Like the Sea

"Come on!"

They run out into the waves, mom and my brother and the one I love. They crash into them, screaming, laughing and soaked in goosebumps. I shiver and pull the towel closer around my shoulders.

"You coming?" I ask my dad, standing next to me.

He wrinkles his nose and shakes his head decisively. "Looks cold."

I nod, leave the towel and shuffle into the water with my arms shielding my already shivering upper body.

It's so cold. As I walk, reaching calves, then knees and now lower thighs, I think of the power of the cold sea. If I crashed into it, the cold might numb me for several seconds. The ocean could pull me into an underwater current and drown me before I had a chance to react.

"Cutie!"

I look up. The one I love is sprinting towards me with the speed of a bull and a face just as fierce.

I shriek and turn around. "No, no, NO!" I shout and bow forward to protect myself from the onslaught of droplets. It hits my back and lashes through me like a whip of ice. His arms pull me up and swing me around.

"Noo!" I shout and struggle to be put down. He's going to put me under, I just know it, and my entire body is rigid with the thought.

He puts me down, laughing.

"I said no," I snap.

He looks stricken. Well, he'd better. I said no!

I turn around and march back towards the beach.

"Honey, come on!"

"No!"

"Really? Come on!" His voice is different now, annoyed. Well, be annoyed. It's your own damn fault.

I reach the ocean and turn around. He didn't follow me but went back to my mother and brother. Idiot. I want to go out to him and make it right. However, it seems easier to be cold and merciless like the sea.

"You didn't want to go?" my father asks.

I put the towel back around me. "Too cold," I mumble, but my body is flushed with guilt.