so maybe it'll come to me later today.
Yes, I'm at the beach. You gave your heart and soul to it, so I'm doing the same because I want to try and be half as brilliant as you were. I'm going to send my heart through a letter (this one) that will probably never be read by anyone, but you and the waves. Probably best though.
I can see why you would confide your problems in the beach. It keeps secrets well. I bet that's why you poured your heart out to it all the time. Didn't think I knew so much, huh? Well...let's just say I took late night strolls too. But I think the beach uses it's serenity to get people to tell it their deepest secrets. And it works too...
I love you. I always have. I always will. No one will ever take your place. I mean sure I'll probably move on, get married, and maybe even have a couple of kids of my own. But no one, NO ONE, will ever take your place. I'll see you on that side of the horizon someday. Oh and I know God will probably keep you really busy up there, but do me a favor, ok? When you get a few seconds, be my guardian angel, Mom. I love you.
Jc
