Message in a Bottle

Journal Entry #4

As she ran down the beach, Piper’s luminous hair waved swiftly to the beat of her pounding heart. Just a little longer, she thought to herself as she struggled through the last leg of her morning run. The beach was pretty empty today, with only the odd couple strolling down the white sand, hand in hand. She waved as she saw a few familiar faces as she collapsed next to the towel she had left behind before going for her run. As she laid her head back into the sand, she rolled onto her side, gazing out towards the long strand of lurid white meeting pale blue, and pale blue meeting the pink swirls of the sky above. Just before she turned back to look at the ocean before her, something flashed in her line of sight.

She jerked back to see something sticking awkwardly out of the sand. She scrambled to her knees and dug furiously, receiving glares from the family next to her as they enjoyed the blissful morning. As she pulled the object out of the sand, she noticed its cylindrical shape and its contents inside. The glass bottle was about the length of her wrist to her elbow, with something that looked like paper inside. She glanced around for a rock, and with pure curiosity in mind, she brought the rock and bottle together, smashing the bottle into a million little pieces.

I was right, she thought as she pulled the item away from the shards of glass scattered around. Three objects fell into her lap. A photograph, a locket and a piece of paper. The photograph was in black and white of a young man and women, side beside, smiling blissfully at the camera. The young man had a naval uniform on, while the young woman had hair to her shoulders and a pretty cocktail dress that reached just down to her knees. Piper wondered if they were lovers, or just friends. If they were more than friends, she wondered to herself, then they were very subtle about it. After careful examination, Piper realised that although their hands were behind their backs, you could just make out that their hands were clasped together, grasping for life.

As she turned to the locket, she wondered what life must have been like for the two of them. Could they have been secret lovers? Drawn apart by the war? Did their families not approve? Did they end up together? Her fingers brushed the front of the gold heart-shaped locket, with a small diamond in the centre. Inside was a picture of the same two, instead with their arms wrapped around each other, standing into each other’s eyes with such passion and intensity that it brought tears to her eyes. She reached for the piece of paper, and the now-present tears started to fall.

“We’ll always be together, don’t you worry.” Piper shook her head as her shoulders shook and sobs coursed through her body. As she placed it in her lap, she realised that there was a fourth item in the sand in front of her. Careful of the sparkling shards surrounding her, she reached for the item, which was another piece of paper. It was an article dating back to the 1990’s with the title “Lover’s die in each other’s arms in battle.” With the same picture from earlier. Piper rushed to dig a hole in the ground and buried the items in the sand. If they died together, she thought as she gathered her belongings and walked away from her new discovery, then they can together forever and always.