[Novella] [Completed]
I often have a dream.
In it, there is a sea, shimmering with fragments of light, and a girl is holding my hand. She calls my name, her voice soft, as if she’s afraid of disturbing something. I try to see her face, but I can never make it out.
When I wake up, all I remember is how cold the seawater felt…
The doctor says I have only a few days left to feel the breeze of this world. My colleague T asks me, “Would you like to see the sea?” As she says it, sunlight falls just right across her face, like the smile of someone from long ago.
In the hospital corridor, I meet a young man named Q. He has borrowed a lot of money, saying he won’t live long enough to pay it back anyway. He takes me to an amusement park, a field of flowers, the mountains, and the sea I’ve seen countless times in my dreams.
He says, “The world is so beautiful. See a little more of it for me.”
Then he climbs over the railing and doesn’t look back.
I return to my hometown, and my mother says, “You had an accident when you were little, too. After you woke up, you couldn’t remember anything.”
She hands me a yellowed diary.
On the first page, it says:
“Today, I met a girl in the woods. She said her name was, ”
I remember the sea, the shimmering light, and someone once saying
“Next time, I’ll take you to the seaside.”
It was a promise I had forgotten for thirty years.
And now, I’m going to keep it.
