A Distant Touch

• Rebeccah De Chalain, Grade 12, Bayside Christian College -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

To be in two places at once - an absurd notion. It’s fortunate, I suppose, that I have a knack for absurdity, it follows me wherever I go, interesting really... But I digress. You see I once knew a girl who was indeed in two places simultaneously. Impossible? Well perhaps, dear reader, this came about through the collision of two worlds, drawn ever nearer by some strong compulsive force.
The girl was what one might call a ‘wanderer’, though she was not aimless in her wanderings for she was in search of something, an adventure perhaps – something, which would satisfy the desperate longing of her heart. The small strange town, to which her pursuits had led her, was bordered by that brilliantly lively brine, which covers a vast expanse of the earth’s surface. She fluttered her way along the path leading to the pier, a tired old thing, with splintering planks and flaking whitewash, but it was a blissful escape from the town’s criticism. Upon that pier, she sat gazing into the water, until noon turned to night and the stars pierced through the dark curtain sending their light scattering through the gentle lapping waves, illuminating an entire city bustling below. A city of such tangible vibrance, that the girl began to lean forward in an effort to grasp it, stopped only by her awareness of a spectator from under the swell. In that moment were both flabbergasted individuals suspended in the viscous fluid of time, the girl’s urge to flee becoming distant, for in the eyes of the girl before her she saw that same yearning.
A single instant of connection can lead one to do all sorts of things, like prodding the sea with a stick only to find that it is impenetrable, and that rocks simply ricochet and scatter far from their intended entry point. No, none of this would work, an event this extraordinary required some sort of ‘leap of faith’, and with that, my companion jumped, landing on the solid surface below. What a strange thing it was for her, to be standing on water, but this sudden wave of exhilaration quickly dispersed as a sombre cloud settled over the place showering everything in the cold understanding that this thin stretch of water is what would keep two souls apart. The girls touched their hands to the water’s surface, a wordless recognition of the impossibility of their situation perhaps, but that single touch did something, which can only be described as miraculous, for as soon as it had occurred two lands, in a thunderous clap, were sealed together seamlessly with no ocean dividing them.
It is possible to be in two places at once, when the will to be together is strong enough, my friend and I are proof of this. For there is no force, not even the distance of worlds which may keep friends apart.