Chelsey led Henry about 15 minutes down the beach. They climbed over a sand dune into a quiet cove. Its sand was as silvery as the moon instead of the gold of the other beaches. Palm trees grew past the shoreline, each carrying bundles of small coconuts. Even a few seabirds flew overhead. Had it not been for the strange sky, he could have forgotten there was anything wrong with it at all.

Chelsey led him to the water line. They sat on the beach with their feet in the ocean. It was almost relaxing. Almost.

"Is there really no way out?" Henry asked.

"Believe me. We've looked. This place isn't normal. I'm sorry to tell you, but I don't think there is a way out. Don't tell Stevie I said that, though. I don't think he'll ever stop looking. He's the only one of us who still does," she said.

"What am I going to do?" Henry asked.

He put a hand on his head. Was he really going to be stuck for the rest of his life?

"I know it might be hard to believe, but I'm happier here than I ever was in my real life. I had a rough go of it before. I can see it in your eyes. You're like me. Miserable, right; wishing you could go back and change something."

She smiled kindly at him. Henry had to admit that she was right. His life hadn't been great.

"Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't exactly happy."

"This is your chance to change that. You can be anything you want to be here. I know it's overwhelming. But if you really look, this place can be so beautiful."

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Henry did look. The sky seemed to be doing what passed for a sunset in a world with no sun. The swirling nebulas above were flickering between blue, green, purple, and red. The ocean reflected the colors in its flowing mass of waves. The water lapped up over his feet, sending a pleasant shiver up his body.

"Yeah, it is."

"When I first came here, this was my favorite spot. I'd never seen the ocean before. There's something so calming about it. I can't believe Grace grew up in a place like this. I lived right in the heart of nowhere, Ohio," she said then asked, "How about you?"

"Small town in Texas."

"Texas, huh. Howdy, Howdy," she said mockingly.

"It's not so bad. Just nothing to do and no way out. People there live and die in the same place they were born. It's a cage."

"Yeah, I can understand. School was my cage. I never fit in, you know. I just wanted out."

"Actually, I do. I was invisible in school. Sure, I had friends, but I was never anything special to anyone," Henry replied.

"I wish I'd been invisible… Sometimes that's better. But that's the past. I think that's the point of this place. To let us escape. To help us find happiness for ourselves through adversity."

"You think this place is meant to make us happy?" Henry asked.

Chelsey seemed to think about it for a while before answering.

"Maybe… You wouldn't know it yet, but almost all of us came here broken. This place lets us be whoever we want to be. Sure, there are negatives, but there are good things too. All I'm saying is, there's a life to be had here, if only you'll give it a chance."

"I don't know," Henry admitted.

"Just try to keep an open mind," She said.

Henry nodded as he looked out over the beach.

"I'll try."

"That's all we can do. This was nice and all, but we should be going back. It's getting late," Chelsey said.

"Ya, alright, I guess. It's kind of hard to tell without a moon or a sun," Henry noted.

"You get used to it."

They stood from the sandy beach and made their way back to Paradise. For the first time since he woke up on the concrete, Henry felt a small spark of hope. He liked Chelsey. She was right; they were the same. He could feel the kinship that comes when you meet someone like you. If she was happy, then maybe he finally had a chance. Maybe Henry could finally find happiness in hell, of all places.