The sky is orange with pink lines swirling through. No, there is no chemical reaction occurring (that he is aware of), he's simply out on the beach during the short time between night and morning where everything looks a little unpredictable.
He imagines the sunrise would look particularly beautiful from this exact location. He feels as if he's standing on the point where two lines or planes intersect, able to look out and see where each is headed. It's quite nice he thinks but there are more pressing matters at hand than watching an ordinary every day phenomenon.
He isn't entirely sure what's happening, no one is. Short tempers and misunderstandings are commonplace now. He obviously has a pretty good idea why these things are happening but doesn't want to tell them just yet. He needs to consult his calculations, the numbers and formulas didn't lie. There was truth inside the logic, or so at least he thought. He doesn't want to tell her just yet... he can't. He wishes on stars and constellations and unseen satellites that he's wrong, that his memories and gut feelings are wrong. The light here doesn't scatter quite right...
He's most productive in this particular time between sunset and sunrise. He'll kiss her on the cheek without disturbing her and leave the tent with his notebooks and a flashlight headed towards the beach. He'll spend hours relearning the once familiar formulas and equations in the hopes of finding a solution to her dilemma, ignoring the incessant howls rising up from the trees. The tattered notebooks survived it all but what about his memories? It's frustrating to know that what he needs is just beyond his reach sitting behind a locked door. He feels the pressure building up inside his head and wishes he had a button he could press on fixed intervals to clear his mind of... this.
"What are you doing up?"
Sleep is being rubbed out of her eyes as she shuffles dreamily through the sand. He flicks his flashlight off and shoves the notebook under his legs. She should be sleeping... but then again so should he.
"Couldn't sleep."
She nods and sits down beside him on the cool sand. "Me either, obviously."
He glances at her sideways, wincing at the thought of what she must be going through. For once he is at a loss for words and exhales, a defeated sigh. He regrets it before it fully escapes his mouth.
"I think you're lying to me." She doesn't think, she knows. She's always known. Her eyes are cold and calculating and he hates when anyone other than himself is calculating. He shivers but there's no breeze, not now.
"About what?" He's a horrible liar and he knows it. His mannerisms give it all away and, well, she's been on to him for months. He's not exactly difficult to decode.
She turns to face him, the sand kicking up around her in the pale light.
"This," she points to her head, "isn't normal. These headaches, these nosebleeds aren't normal... I'm not stupid Daniel."
He shakes his head. "No, no you are definitely not stupid, I know." She's stubborn, tough and snarky but definitely not stupid. No, stupid does not factor into her equation whatsoever.
She looks up at the moon and then down at her bare toes as they wiggle freely in the sand.
"Then why don't you tell me what's happening."
It's not a question, it's more of a command. She does not want him to shrug and say everything is going to be alright or that he has no idea. She has every right to know everything he knows but yet he feels an overwhelming need to protect her from the truth. In fact, he doesn't want to face the truth himself. But how can he protect her? What can he possibly do to put her at ease and make sure nothing happens to her? He can't. He hates lying.
"I... Charlotte, I'm.. I'm trying to fix this, you have to understand that I'm trying my hardest right now. It's going to be okay, trust me."
She shifts in the sand and brings her hands down to her sides.
"That's not what I asked. Besides, I've never not trusted you."
He inhales. He exhales. He bites his bottom lip. He can't get around it. He can't dumb it down. She'll see right through him. He's horrible, he really is.
"You're experiencing a side effect of," he waves his arms around, encompassing their surroundings, "this place... this extremely different and unpredictable place."
She nods, her gaze looking out at the black waves rolling lazily onto the surf. He raises an eyebrow and looks at her timidly.
"So it's because of this whole shift in time, correct?" No nonsense, to the point. Precise like a formula. He can handle formulas.
"I'm thinking.... yes, Charlotte, I'm thinking yes. But this problem came up before and it was fixed, I just... we're under different circumstances now so I have to... uh, come up with something else."
She gives a low chuckle and picks up a fistful of sand, letting the grains slip through her fingers slowly, almost one-by-one. It's mesmerizing.
"Well if there's anyone I'd put my faith in to fix this, in this world or any other, it'd be you Dan."
He smiles halfheartedly and wraps his arms around his knees, peering out into the lightening sky. How could he let her down now? And how could someone so strong-willed, smart and sure of themselves let fate take care of the future?
A comfortable silence falls over the small part of the beach as a red sun begins its ascent over the rhythmic waves. As one great weight is lifted off her shoulders another is added onto his. He wonders how he's going to balance this equation successfully, if at all.
"Ever watch the sun rise?"
Her voice is cool and calm, as if she had not a care in the word. She's unique and extremely interesting like that.
"Yes, haven't you?"
She smiles a smile that seems to reach her eyes... it's still a little too dark to tell.
"No I mean here, have you ever watched it rise here?"
He should have realized what she meant but he was never good at picking up on inferences.
"Oh, um.. no I haven't. I've never... have you? Have you seen it?"
She exhales slowly, her gaze focused on a point somewhere in the distance. The light is getting brighter, accentuating her fiery hair and pale face.
"Not here I haven't. Care to join me?"
He smiles and nods, leaning back on his elbows and stretching his legs out in the sand. In this moment he can enjoy the simplicity and normalcy of watching a sunrise. He can forget about the tiny grains of sand passing through the hourglass of her hands, reminding him that time is indeed running out. In this moment he can revel in the fact that she is not letting fate take its course and have its way with her, but rather she is putting herself in his hands and letting him decide.
He thinks that this feeling will last a lot longer than an ordinary, fleeting sunrise.