Koh Chang, Thailand
Koh Chang, Thailand
The sound of laughter and excitement echoed in the tropical August sky and, overwhelmed with a childish wonder and joy, I ran out of the Thai beach bungalow, overcome with that youthful adventurous spirit that often plagued me. The remote island was void of all sound as if no one else existed but the two of us and the only noise that broke the void was the pounding of heels on wet sand and the shrieking of unsurpassed laughter and freedom.
I didn’ t turn around to see, but I knew he was following me, albeit slowly in trepidation, soft imprints along the abandoned sand. And my heartbeat quickened, still not fully grasping that this unexpected stranger had connected with me in this foreign land. He was exactly the type of boy I liked to push and drag off the cliff, showing him that the risk of the unknown was the most exhilarating feeling one could experience in this life. But it was more than that. He did something to me. Something I couldn’ t even begin to understand yet or attempt to categorize into words.
Untying my bathing suit top and the knot in my skirt, I flung my clothes behind me onto the beach with one impulsive, swift movement. Smiling into the darkness, I could feel those baby blue eyes widen in surprise behind me but I didn’ t look back. I raced down the wet sand through the shallow, ankle-deep, warm waters, my naked, brown back in his sight and curly blonde hair whipping behind my head, warm bath water sloshing up in between my thighs and splashing against my stomach. The crystal clear, turquoise Thailand Gulf that we had encountered that day had turned black without the moon tonight and the sky and sea merged into a symbiotic deep, dark hole, with only the midnight stars to differentiate between them, a billion fireflies dotting the draped sky above, stuck in fly paper.
The only sounds to break the still night’ s silence- the splashing of water against each stride I took and my own laughter as my pace quickened and his stride followed suit as he began to chase me. I caught my breath mid-run and slowed, breathing in the vastness of the unknown world around me, a stark contrast to how strikingly small I was amidst it all. All at once, I am captivated by this serene secrecy and relishing in my abundant, blessed life, dangling somewhere in between reality and infinity.
Silence overtook the night again suddenly as I halted midstride, glimpsing the flickering lights dancing about my legs as I ran and I stopped immediately, forgetting the world around me
and kneeling down in the black waters. The gulf fell tranquil again around my naked body. As soon as my movement stopped, so did the twinkling fireflies that had swirled around my legs, disappearing in the sea.
The water had gone black again, as black as the sky, but I swore I had seen something. Sinking back against by calves, knees in the sand, I swirled my hands slowly through the black liquid in front of me, dancing fingertips through the abyss- and there they were, appearing again- igniting the sea stars, casting Milky Way trails of pixie dust following my every movement. I broke my trance and craning my neck backward, looked up at the dark, clear sky above me, cloudless with scattered twinkling lights penetrating our tiny, uninhabited world from afar, and then back down at my hand gently caressing the sea. The magical stars in the water like a reflection of the night sky were only visible through dance. Brought to life and color by the colorful lives of others.
My childish shriek breaks through the enthralled moments of silence, urging Steve to hurry up and come see, incapable of breaking my gaze from the magic at my fingertips. He slowly sinks quietly into the water beside me, sitting back on his knees, careful not to disrupt my captivated moment, the water gently caressing our chests. Look, I whisper, careful not to disturb the ethereal creatures and he watches as I glide my hands and arms delicately through the water, casting magic spells and trails of stardust racing after each of my movements. I can’ t pull my eyes from the sparkling trinkets trailing my arms under the black sea, but I can feel his eyes on me. He doesn’ t attempt to hide his gaze. And it ignites the fire in my soul even further.
The moment of wonder does not pass him by but it does pass through him quickly and he laughs as I twirl around, dancing in the water, a small child, captivated by her first glimpse of snowflakes. It’ s glowing plankton, an evolutionary species, he scientifically informs through an amused smile, but I’ m committed to the magic and he quiets, allowing me to get lost in it. I spin fast and dance slow, jolting speeds through the sea mixed with graceful arabesques. I can’ t stop, lost entirely in another world. I had never seen anything so magical in all my life and I forget his presence all-together, as he sits in silence watching me watch the beauty in the water.
It could have been hours and it may have been minutes. I will never know. But for those moments, time stopped and I forgot everything. No one was around and no one was heard, neither Steve, nor the haunting calls beckoning demands from the world I left behind. Just me, the magic, and the silent music of the island’ s echoes. And I spun in perfect peace, solitude and naked abandonment before it, relishing in the moment, in every facet of who I was and who I’ d become, letting life, possibility and wonder pour down and drench me, willing this discrete tiny sliver of the world to set this moment in stone, capture it in a crystal ball or a tiny music box that I could play again and again.
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