I sat upon the doorstep, by the blue, watching the sea as time flashed by before the ancient, prattling daughter of invention came to take me away. In an instant, things so radically changed. The sea could wash upon the shore, and one would be helpless to stop it as it tore but all away.

Luckily, I had nothing to lose. Not to the sea. But, to school, I had lost my life. I had lost more to work, who so gracefully broke my spirit before beating down my bones. And, as though by the law of irony, it offended my mother— her death near impending— and spat on my yet nonexistent grave. To the woes of modernity, I had lost it all. Yet, as I sat so still upon the wooden steps to America's Atlantis, I sat prey to a story. The story, of course, I did not yet know.

"Hello? Uh..." The voice caught me off guard. I turned to look at the person who had spoken. Maybe later, I would remark, to that who had snuck up on me.

A boy about my age stared back at me, his eyes a shocking blue. I felt compelled to compliment that but could not find the will.

He chuckled, rubbing his neck and looking away as quickly as he had started. "Sorry, uhm... I just thought your jacket—" *shirt "—was really pretty." Wait. Really pretty? That was... oddly sweet. Did I dare compliment him back? Would it be weird to— "Is it L. L. Bean?" The question brought me back to my senses. He wasn't in my mind. He didn't know my internal dilemma, and he didn't need to. "Eddie Bauer. But it's old Eddie Bauer that I got on sale, so... it looks sort of like L. L. Bean." I replied with a small smile. He returned the smile, although he feigned a look of sadness at getting it wrong that caused us both to laugh.

Neither of us spoke for another few minutes. Not until I gained the courage to ask him a question. Then, naturally, was the moment he chose to speak. "So... You live by the blue. That must be nice to wake up to, eh?" I sighed, staring out at the sea. Yeah. Nice. "I guess so. I'm not a big fan of the blue. It's just... Meh. I don't like it."

He shrugged, staring out at the sea. "It's not bad. I'm not a fan of it myself, but... well, I mean, it's okay." Okay? Yeah right. "It's not okay. I have to live right next to it. Why should it be okay? What's okay about it? Nothing. Nothing is-" "But hear me out-" "No, because nothing-" "Why not? It's not bad. It's just-" "You don't have to live with it." There was silence for a moment, but I was too angry to break it. This guy was pretty, but he was damn stupid if he thought the blue was okay. We both stared out at the sea, my arms crossed and him fidgeting with his hands. Eventually, he sighed and spoke up again. "Why are you scared of it?

Scared of it. I wasn't. There was no way I was scared of it. Why would I be scared of it? Scared of it. Hah. What a joke. "I'm not. I just don't like it. It's so cold, and... jumping into it isn't worth it. You come back out feeling dirty and wrong, and cleansing yourself only clears your physicality. What about your mentality? What about... you?"

I could see him pondering it. Connecting the dots. He was very quick with it, but it seemed a response was something he had to further consider. Perhaps he hadn't truly considered it. Who would consider it? I was paranoid. I was so paranoid. Nobody else was as paranoid as me. Perhaps that was a blessing and a curse.

"I suppose... You're right. The blue isn't very... forgiving. You have to be careful. But you can always recover. You don't have to touch it. You don't have to deal with it." What a joke. "We live on an island, man. We'll have to deal with it until we're old enough to move out. You can't escape what your parents want until you're old enough to parent yourself. Not unless you're lucky."

He chuckled, and all I could think was that it was a bad time to laugh. Really? Right now? "What's so funny? What's so fucking funny?"

He smiled, though the laughter receded. "Guess we're not lucky."