“Almost every night I dreams about the beach.”

“…Because I have heard sounds in the night, terrible, awful things, mingling in with the tones of the dogs barking and cars speeding past. I try to focus on those sounds instead, but that can only last so long, especially as the sounds have gotten closer and closer.”

“It has been months since I saw it, months since that dream. But though I close my eyes, I see the image of it, pressed against my eyelids.”

““I took the drug an hour ago, and I have been waiting for its effects to be felt. I was told that this medicine comes from a place that never existed, that the supply of it is priceless, and the experience one of a kind…”

“It was waiting there, further down the beach, partially submerged in water, though the bulk of its form was obvious even when framed against the pounding of the surf.”