A Kiss in the Dark

The waves ebbed and flowed along the seashore taking with them the evidence of footprints. The creator of said prints walked along not minding that the bottoms of his jeans were getting soaked. He abruptly stopped and fell to the wet ground, tears running down his cheeks. He angrily clutched onto an object enclosed in his hand that was shaped like a shell. The thing was unusual because it was translucent and seemed to emit light of its own. It was dangling from a silver chain, the shine of which paled in comparison to the pendant. Although beautiful, the object was a bitter reminder of what he had just lost. But what he doesn’t know is that it would also be a reminder of something he will soon gain.

Growing up, Luhan had a priviledged life. Because he was adopted, his parents gave him everything he could ever want. They didn’t want him to feel like there was something missing in his life. So when he wanted to live by the beach, they moved. Their intentions were good, but their methods were wrong. Luhan received everything but the most important thing—love. Well, love expressed as an emotion and not given through material things. As a result, he grew up to become a spoiled child. This type of love that they taught him through example would later follow him in his first relationship.

When his family was vacationing in Europe at the age of sixteen, he came across a statue of a mermaid near the coast. The statue was clearly old, the concrete rotting away in some areas. The bottom half was covered in dried algae, meaning that at one point in time the tide went up enough to reach that high. The statue was so unappealing that none of the other tourists approached it, even his parents who had great love for antiquities. Nevetheless, something shining at the very bottom in front of the statue urged Luhan to inspect it. What he found was an almost transparent shell which he hastily put in his pocket before hurrying over to his parents that had called him.

When they were going around town looking through the shops, he would ask about the shell whenever they would encounter a place that sold jewelry. Unfortunately, no one had seen one before so they could not help him. Additionally, he could not understand most of the things spouting out of their mouths. The information he wanted came from a very unlikely person. But because he could not speak the mother tongue of the country he was in, the precious information did not register in his mind.

“You should be cautious of that,” an unkempt man told him when he saw Luhan sitting on a ledge rubbing the shell between his thumb and index finger.

Failing to understand what the man told him due to the language barrier and also a slight mumbling, Luhan gave him an wary look as he said, “Sorry…”

“Water will be the death of you,” the suspicious looking man warned him.

Although he glossed over most of what the man said, Luhan clearly understood the word ‘death’ which made him cautiously distance himself from the man.

Once they arrived home from vacation, the shell quickly laid forgotten on one of the drawers in his desk until he was rummaging through his things one day looking for a bracelet that his girlfriend had given him. It was their one-year anniversary that day. If he meets up with her and she notices that he’s not wearing it, he might never hear the end of it. He’s been looking for the bracelet all morining and he had three more hours before he had to meet her. While searching, he found the shelll shining underneath a stack of papers and right next to it was his bracelet. The bracelet must’ve slid down there when he set it on top of the papers the other day.

Seeing the shell gave him an idea. After he got ready for the date, he rushed over to a jewelry store that sold beads. He handed the shell to a worker who gushed over how rare and beautiful it was. Before he could state the purpose of his visit, the worker offered him money for the shell.

“Oh no, I came here to have it made into a pendant for my girlfriend.”

The worker looked disappointed, even so, she did what he wanted and he left that place with a smile and a little box in his pocket. Unfortunately, the smile on his face will be wiped away by something he would discover later on that night.

He ran like his life depended on it. It was ten minutes past six and he still was not at their meeting place. He gave a sigh of relief as soon as he saw the back of his girlfriend patiently sitting on a bench. When he gets there he notices the look in her eyes.

“Are you mad?” he asked her with a pout.

“No,” she replied with a strained smile.

“Then what’s wrong?” he asked with concern written all over his face.

“Luhan, I don’t know how to say this,” she sighed.

“What is it? You know you can tell me anything.”

“I think we should break-up,” she deadpans.

“What?” he looks at her in surprise. “Why? Did I do something wrong?”

“I just don’t feel it. I don’t feel your love. I don’t know if you’re even serious about us,” she says without looking him in the eyes.

“I do love you. I gave you everything you ever wanted. I mean look at you,” he gestured toward her form, “everything you’re wearing right now came from me.”

“That’s not love!” she looked at him incredulously.

“Yes it is!” he insisted, for as far as he knew it was love; the kind of love his parents taught him.

“No it’s not!” was the last thing she said before she ran away from him.

Luhan released the tight hold he had on the necklace. With a sigh, he stood up to face the horizon. The closer the sun got to the horizon, the more morbid he felt. He snapped of the bracelet he was frantically looking for earlier and threw it as far as he could into the sea, then watched as it slowly sank to the bottom. Next, he set his eyes on the necklace he was still holding on to. He changed his mind at the last second, but it was too late. The necklace was already on its way to the bottom of the sea.

He once again plopped down on the ground, but this time he was on his knees pounding his fists on the water. It was the first time in his life that he did not get what he wanted and he did not like it. There was an unexplainable feeling rumbling in his chest. It was an emotion he was not familiar with and it was searing him from the inside. As the darkness set in, Luhan became a shadow in the dark, angrily thrashing about like a child throwing a tantrum.

He suddenly stops when he hears enchanting music coming from the sea. He squints his eyes to look for the source and is met with a twinkle underneath the water. Luhan unconsciously follows the light until the water reached up to his thighs. The music stops when a voice calls out, “Come.” The twinkle of light in the water is almost in Luhan’s grasp then it moves further away luring him deeper into the sea. He blindly follows the light along with the voice calling out to him until the water is almost up to his collarbones.

“Luhan!” a shout from the distance snaps him out of his daze. He looks behind him and can barely make out the beam coming from a flashlight. “Luhan!” He hears the shout again and recognizes his mother’s voice.

He stands there confused as to why he was chest deep in the water. He turns back and proceeds toward the shore. However, a tug on his arm causes him to falter. He glances back and finds nothing unusual; the grip on his arm long gone. Luhan shakes his head and continues toward the shore.

He hasn’t gotten very far when a very strong tug on the back of his shirt causes him to be submerged into the water. He kicked his legs, but they did not reach the ground meaning he was pulled to the deeper end. Now in panic mode, Luhan flails his arms and his legs to get himself up to the surface which proved to be difficult due to the heaviness of his jeans and an unknown force keeping him suspended in the same spot. Feeling defeated, he stops flailing about and lets himself sink deeper.

Out of nowhere, he feels the water moving on his right side as if something was swimming beside him. He tries to open his eyes, but they stung from the salt water so he stopped. Then he feels something soft pressing against the side of his neck and what felt like arms softly embracing him. The feeling causes electricity to go down his spine, making him shiver. In the next moment, when he was about to faint from lack of oxygen the same arms embracing him got a good grip under his arms and hoisted him up until his head came up off the surface of the water allowing him to get much needed air to breath.

Before he could open his eyes, he feels hands resting on top of his shoulders. A body presses against his and the soft sensation from earlier lightly touches his lips. When he finally gets his bearings, the sensation is gone and as he looks around he finds no one close enough for him to see in the dark.

Still confused, he swims to his mother waiting for him on the shore with his father by her side. When he was knee-deep in the water, a tug on his jeans caused him to fall to his knees. If he hadn’t put his hands out for support, he would have fallen on his face. He sat down and looked to the sea. Following the flashlight’s path, he saw that there was nothing strange out there, but the oddest thing was that the necklace he had thrown earlier on was now looped around his ankle. Later that night, as he looked at himself in front of the mirror, he found brown markings on the side of his neck and some on his lips. He felt a shiver while touching his lip causing him to give out a smile, “Whatever that was…I want it.”