A single pale rose once bloomed here. It is gone now.
"Who're you? And why're you crying?"
...
Padma strolled along the beach, kicking up clods of sand with each step. She had another weird dream this morning. Dad said she would start getting them eventually, that she would be spirited away for a time, and warned her of the dangers of confusing fantasy from reality.
The shore rolled past her feet, leaving behind a kiss of salt on her toes.
Maybe they were just dreams.
...
"You know, if you hate someone so much that you can't help but curl into a ball and cry... maybe forgive them?"
...
A breeze whispered, sweeping the lotus flower from her hair, out into the ocean. Padma barely noticed. The flower had been missing petals anyway. With a sigh, she reclined in the sand, her gaze drifting to the unclouded night sky. She hadn't had a chance to truly gaze at the lights unmarred before now, having lived in the city with its artificial stars and artificial humans.
The tide's rhythm tickled the soles of her feet. The water was was warm, but she only shivered when that warmth retreated.
...
"Why can't you forgive them?"
...
The grit worked its way into her peach-blonde hair, but it was fine. She needed a shower anyway.
She reached a hand out, searching for a star in the night sky, a particularly dim one, easy to overlook and easy to forget.
Padma might have had a dream about this beach once, of a cyclops whose heart was encased in a jewel, who sat with her lover and pointed to a star she once called home.
...
"Oh, It's you, isn't it?"
Padma stared. The diamond stared back, eyes wide and hysterical. A stream of tears threatened to drown them both.
"You hate you."
...
"It's okay," she murmured, her finger landing on a particularly dull mote of light. It flickered in and out, and Padma was afraid that she'd lose track of it if she blinked. Slowly, she closed her fist around it.
"I hate me too."
The gem embedded in her chest, just over her heart, began to throb. Beach City was only a few miles away, now.