Magic Within the Waves

Chapter Six - Searching for Him

Chapter Six

Searching For Him

***

The second Dad saw me heading down the front path, soaked to the bone and covered in sand, he threw open the screen door and rushed to my side. I was beyond relieved to see him.

‘Oh, my god Bright Eyes, what happened to you? When you didn’t come home, I got so worried … I nearly called the police and started a search party!’ He checked my face, lifting my arms and examining my head for any injuries. ‘Jeez, how did you get like this?’

‘It was my own fault…’ I dropped my bag to the ground and hugged my arms around myself. ‘I visited the rock formation Mum showed me when we first moved here ... I didn’t see the warnings … I shouldn’t have been so close to the edge...’

‘What ...? Did-did you fall all that way?’ Wide-eyed, he embraced me so tightly I couldn’t move. ‘By all that is good, if I had lost you … I don’t know what I would do.’ Stepping back, he cupped my face in his hands and kissed my forehead. ‘Do you feel okay? Does anything hurt? I should take you to the hospital… you might have broken something.’

‘No, Dad. I’m surprisingly fine.’ I nodded. ‘A guy, who couldn’t have been much older than me, saved me ... he pulled me out of the ocean.’

He slapped his hands against his heart. ‘Well thank goodness. Come inside and we will get you cleaned up. I will make you something warm to drink. You go and have a shower … but if anything hurts let me know and I will take you straight to the hospital!’

‘Okay…’ Still shocked by it all, I plodded in a daze down the hallway to the bathroom. While I showered, all I could think about was the man who had saved me. Who was he? Where had he come from? How did he get to me so fast? What was his name? And would I ever get to see him again?

Touching my fingers to my lips, I could still taste the ocean from his mouth against mine. Whoever you were, I have no idea what you’ve gone and done to me ... but I can’t stop thinking about you.

Even though I was distracted, and stunned and my heart was between the stages of exhilaration and shock, I still managed to dress in a simple pale pink dress, and style my hair nicely for the night out with the girls. What I had on was simple, yet, in so many ways my reflection in the mirror showed a woman, no, not just any woman – my Mum.

When I appeared before Dad, his eyes grew wide like he had seen a ghost. It took him a few seconds before he could snap his mouth closed again.

He took my hands in his and tears filled his eyes. ‘Oh, if only your Mum was here right now to see how much her little girl was growing up. You are not a child anymore.’

‘Thank you, Dad.’

Urging me to take a seat at the kitchen table, he slid a hot cup of chocolate in front of me, with one large marshmallow floating on top. ‘This should hopefully make you feel better and return colour to your face, Mel. It’s just the way Mum made it.’

‘Looks just like hers,’ I agreed.

Sitting across from me, he leaned back in his chair and analysed my face. ‘I see the near-death experience has changed you in a way… There’s something different about you …or was it this boy who saved your life?’

‘I feel different…’ cradling the cup in my hands, I took a sip of the drink. ‘And I have no idea who he was, Dad. One minute my entire life was flashing before my eyes and the next … I’m looking up at this guy that I have never seen before.’

‘Oh dear,’ Dad sighed, covering his hands over the smile on his face. ‘I think you’re smitten with him.’

‘What?’ I almost choked on the frothy marshmallow. ‘No, that’s not ... I mean how could I? I don’t even know this guy… how could I possibly like him?’

Dad eyed me suspiciously then laughed. ‘Alright Bright Eyes, I think I might have to start setting a curfew time for you.’

I frowned. ‘So much for no bars on the windows, hey?’

After I finished the last sip of the hot chocolate, he took my cup and placed it in the sink. ‘I guess my protective side is starting to come out now I know there’s a guy out there who’s won my daughter’s heart.’ He propped himself back against the sink with his arms folded across his chest. ‘But you’re right, I did tell you that it’s time you started dating, so… I will make you a deal. It’s Friday night, so you can stay out ’till ... umm ... ’till a time you find responsible. But during the school week, I expect you to come home straight from school and do your homework and the chores. If you do that without complaint, I will allow you to go out for two hours afterwards with your friends. I think that sounds pretty reasonable. Don’t you?’

Thinking about it for a second, I was sure the terms were more than agreeable. ‘Sounds like a deal. So, no later than eleven tonight, because the movie’s at eight.’

‘Well, make it a ten-thirty curfew… with a five-minute leeway…’

‘That’s plenty of time.’ I picked up my handbag and hid the smile now stuck to my face.

As my hand brushed the smooth leather bag hooked over my shoulder, a memory distracted me. It took me back to the day Mum had bought it for me. We were at the large shopping centre in the city, a five-minute walk from our house. I was looking through a stack of books in the newsagents and she was over at the handbag shop across from me.

She summoned me over, her face glowing with pride. ‘This bag reminds me of gagglewogga skin. It is so smooth to the touch… and it has a pretty turquoise tinge that bleeds in through the black. Nothing in this world is as sought after as gagglewogga skin. It has healing powers. The gagglewogga itself is best described as a beaver without fur. They are vicious creatures, and their bite is venomous to twicorns and young nymphs. Of course, they are only valuable amongst other believers in magic like you, me and your dad. Trust me, Melinda. There are many believers out there. One day you will meet one.’

Maybe there is magic in this world, I thought, blowing Dad a kiss goodnight at the door.

Carmen, Ruth and Carmen’s Mum, Mrs Cade, were waiting in the red wagon for me. With my head still floating, I climbed in beside Ruth and closed the door.

‘You polish up well, Melinda,’ Mrs Cade commented, pulling away from my driveway. ‘You look so pretty…’

I glanced back at her through the rear-vision mirror. She looked beautiful with her light blonde hair tied back in a wavy ponytail and dark mauve lipstick over her thin lips. The Cade family was a wealthy one, you could see it in everything they owned, and how well dressed they were. ‘Thank you, Mrs Cade. You look nice too.’

Turning to face Carmen, I had to blink twice. She looked amazing with her blonde hair tied up in a pretty bun and decorated with a pink flower headband. Ruth leant forward and she too looked prettier than usual, her brown hair shiny and parted in two plaits. You could actually see her figure instead of it being hidden underneath an oversized shirt.

‘Hey look, we’re like a matching set,’ Ruth giggled, pointing at our pink dresses. They were different shades and styles, but we had somehow managed to match. ‘What are the odds?’

‘Everything comes better in threes.’ Both Carmen and I laughed together.

‘So, what happened to you today, Mel?’ Ruth asked, leaning over Carmen’s knees. ‘You look a little peaky.’

‘Oh, a lot happened, but I don’t think you will believe me … I don’t believe me.’

‘Tell us,’ Carmen and Ruth pleaded.

‘Well, alright… But I still don’t think you will believe me. It happened to me, and I still don’t believe it.’

‘Tell us…’ They pleaded.

‘I warned you…’ I told them all about my near-death experience and the man who had saved my life. Just as I had thought, they couldn’t believe their ears. Who would? Both of their faces drained of all colour.

‘Tell me what this hero looked like,’ Ruth insisted with a twinkle in her eyes. ‘Every little detail ... I want to know everything!’

‘He was a surfer or something, with such perfect brown skin that he looked ageless,’ I explained, staring out the car window, watching all the streetlights flicker on, my mind filling with images of my hero. ‘I have never seen anyone like him. He had the kind of thick eyelashes most girls would die for. And it made him look like he was wearing eyeliner. It was so ... he was so beautiful. I know this sounds a little weird...” I fanned my flustered face with my hand. “The best way to explain him was ... he smelt like the ocean and... oh, he was so ... just beautiful.’

‘That might have something to do with the fact he had just fished you out of the ocean,’ Ruth teased, wrinkling her face with an exaggerated grin.

‘At least he saved your life,’ Carmen interrupted, leaning her head against my shoulder. ‘You could have died, Mel… Especially after something like that. People have died from shock falling from a height like that. Wow, Mel, life without you around would be hard.’ She shivered at the thought and tightened her grip on me. ‘Seriously, I mean it, you could have died.’

‘I thought that too. The thing is ... I didn’t.” I caressed the side of her head. “He saved me. How? I don’t know. I was so deep in the water.” I exhaled a shaky breath. “What gets me more … it keeps playing on my mind ... but there is there was something different about him – something magical.’

‘Maybe your Mum did fill your head with dreams, Mel.’ Carmen shrugged as she sat back up in her seat. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen…”

‘Maybe you’re right,’ I nodded, tapping my fingers against my bag. ‘Either way, I have to find him. I owe this guy my life.’

‘If he is from around here, he will turn up…” Ruth added with a wink. ‘Our town is not that big…”

“She’s not wrong,” Carmen agreed.

Mrs Cade dropped the three of us at the front of the cinema. She leant across the seat, her perky breasts almost falling out from her low-cut top and called to us through the lowered window. ‘I will be at the pizzeria at about ten to pick you up... ten-ten at the latest.’ She waggled a long-tipped fingernail at us. ‘Now, no talking to strangers… Oh, and Carmen keep your phone on you at all times.’

‘Will do Mum,’ Carmen replied as she flashed her little back flip phone back at her mum. She slipped into her black shoulder bag. “We will be fine… I promise.”

We watched her drive away than arm in arm, headed to the concession stand. The scent of warm popcorn stained the air. It stuck to our clothes as we passed the kids hanging in the game bar. Someone screamed as the claw game dropped a prize down the chute.

We sat somewhere in the middle of the large cinema. Around us, hundreds of other people hurried to find their seats. Once the music started the chatter grew quiet. The red curtains opened, and the ads began.

‘So exciting,’ Carmen crooned, clapping her hands softly. ‘I have been hanging to see this.’

‘Same,’ Ruth grinned. ‘Oh look,’ she pointed to the screen. ‘Our school is on the screen…’

‘Neat!’ Ruth snorted softly.

Once the school ad had finished the movie started. I would like to have said the movie was rather good, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember exactly what happened. Between the action sounds and the sound of popcorn being chewed, I found myself thinking about my hero – the handsome man who had pulled me from my death. Where was he? Did he live around here? Will I ever see him again?

After the movie, we crossed the empty road to the small pizzeria that Ruth had boasted about…Hound Hunter Pizzeria. The old-fashioned place was bustling with people from around town. They sat in red leather booths that surrounded round tables. I notice a group of teenagers from our school chatting up a young waitress in the far corner. I recognised three of them, Daniel Gilsmic, Cooper Harrison, and Chris Kimmo. They were usually with Thomas Gavins. This time they were with a group of older boys I didn’t recognise. As per usual, two brunettes sat on Chris’s knees.

On my first day at school, it was Thomas Gavins’ green eyes that won me over. I was walking down the corridor, on the way to the homegroup classroom when our eyes met. My heart stopped beating. I couldn’t breathe. I had never felt such a strong rush of fire course through me before. In a way, I felt I had somehow met him before. In the past year, Thomas had never been alone long enough for me to gather up the courage to talk to him. Besides, since our first glance, he refused to even look at me. Now, whenever we passed each other, he would quicken his pace, avoiding me as much as possible. I had put any thoughts of him out of my mind until that moment. Was it possible he was the hero? I would have been in the throes of excitement if it had been. But there was no resemblance between him and my hero. So, I doubted it. He couldn’t be.

During our meal, I put any further thoughts of Thomas aside and continued searching the faces of people in the pizzeria. When a young man walked past the pizzeria window, I focused on him, searching everywhere for my mysterious hero. No one looked anything like him. Was he to remain a mystery? I hoped not. I was aching inside to see him again. Why? Had he cast a spell on me or something?

‘Chin up Mel,’ Carmen soothed, wiping her mouth on a serviette. ‘He might have been from out of town. If it’s meant to be, it will be. You will see him again.’

‘I hope I do.’

Just before curfew, Mrs Cade, now wrapped in a plush dressing gown, dropped me home. After I had hugged Carmen and Ruth goodbye, I hurried inside and found Dad asleep on the couch, the sound of the television filling the deadly silence that took over the house.

‘Oh Dad, you didn’t have to wait up for me…’

When I leaned down and kissed his forehead, he let out a tiny whimper and clutched at the book he held against his chest. I peered closer and noticed he was reading, The Secrets and Mysteries of a Lawn Gnome before he had fallen asleep.

‘I miss Mum too, Dad,’ I whispered in his ear, ‘good night old man … love you.’ before heading to my room.