Tommy and Isabella sat back on the beach. They decided to sit closer to the dunes rather than the shore to avoid getting wet in the frigid November weather. Thomas held Isabella, trying to warm them both as the chilled wind swept over the sand. They were both bundled in their winter gear and came to watch the sunset as it sank into the sea, giving way to the moon and stars to take the night shift. The way the sun was able to project itself across the water in a deep orange glow and color the atmosphere a cotton candy pink was so beautiful that you didn't want to take a picture. It was an image in the natural world that nothing could capture but the mind.
"I hope you aren't too cold out here, Tommy," Isabella said with a smile.
"Are you kidding? I couldn't be warmer," Tommy replied in the sarcastic tone that always made Isabella laugh.
It worked, and Isabella broke out into giggles that made Tommy fall in love again.
"I know you're freezing. Once it sets, we'll go back inside." She was looking at him with a smile that made him dizzy.
"Eh, maybe. I have something to show you before we do." Tommy began to feel steel butterflies that most get before a speech or a big event; the familiar feeling of nervousness on the borderline of fear. The engagement ring was in a small black box in his pocket, and he'd had his hand on it all night, just spinning it in his fingers and feeling the black velvet lining on the case. He was probably radiating with nervous energy, but thankfully, Isabella hadn't noticed yet. He didn't want to spoil what he was about to do.
They had met his freshman year of college. She made perfect look imperfect at first sight with a sun-kissed tan from summer break and dark, naturally curly hair. Her smile was one that was beyond physically attractive, but friendly, and she graced everyone around her by showing it often. It wasn't only her physique that turned heads, but her naturally magnetic personality. She had a knack for making others feel special and, through her instinctive selflessness, managed to help people out of the slumps and depressions of life. She was a gift, and Tommy felt that he had practically won the lottery in finding her.
Although he was a naturally shy person, Isabella had no trouble pulling Tommy out of his shell. Everything about her was inviting and, despite his nervousness, the two fell into conversation gracefully. He noticed firstly their ability to have intimate, deep conversations about things neither of them had shared with anyone. The accident that took Tommy's parents when he was six years old was something that wasn't dredged up often, but he told her about it early in their relationship. She not only got the story but how it made Tommy feel. That was something that a slew of counselors had never gotten from him, and a few days after meeting Isabella, he had told his entire life from his perspective. He loved her from the beginning. She was trustworthy, and her relaxing presence was infectious. Now, only five years later, he sat there on the beach, holding her and twirling the ring in his pocket.
He didn't know what was making him so nervous; he had never wanted anything more in his life than to marry her and yet, he was still that timid soul hiding deep within his own shell. He wasn't afraid of a commitment to her, but he had a childlike skittishness in his heart similar to the feeling just before a drop on a roller coaster.
"What do you want to show me?" she asked.
"You've got to stand up first." He was starting to shake a little bit, but Isabella hadn't noticed. He was sure that he was about to commit the rest of his life with someone. He felt that a little shaking was justified.
"Okay," she said as she got up to her feet, looking down at him where he was still seated. "You better not be pulling anything Tommy. I love you, but I'll kick you."
"I'm not," he said. "I'll just stay right here." He sat up to his left knee. The sun was just a sliver now, barely tall enough to stand over the horizon. The orange glow was slowly receding, but the pinkish highlight in the sky fighting back the darkness still held its ground. The stars were just starting to reveal themselves with the moon. The ocean gently tumbled to the shore and the wind pulled grains of sand over the resting shells. Tommy was taking in every detail.
"Izzy," he said. "I've loved you since we met."
Isabella had both hands over her mouth, concealing what looked like a smile which was accompanied by a few tears starting to roll down her face. She looked stunning in her UGGs, jeans, and a black jacket, which was fur lined around the edges of the hood. The fur was gently blowing with the breeze, along with a few of her hairs that had escaped the bun she put up before coming to the beach. She looked amazing. She looked like his wife.
He went on.
"I've never wanted anything more than I want you. You've made my life into something more amazing than I ever thought it would be. So, Isabella Lane Arden, the burning question."
Tommy removed the box from his pocket and opened it, facing the ring to her.
"Yes," she said through choked breaths. "Yes, Tommy. Yes."
Tommy stood up with a loving smile that rivaled the love in Isabella's. They both began to laugh when Tommy reached out to take her left hand. He took the ring out of its velvet case and slid it onto her ring finger.
"It's beautiful," she said. Fresh tears were welling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks, but when she looked back up at him she was wearing the smile that he hoped to see every day for the rest of his life.
"Well, they say three years' salary," Tommy replied with a laugh. Then they were both laughing. Then his hands were around her waist and hers around his neck.
"I love you, Isabella," he said.
"I love you, Tommy," she replied. The sound of her saying his name was another thing that he loved. It gave him a new sense of purpose and familiarity.
"You and me versus the world."
"I think we have a fighting chance."
They kissed.
Then they heard the first of the screaming.
"Jonathan!" the old woman cried. "Jonathan, stop! Where are you going?"
The screaming was coming from behind Isabella. They both turned to see what was happening. They saw a man, fully clothed, walking into the ocean. When they turned, he was shoulder deep. He continued to walk until, almost comically, his baseball cap was the only thing above the water. Then he was gone.
The old woman went running down the beach after him. Her thick winter dress and long white hair followed behind her as she ran to the breaking surf. She fell at the water's edge, where the sea had returned her husband's cap. It was drenched and covered in sand. She sat, holding it, in hysterics. Tommy stood, staring, in a kind of confused shock, when he looked up from the woman to see the others walking to the water. Most were in thick winter wear, all moving down the slope and into the sea. They began to walk out and didn't slow until they were knee deep, then chest deep, then neck deep, then gone.
"What the hell are you doing?" the woman cried. "Stop! All of you, stop!"
No one seemed to be paying her any attention. They all seemed distracted by some unseen object as they stared off into the distance with expressionless faces.
"You're insane! Stop walking out there! You're going to-" she froze. She looked in the same direction as the others and rose to her feet. She took on the same cold, dead expression that the rest of them wore. It had overtaken the pain in her face from seconds before as if something in her brain had submitted to a commanding force. She then proceeded to follow her husband into the ocean. Before she completely submerged, her white hair could be seen, taking in the last rays of the dying sunshine. Then, she too was gone.
"What is happening, Tommy?" Isabella said in a panicked tone that Tommy had never heard and hoped to never hear again. "They're just walking out to the water. What are they doing? They're all going to kill themselves."
She was crying again, but this time without the accompaniment of her radiant smile.
"I have no idea." Tommy was still trying to process all that was happening. "I'll call 911."
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number. Just dialing the number added to the reality of the situation at hand, and made him shutter. He then heard the standard response:
"911, what is your emergency?"
"Hello, um, I'm by the water at Santa Monica, and there are people just walking out into it. I think it might be a mass suicide."
"I'm sorry," the woman on the other end of the line replied. "Did you say that they're walking into the water? As in the ocean?"
"Yes. They're walking in fully dressed until they're completely underwater, and so far, no one has resurfaced."
"Okay, sir. Remain calm. A unit is on its way to the beach now."
"Okay, thank you. I don't know what to-" he was forced out of his dreamlike state of confusion and forced into action. Isabella was running across the beach toward a toddler with the same dead stare as the others headed straight towards the water.
"Isabella, wait!" he called. She didn't reply but continued sprinting towards the child before he could make the water. She picked him up.
"Isabella!"
She turned and faced the water.
"Isabella!"
Then she saw it.
She got the same glazed look in her eyes as the others before her. Tommy saw this and was not going to let the best thing that had ever happened to him, and this small child, walk out with the rest of them. He raced to a spot where he could intercept the two of them before the water got too deep. Isabella was up to her ankles.
"Izzy, stop!"
Her waist.
"Isabella!"
Her shoulders.
He splashed his way out to her and grabbed her hard. He began to swim them back aggressively towards the shore. She had no reaction to the pulling but went oddly limp. This terrified Tommy, but through the fear his instincts to defend continued to push and he saved her from a cold, icy doom. She still had a relaxed grip on the child, who was looking at the sky. The sun's light was almost completely gone.
She was soaked and cold to the touch but wasn't shivering. She wasn't moving at all. They were both standing at the shore. He was standing between the love of his life and the cold, dark, Pacific Ocean.
"Isabella, what's the matter? Talk to me."
He looked into her face and saw that Isabella wasn't there. Her eyes, that had been enough to make him swoon, were lifeless and glassy. A smile she displayed with vibrance and charm before had vanished; her face seemed vacant and reminded him of a mannequin.
All of a sudden, she made a confused expression, looking at Tommy as if he were making no sense.
"Tommy, it's okay," she said in a relaxed tone. "The Light out there, it's calling me. That's where I'm going. That's where everyone's going."
Tommy looked out at the water and saw nothing but the last hopeful glow of the sun.
"Baby, there's nothing there. Nothing but water. Just come with me, please. Let's go home." He took her hand in his and looked her in the eyes and saw none of her joy and friendliness. He felt desperate. In an odd way, it felt to Tommy as if she were leaving him, not walking to her watery death.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, but the Light won't wait. The Light needs us to come now. It's time." She had used Tommy's full name. No one had called him Thomas since his last job interview, in which he quickly corrected them. It felt completely and utterly wrong coming from her.
"Stop, please. Stop. I love you." She looked him in the eyes and said nothing.
He turned and looked back at the water, hoping to see any others that might have resurfaced. And there it was.
It was the most peculiar he'd ever seen. It looked as if the sun had multiplied thousands of times but managed to occupy a small space in the sky. It hung in a position below the stars and yet above them, it was without dimensions of space and Tommy realized it wasn't in front or behind anything. It was just there.
Suddenly, Tommy was overtaken by its beauty, and the sea looked different to him. It appeared loving, warm, comforting. The Light was calling him into it, wanting him to explore its depths and treasures for eternity. He knew that was now his mission, and then, in some deep corner of his mind, he thought of Isabella. Memories of the times they had together began to flood that part of his brain; teaching her to surf, how good she looked in a baseball cap at the Angels' games, taking her to dinner in the city for their third anniversary together, laughing and watching movies…
The Light beckoned him to come.
He looked back, and Isabella was gone. She must have gone before him into the water while he was distracted, paving the way and wanting him to follow.
Come, the light said.
"I can't. I love her," Tommy thought in the back of his mind. Suddenly his feet started to walk forward and he felt the rush of freezing water hit his ankles. He wanted to turn around, but he couldn't. He only continued toward the depths.
"Please," Tommy begged. "I love her. Please, let me have her and leave this." He knew that there was no hope now and that the Light had both of them. He prayed that somehow, he would find Isabella and they could be together again.
He was up to his chest in the water.
Come to me. Do not worry, and come. Soon you can be with her.
Tommy felt distant to his body. He was no longer in control, but he wasn't frightened. He felt much more relaxed, like some part of him wanted this. He knew that the Light would be gracious.
He felt his face fully submerge in the freezing water, but didn't stop. He was hit a rush of peace and began to stop worrying about Isabella, about the rest of the people, about everything. He just continued out to sea.
The harsh red and blue flashes of the police cars' lights beat against the sand dunes from the street. Together, the officers ran up the beach access ramp and onto the loose sand, where all they only found abandoned beach gear. The officers made their way to the edge of the sea and saw a black velvet box. The velvet was speckled with grains of sand and had been beaten by the harsh water of the sea. They looked out to the ocean and saw nothing but the dead white reflection of the moon rippling across its surface.
The sun was finally gone, and night had fallen.
