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Ever since Mira took him to the beach, he's dreamed and dreamed of waves and water and woken up with an aching heart. Some nights, the longing actually pulls him out of bed and Mira's parents have found him sleepwalking, gently turning their somnambulant guest back to their guest room and closing the door. He wakes disoriented, but at least he wakes in the bed her parents insist is his.
Tonight, his dreams are especially potent and Gabe dreams of a calm, moonlit ocean, the salt air, and the gentle crashing against the shore. It tugs him out of bed and unnoticed through the Kazmis' unattended doors. The people who know him are used to seeing a quiet Gabe who walks with his head down and don't think to engage him as he sleepwalks to the beach.
With instinctive knowledge, bare feet take him to the end of the slippery pier and over the edge. Halfway through falling into the distant, low-tide ocean, Gabe wakes and his heart thuds in panic as he braces himself. The water is so cold his lungs feel like ice and he thinks he'll drown as a riptide pulls him out further. Thrashing, Gabe tries to make it to the surface, afraid and panicked because he can't swim.
Then suddenly he stops being cold and the water turns clear in his vision. Dark, silty water is as bright as daylight and Gabe blinks as instinct drives him to swim sideways, out of the current. His hands stroke in front of him and Gabe shouts, filling his throat and lungs with sea water. These aren't his hands. These are webbed, clawed paws, animal and inhuman.
Panicking, he thrashes again into the shallows.
Tonight, his dreams are especially potent and Gabe dreams of a calm, moonlit ocean, the salt air, and the gentle crashing against the shore. It tugs him out of bed and unnoticed through the Kazmis' unattended doors. The people who know him are used to seeing a quiet Gabe who walks with his head down and don't think to engage him as he sleepwalks to the beach.
With instinctive knowledge, bare feet take him to the end of the slippery pier and over the edge. Halfway through falling into the distant, low-tide ocean, Gabe wakes and his heart thuds in panic as he braces himself. The water is so cold his lungs feel like ice and he thinks he'll drown as a riptide pulls him out further. Thrashing, Gabe tries to make it to the surface, afraid and panicked because he can't swim.
Then suddenly he stops being cold and the water turns clear in his vision. Dark, silty water is as bright as daylight and Gabe blinks as instinct drives him to swim sideways, out of the current. His hands stroke in front of him and Gabe shouts, filling his throat and lungs with sea water. These aren't his hands. These are webbed, clawed paws, animal and inhuman.
Panicking, he thrashes again into the shallows.
