The sun was shining, and the smell of salt wafted through the air. The soft sound of waves crashing came from nearby, along with the laughter and screaming of a popular beach.

Despite the buzzing sound, Aliss found herself sitting alone on the beach, watching the waves crash gently onto the sand.

It wasn’t as if she had no friends, but she always seemed to find herself looking for solitude. She was a newcomer to Cowes, and had only moved to the Island a few weeks ago. She’d left her friends at the cafe, and come down to sit on the sand dune on her own.

Just the wind in her hair.

The waves rolled in, throwing white froth across the pale sand. A blue expanse shining brightly, stretching to the horizon. Skin coloured people were scattered all across the front of it, enjoying, but not spoiling, the contents of her view.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep and shuddering breath of the sea air. Feeling her shoulders softening, as she wafted along with the breeze. The voices all seemed to fade away, and the waves became white noise, lifting her up and over everything.

“Yah!” A voice screamed right beside her.

Aliss came out of her reverie as a crash of sand pitted against her skin and blinded her eyes. She fell sideways away from the explosion coughing and staring around in wild confusion.

A young woman was standing beside her, and seemed to have. . . Stuck a wooden door in the ground, like a waiting surfboard or something. She was just as incredulous about that, as the sand that was scratching at her eyes.

The figure was nothing but a blur, but she saw them notice her. They pounced forward instantly, talking in an excited tone, “Oh! I’m so sorry. Didn’t quite mean that. . . I really should learn to open the door a bit slower. . . But I was excited!”

Aliss tried to reply, but just sort of spluttered as she suddenly found water running down her face. It did help to clear out her eyes, but it also soaked into her top. She hadn’t come prepared to swim.

She looked blearily at the stranger, and saw a woman about her own age, standing barefoot and looking fairly concerned. There were freckles in a bridge across their face, and a waving tangle of black and violet hair. Their bright green eyes were filled with genuine concern.

Aliss looked down at herself and back up, “Uhm. . . You don’t have a towel, do you?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Nope.” The girl shook her head, and then dropped crosslegged to sit beside her, a hand absentmindedly pecking a grain of sand off Aliss’ cheek. “Sorry. Wasn’t really supposed to be coming here, at all. Ran off from work.”

Aliss frowned, “You went to work in swimmers?”

The woman giggled, smoothing down their shorts with one hand, “Kinda? Sorta. Not really. Not at all.”

“Riiight.” Aliss said suspiciously, “Uhm. . . Thanks. But I think I need to go dry off, now.”

The woman looked instantly disappointed, “Aw. Come on. Why don’t you play a little on the beach? You did come to do that, didn’t you? You’re on the beach.”

“I was relaxing. Not swimming.” Aliss said with a little irritation.

The girl frowned, “That was before you met me, though.”

“I don’t even know you.”

The woman was unfazed, shrugging, “Nope. But most people don’t. It’s hard isn’t it? Most people never really seem to know the real you. They work beside you, all loving, and then if you see them down the street they just wanna run the other way. Keeping friends as a grown up, sucks. That’s why I never wanna grow up.”

Aliss wanted to make some comment and run, but there was something about the woman that told her that they were being completely, genuinely, honest. Something she hadn’t seen in another person in. . . She couldn’t remember how long.

“My friends are up at the cafe.” She pointed off idly, “Did you come with anyone?”

“Nope.” The woman shook her head, nonplussed.

“Right. Um. . . My name is Aliss. What’s yours, stranger?”

The woman’s face dropped, becoming a shadow of its former self, and she crossed her arms. “I’m not a stranger. A stranger is someone who can go about, and gets the excuse of strangeness for not giving a crap about anyone and anything. Nobody should be allowed to be a stranger.”

“Everyone deserves someone who cares.” Aliss agreed quietly.

The woman instantly broke into a huge smile, and then shocked Aliss by diving forward and hugging her. The arms hit her back, and then sand followed them as Aliss was knocked flat.

More than the surprise of the attack hug, Aliss was completely weirded out by how homely and warm the embrace felt.

It was more loving than any of the handshakes, high fives, and head nods that she’d got from her friends. It felt like something that had been missing entirely from her life. For just a moment, it felt more loving than anything she’d had recently.

Until she remembered that she didn’t even know this woman’s name.

She pushed them back a little, hand to the woman’s stomach. They leaned back, one arm by Aliss’ head, grinning down at her. The woman made a cheeky smirk, “You know, you don’t look half bad, like that.”

“I don’t know you!” Aliss went white, nearly shouting it.

The other woman instantly flopped back to a sitting position again. They didn’t look apologetic, and they were still smiling, but respecting a little of her space.

Aliss sat up slowly, and then went to stand.

As she did, the other woman stood up as well, dusting the sand off their hands on the back of their shorts. The woman frowned for a moment and then turned, “Hey, do you wanna learn to surf?”

“I don’t know who the hell you are!” Aliss snapped.

The other woman shrugged, “Clearly. But. . . Let’s just say I’m your. . . Future.”

“That might be the creepiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

They shrugged again, and then smiled over at her and held out a hand, “So, what do you say? Wanna discover what tomorrow brings?”

“I. . . ” Aliss hesitated.

There was something about the woman in front of her. She couldn’t place it, but despite the logic in her brain screaming. . . She didn’t want to run away.

“Who are you?” Aliss asked, again.