"Come… Come to me…"
Fred half-opened his eyes and looked blearily at the alarm clock. 3:05… Who was yelling at this hour? But it didn't sound like yelling, it almost sounded like a whisper, a soft noise.
"Come to the window… See me…"
His first instinct was to wake Shaggy and Scooby, but it was somehow overridden by something else. He had no idea what.
He slid out of bed and walked over to the huge window overlooking New Elounda Bay. His first thought was, Wow, that's beautiful!
The bay shimmered and glowed in the gentle moonlight, illuminated like a Nativity scene. The golden sand lay in soft waves which were thrown into elegant relief by the moonlight, and the waves moved lazily up the vivid turquoise water before dissolving into a cloud of foamy white on the beach.
It was deserted save for one person, who stood next to a sand dune.
Fred's jaw dropped. She looked like an angel.
He saw her more in his mind's eye than in his real eyes. The woman was wearing a floaty sky-blue sundress, made of some kind of thin material that scintillated in the soft glow of the moon. Her thick chestnut hair fluttered out behind her in a light breeze, and her eyes were placid yet piercing at the same time, a beautiful blue flecked with grey, like a storm on the sea yet genial. Her skin was slightly tanned, with a porcelain-like quality, flawless and tranquil.
Her rosebud-like mouth opened, showing small, even white teeth.
"Come… Come to me…"
Without thinking Fred moved away from the window and over to his bed. His shoes were lying on their sides next to the bed. He shoved his feet into them, at the same time pulling a jacket over his pyjama t-shirt. Then he crept out of the room, so as not to disturb Shaggy or Scooby.
As the door creaked closed, Shaggy stirred a little in his sleep.
Fred took the stairs three or four at the time, and was rewarded with a plunge onto the polished floor. Ignoring the pain in his crushed arm and head, he ran out of the door, alarming a young couple standing just the other side of it. They didn't see him, just a silhouette moving towards the beach path.
Fred had never been down the path before, but somehow his feet were guided by something deep in his psyche. He ran down it, through sand dunes and past benches, a couple of which were occupied by couples like the couple outside the hotel. Fred didn't pause, just carried on towards the beach and the woman.
She was standing about a hundred feet from where the path ended and the beach began. He stumbled towards her, the stitch now growing in his side threatening to bend him over completely. His arm was aching from the fall at the hotel, and his head felt fit to burst, but as he stared at the woman the pain fell away, replaced by awe.
"What is your name?"
A soft English accent, very feminine and kind. Her rosebud lips barely moved, but he heard every syllable clearly in his head.
"Fred."
"Fred. I must show you something, Fred, before it is too late…"
She turned and started gliding up the beach. Even though he was still hopelessly out of breath, Fred followed at a sprint.
His legs were protesting at every thud onto the soft sand, but he forced them, or something forced them, to keep going.
But they were giving up…
He stumbled and fell into the cushiony sand, gasping for breath. Something happened, like a blanket of sound being taken off the scene, allowing background noise through. It felt similar to getting the ability to hear back after being temporarily deaf.
He looked up, brushing sand out of his hair and face.
She was gone.
The wind seemed to be whispering in his ear, but it assumed the voice of the girl.
"My name is Lily Roper…"
With a lead weight settling on his shoulders and heart, though he didn't know why, Fred stood up and brushed himself down, then walked back towards the path and the hotel.