Charlie got dressed at Sunshine Surfing and carried her surfboard to the North side of the beach.It was 5 minutes before the meeting time, but a girl was already waiting for her there. Just as Charlie approached her, she was instantly sure that the girl was Nina. Her eyes were glittering black, and she wore a smile that did not match those eyes, looking fake just like Katie had said. She was a head taller than Charlie and the way she looked down at her made Charlie shiver a little. Nina’s long, black hair drifted in the air as the ocean breeze blew across her face. The sun still had not appeared behind the heavy clouds and the entire atmosphere seemed colder than usual. “Hi, I’m Nina, it’s great to meet you, Jessica.” Nina said as she held out a hand.
“Nice to meet you too, Nina. I’ve heard about your amazing surfing skills.” Charlie answered, trying to sound cheerful. The atmosphere around Nina was very tense and scary.
Charlie was amazed. Nina was just like what the rumorsdescribed,w each other is great for both of us.” Nina replied. Charlie agreed and headed to the ocean with her. The wind was not strong, but the water was cool. Charlie tried to ignore it and keep on the calm dis guise in front of Nina, not wanting to ruin Nina’s impression of her. After reaching 20 meters away from the coast, waves grew strong. Each one lifted Charlie high up and she entrusted everything to Jessica’s abilities, trying her best to hide her nervousness. Nina on the other hand remained calm and her expression did not even change a tiny bit, like Katie had said. She turned to the ocean and watched closely as a large wave slowly came closer. Just as the wave lifted her to the highest point, Nina quickly got up from her surfboard and skimmed across the wave’s edge, surfing down slowly as the wave started to roll in. She glided through the wave’s cylinder shape with incredible ease and arrived at the shore with a smooth halt.
Charlie was amazed. Nina was just like what the rumors d escribed, but even more incredible seeing in person. Nina waved to Charlie at the shore, gesturing for her to surf back too. Charlie took a deep breathand turned to look at a big wave coming at her. If she estimated right, this wave was even larger than the one Nina rode on.
Charlie took another deep breath and gave everything to Jessica’s abilities. Unlike Nina’s decision to first glide on the top of the wave, Charlie chose to go directly onto the side of the wave, like surfing on a water wall. The turning of the surfboard allowed the moving water to lift her high then low. Charlie glided through the water with elegancea nd calmness, playing with water more than going for fancy skills. She also reached the shore with ease, coming just a few feet away from Nina. Charlie could see from her face that Nina was amazed by her abilities. Her eyes had widened more, and she looked much more interested in Charlie now.
“You did amazing.” Charlie said, interrupting the silence.
Nina paused, as if pulling away from her thoughts. “You did too. The movements you did back therewere really smooth.” She said, “How about we train some more together? I enjoy watching you surf.” Nina suggested. Charlie agreed willingly, she was more than happy to see and discover more about her competitor’s abilities. Charlie also sensed something changed in Nina after the first performance for each other. She was not that serious anymore and tried harder each time for different techniques to perform in front of Charlie. Her smile had also started reaching up to her eyes, making it much more genuine than in the beginning.
“I think she’s happy to have a competitor like me.” Charlie thought and she did too. Meanwhile, Vivian and Kyle were collecting information from the old man. They have already learned a lot about Nina, so there was no need to find more information amongst the athletes.
Vivian and Kyle discovered that the old man was named Jake and he was one of the main coaches that trained the athletes at Sunshine Surfing.The other coaches were in France, preparing for an even larger surfing competition for adults, leaving Jake and Charlie to participate in this competition. Jake was not that bright, and he told the siblings almost everything with a lot of information from the small questions they asked, not suspecting a thing. “So, what do you think about tomorrow’s competition? Will Char... em... Jessica beat Nina?” Vivian asked. “From the weather forecast, tomorrow’s going to rain. The wind speed would pick up and that would create perfect waves that are large. However, this is not a good situation for Jessica.” He said with a sigh. This piqued the interest in Kyle.
“How would that affect her? I don’t quite rememberher telling me that.” Kyle asked.
Jake tilted his head in confusion, “Did I not tell you about this a few days ago? Maybe you’re right, everyone’s memory always gets messed up these days... anyways, Jessica has been afraid of stormy seas ever since her best friend, Lydia, died in asea during a storm. She fell off her surfing board and was swept away under the water. Her body was found a few days later. Jessica took more than a month to recover from Lydia’s death and more than a year to return to surfing. She still has emotional problems regarding surfing in stormy areas. Poor girl. Surfing is her life, and she won’t risk giving it up. I hope that the storm isn’t big, that would be dangerous for not only her but all the athletes participating.” Jake stated, sighing again, “I hope the best for her.”
Kyle and Vivian were both stunned at this information. Overcoming the storm might be the main problem in this mission and it did sound more dangerous than the last two missions.They needed to alert Charlie of this and do full preparation before competing. As they arrived at the beach, Charlie was already done with training and was sitting on the sand chatting with Nina by her side. “Jessica! Come here!” Vivian shouted to her. Charlie noticed them, then said something to Nina and headed towards Vivian. Vivian and Kyle informed her of the new information they got from Jake and warned her to be especially careful while surfing. Charlie nodded. She had expected something to happen since the man in black had warned them that this mission would be more dangerous. She would be surprised if nothinghappened.
It was almost 6 p.m. and the trio decided to go relax and be ready for tomorrow’s competition. Vivian and Kyle were introduced to Nina at dinner, and they all agreed that she was much more friendly than Katie described. Nina was also quite excited for the competition tomorrow and was even more excited to see Charlie’s performance. Charlie was sure that Nina was intrigued by her skills.
The next morning was cloudy and windy. It rained all night and the clouds still looked heavy. Charlie noticed that it was raining small droplets outside, likely to turn into a downpour before her competition half an hour later. A faint voice inside her started to object at the thought of a storm. Charlie did not notice and headed to get breakfast then go to the beach where all the athletes gather before the competition. Vivian and Kyle followed but stayed in a cabin facing the beach so they would not get wet by the rain.“Athletes! We have waited 2 years for this competition to be held again! The weather is indeed bad today, but it brings us large waves which you can perform even better on!” Jake shouted to the group over the wind to let everyone hear. The athletes moved around and agreed to his statement, some showing annoyanceat the weather.
“Female age group 17 and under get ready at Rebecca’s side and everyone else will stay here and watch.” Jake continued and pointed toa young lady at his right side who waved. Charlie felt a small tap on her shoulder and turned to see Nina by her side. She gestured towards Rebecca and walked towards her. Charlie quickly followed. Other than Nina, there were two athletes who are also in this age group, but their main opponents were probably each other.
“Girls, come grab your boards. Helen, you’re up first. Go warm up quickly and walk to where Daniel is standing, the guy over there inblue.” Rebecca told one of the girls Charlie didn’t know. “The others, stay with me for a second or you could sit there on the bench. Your choice.” Rebecca stated.
The three got their boards on a rack first and all sat on the bench. The rain was getting larger, and Charlie started to get cold. After a few moments, Helen was already heading towards the deep side ofthe ocean. Due to the large winds,the waves got larger and larger withthe rain, looming above the beach. Each crash was thundering, and Helen’s figure was almost invisible on the top of the wave as she continued further in.
A few seconds later, a small, black shadow came into the view of the athletes on top of a large wave. Her figure became clearer as the wave approached the shore, performing fancy tricks and skimming onthe side of the wave. Charlie could clearly see that her motions were elegant and looked well, but she was not as confident or familiar with the movements as either herself or Nina.
Helen arrived at the shore with loud applause. It was the other girl’s turn next. She also did amazing. From Charlie’s perspective, she could see that Helen’s skills exceeded the other girls’ skills. Charlie did not have the ability to recognize who was better insurfing before, so this might also be Jessica’s ability reflecting on her. Finally,it was Nina’s turn to perform. She patted Charlie on the back and headed to the ocean with confidence. Like before, she was amazing. She especially waited for one of the largest waves that occurred today to surf on, continuing her motions for long until the wave collapsed.
The rain got even heavier, but that did not affect Nina by any bit. Her motions were smooth and relaxed like usual and she successfully made it to the shore without any mistake and showed total balance even in the strong wind and huge waves. She arrived at the shore welcomed by a huge applause. Everyone knew that she was excellent, even Nina herself. Charlie also realized how amazing her abilities were.
Finally, with Nina’s return, it was Charlie’s turn to surf. She took a deep breath and headed to the ocean. The waves crashed before her, creatingt hunderous sounds. The wind grew even larger, and the rain also picked up. The sky was already completely dark with the rain clouds looming above. Charlie took another deep breath and climbed onto the surfboard, heading into the ocean. The water was chilling, and the rain continued to pat on her body. A voice inside her called out, from a faint distant sound to screams, telling her not to go further. Charlie instantly realized that this was Jessica, still not overcoming the trauma of her friend’s death. As Charlie tried to pull herself out of Jessica’s thoughts, her heart started pounding even faster as the dark ocean seemed to stretch upon her, huge waves coming at her. The water also seemed to move faster as Charlie continued into the sea. She could even see small fragments of vision of a girl drowning beneath these waves. Charlie was becoming overwhelmed with the fear Jessica is producing. Charlie clearly realized, if she continued to see these illusions produced by fear, she might also be in a dangerous spot in the storm.
Charlie tried to take a deep breath buCharlie remained as focused as possible. In her vision, illusion the ocean and that was not good. She closed her eyes, then opened them wide to try to overcome the voice. The storm grew even larger, and she was already deep into the ocean. Waves brought her much higher than she wanted each time. Charlie knew that it was time for her to surf, or else she would continue to drift away from the shore. Her strong thoughts of surviving seemed to overcome the fear and made her consciousness of her surroundings much clearer. She quickly moved and adjusted her surfboard, waiting for the next wave to come. As she turned back, the size of the wave stunned her. It was larger than any wave she had seen, even the one Nina rode on. But this was the only chance she had, and she desperately wanted to get back to the shore.
The wave slowly came towards her, and Charlieremained as focused as possible. In her vision, illusion fragments of a girl drowning in the wave continued to show up, each time more rapidly than the last. Charlie could feel the fear of Jessica. However, there was no time to think of that. The wave was coming closer every second and Charlie had to get the right moment to jump onher board and surf. She needed Jessica’s thoughts to stay clear and allow her abilities to take over. Finally, as she was lifted high, high up by the wave, she knew it was time to perform.
She remained balanced on the top of the wave, twisting her board to move from the ridge to the back then back to the ridge, Jessica’s abilities taking over. Charlie tried to remain extra focused, hoping that Jessica would do too and not fall into the water. After a few seconds of continuing the movement, she turned to the inner side ofthe wave before it collapsed. The top was already starting to curl inward, and she tried her best tomove across the almost vertical surface with prudence.
Charlie noticed that the storm was getting even bigger with loud splashes of rain patting on the waves. She did her best to turn and twist inside the wave, performing as confidently as she could. She skimmed sideways across the wave, allowing herself to perform the most while the wave started collapsing from her back. Finally, she was going to reach the shore. Just as she was about to glide out of the wave, she did not notice that the wave was about to collapse upon her.
Charlie was not that close to the shore yet. The water was still deep enough for her to drown, but it was also close enough for everyone to see. Water filled up her mouth and lungs. Charlie desperately gasped for breath, but only breathed in more water. Her surfboard swept by the current hit her hard on the head, then floated above her, making it very difficult for her to breath. She desperately tried to push the board away and when she passed the board and arrived at the surface, she was almost entirely out of breath. The water still stuck in her lungs made her cough, but at least she came out. She rubbed her eyes and looked towards the shore, but all she could see was blurry images and a familiar figure swimming towards her. Her head was throbbing due to the damage caused by the surfboard, and quickly drifted into unconsciousness after seeing somebody rescue her.
The next thing Charlie knew was that she was back at the cabin, with Vivian and Kyle next to her. Vivian gasped when she saw her wake up.
“Charlie! You're finally up!” She said as she grabbed her into a hug. “Thank god you’re okay.” Kyle said as he sighed in relief. “What happened?” Charlie asked as she pulled out from the hug.
“Nina and another girl jumped in and rescued you and your board.” Vivian answered, still looking concerned about her health.
This made Charlie confused. She remembered only seeing one figure swimming towards her and it definitely wasn’t Nina. It gave her a familiar feeling, but she didn’t think that she had seen her before. Charlie shook her head, “It was probably just Nina, but my eyes were blurred so I didn’t see.” She thought to herself, with an unconvincing attitude.
“Oh, and Jake wanted to meet you. He has something to give you.” Kyle said, “Probably something about Lydia, Jessica’s best friend.” Charlie nodded and climbed off the bed to head to Jake’s cabin.
The door of Sunshine Surfing was open. Jake was sitting at one of the benches of the cabin, flipping througha large book. Charlie knocked on the open door.
“Hey Jake, I heard from Kyle that you had something to give me.” Charlie said as she walked into the cabin, sitting next to Jake.
“I do.” Jake said as he closed the book. From a glance, Charlie could see that it was a bstrangely familiarhotos of all sorts of surfers. They were probably all members of Sunshine Surfing. Jake took out an oval shaped, golden locket with a thin chain from his jacket. As Charlie laid eyes on the locket, sadness started towell up inside her. Charlie knew that the locket was something important to Jessica or Lydia, or else she would not feel this sense of depression at all. Jake carefully opened the locket and a photo of two girls standing together, smiling.
Charlie’s heart felt even more pain as she looked at the photo.The girl on the right was strangely familiar and the girl on the left was Charlie. She had the face of Charlie, but Charlie knew that she was Jessica. The girl on the right would be Lydia. They looked so happy in the photo, holding surfboards on their sides, and smiling brightly in the sunshine. Charlie felt tears well up in her eyes, feelings that did not belong to her pouring out. “Lydia’s father gave this to me. They moved today and he found it in Lydia’s room, well kept in a box. A note was placed underit, this was for you.” Jake said as he closed the locket and placed it inside Charlie’s hands. Charlie’s tears started flowing without control. She quickly wiped them away and opened the locket again. The figure of Lydia seemed familiar to her because it looked exactly like the person who went to save her when she drowned at the competition. It was probably another illusion created from Jessica. Charlie closed the locket again.
“So, did I win the competition?” Charlie asked. “Unfortunately, due to the mistake of finishing, you scored just a bit lower than Nina.” Jake said with a sigh.
Strangely enough, Charlie did not feel any sad emotions from her failure. She gripped the locket tighterand left the cabin. Vivian and Kyle were already waiting for her. “I’m sorry Charlie.” Vivian said as she patted her back.
“It’s fine, for me and for Jessica I think.” Charlie replied sincerely, “At least I’ve got the locket with me.” “What locket?” Vivian asked. Charlie showed it to her.
“Possibly the key to opening the door to go back.” Charlie said. Since she was not the champion, the key was most likely the locket and not the medal.
“I think I know where the door is.” Kyle said, “While you were getting ready to perform, I wanted to investigate the other cabins. I saw a strange looking door in the cabin where you first came from. That’s probably the door back.”
Charlie and Vivian agreed and headed to the cabin Kyle mentioned. Like he said, a strange door was there with an oval shaped indent on it. Charlie placed the locket there and the door opened. The trio went in and found themselves back in the train.