She heard the seagulls first. And as the humid air whipped around her, Meredith looked up from her driftwood perch.
She was here again.
"Meredith!"
He was here.
Again.
She blocked the sun and squinted. It was him, wasn't it?
Yes. He was a vision. His smile brighter than the sun, eyes bright and glimmering. He held his arms open as he waited for her.
Meredith beamed back. Her vision telescoped until the love of her life was all she saw.
She stepped forward, aching to be in his embrace once more.
Mere? Mere? You passed out.
Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?
I can hear you, and you're loud.
I wanna go to the beach.
Meredith!
He appeared again, on the back of her eyelids.
But
Go wash up Ellis!
What's happening?
We were watching you sleep.
How are my kids?
So, I noticed... your health care directive says-
I know what it says.
Mama! Is that Mama? Is she okay?
Can we talk about-
I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk to my kids.
I love you so much, Ellie bell.
The rushing waves came back, with the breeze and the salt and the sun.
Derek waited.
Meredith walked briskly now. She wanted... she wanted to...
He was farther away. How?
Determined, she kept walking.
And yet the sand stretched out even further between them.
It was like she was being pulled away. So she stopped, pensively waiting as Derek came toward her.
"Derek!"
He stopped too.
Again, her world zoomed out.
What was happening? Why couldn't she be near him? She just wanted to... If she could just-
"Why can't I get anywhere?"
"You're worried about the kids!"
The kids? Why? "I don't understand!"
"The sand isn't real, Meredith!"
What did he mean, the sand isn't real? It's right here, squelching under her feet. Right here, on this beach, in this place, her refuge...
From everything else. From everyone else.
The sand was real.
She was standing in the sand, and he so was he.
But still so far away.
So she stood in that space. That space so far yet so near it was a part of her, inside her, everywhere, all the time. Beating for him. Waiting to be with him."I miss you," she called over the seagulls.
Derek smiled. "I know," he said.