Shadow's Cove

May fell asleep that night not knowing Jack took his last breath. Sheepishly, she noted white crumbs lining his nose.

"What's that, bubs?" May asked, knowing the same tight chord of fear coursing her chest.

"It's nothing, May. You know I'm clean now." Jack turned his face from the screen that separated May. He ran a sheepish hand through black, curly locks.

"Right. I trust you." May replied.

Jack turned back to the screen with a small grin. May met his eyes, the blue pools she would dive in for days of dreams.

"Will you stay on the phone with me, babe? Just 'til I fall asleep?" Jack asked.

"Anything, bubs." May began her nightly routine, holding the phone up on a pink bathroom counter. Jack fell silent. May peered down, noticing drowsy eyes and fingers wiping away more white crumbs. She did not ask again, but watched as he dozed into the night. Eventually, his face was hidden, with only dark locks seen above the pillow.

"Love you bubs."

May shut the phone.

I would ask May to tell me that story again and again.

We both knew the ending didn't change.

In two mornings, May would sit in a new therapist's office. Shrieks would reverberate against the walls.

Jack's eyes had not reopened.

May would recall the white crumbs, the glazed eyes, the soft responses, with threads of denial to rack her mind and limbs for endless nights.

I did not tell May those two mornings later what I knew sitting outside the bright therapist's office as the sister, thinking of the programs I Googled on my phone. "Al-Anon." "Grief support near me."

"Fix her," was all that ran through my mind.

I knew she could not be fixed, no matter how many fake plants and jovial slogans lined that therapist's room.

Days would pass from Jack's last call. I knew May's story of that night well; she repeated it frequently each week, replaying, recalling, and trying to conjure a different ending.

I knew no different ending would occur.

On May 9th, we had allowed several months to pass since that fateful day.

The bright morning broke through our shared bedroom. Solemnly, I looked across at her twin bed, knowing we sat as an 18-year-old and almost 20-year-old still in Mom and Dad’s home.

Well, Mom’s home. Dad left in 2018.

I made sure not to wake May. She had talked for several weeks about leaving. Even suicide she tried to broach as an option. Of course, that sent us straight again to the bright therapist’s room.

So, I would not let her leave. I returned home from college to ensure protection clad the purple walls of our childhood bedroom. A fortress for May.

With time, the fortress was turning into a prison, it had seemed.

Eventually, I shook May awake. We grabbed our things. Sunrise was nearing, and I knew our weekly drive to the Keys would not be brief with Mom’s Tacoma. I slid the front door shut to not wake Mom. Flip-flops and sunhats followed us to the red car.

I drove, like I had most days, to keep May from trying to leave the wheel.

Leaving the town, the morning light began to chase our heels, spreading through the backroads of southern Florida to meet the beach. With 10 minutes to pass, we neared the beach. May was quiet on the drive.

Grief once again omitted His estimated time of arrival.

With hands full of beach belongings, we descended down the sand. Silence was our third companion most days. I laid the towel on white billowing sand. A red horizon began to glisten in front of us.

“It’s the third sunrise since Jack without any clouds.” May softly mentioned.

“Really?” I replied. “Since when were you counting?”

A solemn look took May’s expression.

“I’ve always counted.”

A moment passed, then two. With the sun rising higher, I crinkled open my ripped copy of The Hobbit, praying Bilbo’s blunders would allow some of my own heaviness to pass. I was May’s closest companion.

Suddenly, I felt myself ripped from Bilbo’s tale.

“Rose, what the fuck?” May bolted up quickly, pointing at a tall figure walking towards us.

I shadowed my own eyes, peering down the sands. In fact, a tall figure was walking towards us, a thin white man with straight blond hair. I almost thought he was Orlando Bloom once again disguised as Legolas in the flesh, with the man standing 6’5” and striding calmly towards us. A dog followed behind.

May’s outburst was explained that no one had found these shores in two years. It was a small beach closed to the public, and an elf-man wearing an oversized gold hoodie and silver high-top Nikes wasn’t in our cards.

“Is he LARPing?”

“I don’t know!” May said exasperated. “Get the stuff. We’re leaving.”

I silently threw my belongings together, both of us scavenging for the drinks, towels, and sandals.

“Hello.”

“Ah! Fuck!” I jumped.

May stood and backed away. “Who are you?”

The dog, a black German Shepherd, walked up gently, with curiosity shaking his tail. May nudged backwards, and the dog extended to softly lick her hand. That was the biggest dog I’d ever seen.

“May, right?” The man asked. He looked young, maybe 22 or 23.

“Yes?”

“He won’t hurt you. This is Shadow,” The man gestured to the smiling giant dog. “He’s nice. I didn’t mean to upset either of you.”

“Yeah, well you fucking did! How did you get here so fast? We just saw you all the way down there.” I retorted, finding myself standing between the man and May.

“I’m sorry. We both have light steps.” He patted Shadow’s head. “I did not mean to surprise you. I’m actually a friend of Jack’s. I’m Matthew.”

“Jack?” May took a step forward. “You knew bubs?”

“Yes. He mentioned you, and that you may be here.”

May and I exchanged a puzzled glance.

I tilted my head in suspicion. “Mentioned… when?”

Matthew turned away with Shadow falling in step. “I can show you.”

The boy kept walking. May stood frozen, and I watched, knowing we were sent to death or sent to find something out of the cloud of grief.

“Fuck it.” I muttered.

Without a word, May broke into a quick jog after the man and dog, leaving me to scramble on shorts.

We followed behind Matthew for several hundred yards. Our beach stopped at a rocky shoreline, and I watched as Matthew’s bright high-tops clambered up the slick rocks.

“You trying to kill us?” I shouted to Matthew, watching May follow in a daze. “This isn’t funny, and our mom works with the authorities. They’ll know right away.”

Matthew had crossed the top of the rockpile ending the shoreline. He poked his head above the mossy boulders. “As long as you don’t kill me!” He grinned, with white-blond hair turning away.

“Jesus Christ.”

Over the rocks a small cove had emerged. Large, crisp palm fronds extended from the nearby trees, leaving barely any sand between the jungle and lapping waves.

I noticed Shadow didn’t sniff once or stray from Matthew’s side. He walked calmly, like the greatest service dog I’d ever seen.

Suddenly, the dog and man shot into the foliage. May dove in, and I went second, only to find the Florida palms, beach, and morning sky gone. My feet landed in soft moss, with a gentle brook of water trickling in front of me.

We were in a cove completely hidden by the trees. The walls glowed luminescent from the neon water of the brook, which led to a small waterfall at the back of the cove.

“Come.” Matthew gestured us and Shadow nudged my hand.

We took places on either side of Matthew. I let my hand trace the pocket blade in the shorts, only to find Matthew fold his knees and ripple the small pool. A vision appeared.

Not a vision.

Jack's image.

He rapidly emerged as visible as a video screen through the white, glowing sheets of the pool.

“What the hell have you done?” I whispered.

Stunned, May’s thin frame starved from grief shrank next to Matthew.

“He was asking me for you.” Matthew gently said and gesturing to Jack.

“Hi, baby.” The water spoke.

“Hi, bubs.”

“I am glad you made it.” Jack smiled, the same grin that May sought to recreate in her waking reality since January.

“Baby, where have you been?” May choked. “This can’t be real. Is this real? Where are you?”

A soft glow was seen around Jack. His eyes appeared brighter than they ever had before, with clean skin, and no indication of use.

“It is real. Matthew helped me. He’s been my friend for some time.”

May looked incredulously at Jack, her brown fingers dipping into the surrounding pool in disbelief, while I shook Matthew backwards.

“What is this? What are you?” I snapped in Matthew’s face.

Kindness didn’t leave his eyes. He gestured me to the side of the cove, while May met Death.

“I know this is confusing, and you are being asked to trust a stranger. Like I said, neither of us will hurt you. This is something I can give to all once in their lifetime, if I am chosen to.”

“Chosen by who?”

Matthew touched my shoulder. “Chosen by someone you don’t need to know yet.”

In that touch, I left the cove, leading to bright gold sparklers clouding my vision. My consciousness streamed into the heavens, passing blurry visuals of white wings and soft clouds. I was traveling at light speed, like the rush after the top of a rollercoaster, only to find myself next to Jack. I was now on the other side of May, seeing her, Matthew, and Shadow through the pool. Jack didn’t look at me, but peace wrapped my soul.

No part of me wanted to leave.

But Matthew took me back.

I blinked, seeing the walls of the cove again, feeling Shadow nudge my hand and Matthew calmly walk over to May, who sat curled with the pool still again.

“This is for both of you. To tell no one, but to know Death does not part Life. Death will join in life. Your work, for today, is to live.”

Matthew took both our hands, with no words able to leave my throat.

Suddenly I was back on the soft sands, and the sun had reversed its timeline, back at the position from when I opened The Hobbit.

Matthew had vanished.

“May, are you okay?” I turned left and right, with May nowhere to be found.

I looked forwards, but no man walked the beach.

Only May, with bare feet brushing the sand and a black dog by her side. They walked towards the sun, and I thought they would both cross the ridgeline, never to return.

I watched as she turned back, Shadow following her steps just like Matthew’s.

Without a mention of the cove or Jack, May sat next to me and patted Shadow’s side, who laid in the dirt calmly.

“I think let’s keep him.” May said thoughtfully, showing the most peace I'd seen since Jack's living days.

I wanted to mention everything, but a part of my throat blocked the words, knowing today wasn’t the time.

Maybe there would not need to be a time.

“I agree. He has pretty eyes.”

Shadow lifted his gaze, crystal blue eyes meeting mine.

May looked at the horizon thoughtfully.

“Just like Jack’s.”

As the sun grew, May, Shadow, and I got back in Mom’s Tacoma.

We would not revisit Matthew, the cove, or that beach again for the rest of our days.

We got what we were looking for.