Chapter 1 First Encounter
In the heat of July the humidity had come. It had been an unusually hot Summer this year even on the Island that is normally very cool compared to inland. The cool wind usually comes off the Ocean but not tonight it had been raining on and off all day. Or more drizzling. Even in the cool of the castle that lies in the shadow of the hill on the Island there was no getting away from the heat.
I decided to go walking at the beach tonight near sunset hoping it would clear enough to see the sun set, anything to try to at least get cool. I could hear the Eaglets in their nest squeaking and screaming for food as was their usual daily activity. Looking out the window I could see their parents soaring high above in the sky. I saw them both swoop down into the Ocean and pull out a fish and take it back up to the nest and land on the high rock that was in the nest.
The squealing always intensified when one of the parents brought a fish in I could see their wings all over each other. Their parents always keeping a close eye on their babies, always just within protection distance of the nest. They knew me but even of me they were weary. They seem to have been acting just a bit odd the past few months but I really thought nothing of it, just different than last year.
As the time neared sunset, the clouds started to break just above the horizon, I would be able to see the sun set. I just decided to go a bit early.
As I went down the steps I looked up and down the stretch of beach that was at the bottom and as was usual there was no one there along the beach or in the water.
I went slowly down thinking that there may have indeed been a cooler than it had been breeze. I could smell the Ocean air much stronger the further I went down. I got to the bottom and again looked up and down the coastline and saw no one looked out across the Ocean and saw no one. It was peaceful with nothing but the roar of the Ocean, the feel of the spray, down here I could not see the Eagles only see the nest and that is because I knew where it was.
I walked and felt the sand between my toes and felt the sink of sand. I went down to the water and felt the coolness of it wrap around my ankles, it was wonderful after such heat. The hiss of the surf as it pulled out back into the darkening Ocean. On the horizon I could see it was much lighter than it was where I was as it is at that time of the day, the sun was just beginning to set into the water. I walked along still feeling the Ocean wrapping around my ankles. I pulled my dress up to my knees and went out a bit further feeling the pull of the waves just gently. I stood out and stared across the Ocean with no thought just calm and finally coolness.
I turned and was startled by the sight of a young man standing in the Ocean facing the setting sun.
I knew that there had been no one when I came down and yet there he stood with his back to me. For a moment I was speechless, I had seen no one come past me so how he got there was a mystery.
He was out further than I was motionless which was I thought strange as the tide was coming in and the waves were getting stronger, I could feel it around my knees the pull of the Ocean is nothing you can easily ignore. I was going to say something to him but then a feeling of uneasiness came over me. How could he have gotten past me and me not see him.
The thought of him getting past me almost made me angry as I could see no possible way he could have done it without coming out of the Ocean itself. His hair was not wet though that I could clearly see, his curly brown hair which in the sunset shone red highlights blowing in the wind off to one side sitting just on top of his shoulders. His shirtless back was very pale but his shoulder muscles were clearly defined. His slender waist gave way to a glimpse of the top of black pants. He had his hand up near his face seeming to shield his eyes from the sun.
I had wished he would turn around, did he know I was there how could he not, how could he have gotten there without me seeing him ? He was so still I wondered if I was really seeing him at all or was he just a vision perhaps from the heat. The tide was coming in more, the pull of the Ocean was so strong I had to step back a bit so I would not be knocked over by it. I looked out across the Ocean and the sun was just about to set on the horizon, I smelled deep the smell of it and let my eyes wander back over to him. The uneasiness was growing in me as I began to think there was something wrong.
I heard one of the Eagles soar and scream down past me, I was frightened by it as they had never done anything like this before, I saw it to be the male. I could feel the wind from the flap of his wings as he raced past me and towards the man in the Ocean. I bent down as I was afraid that he would hit me if I did not, I closed my eyes for a second and stood straight up again and looked over and saw the man was gone. I saw the Eagle soar back up towards his nest.
I had thought he had gone down in the water to avoid the Eagle or perhaps the Eagle had even hit him. I was waiting for him to come back up out of the water. He never came back up. I waited as the minutes past I was beginning to worry whether he had been hurt or not. I waited a few more minutes and decided to go over to where he had been. I pulled up my skirt higher and began to fight against the tide and go over to the spot where he had been – he was not there.
I looked down at the water and saw nothing, I reached down into the water all the way up to my shoulders and felt nothing and I was sure that this is where he had been standing. I turned and looked all around me several times, my stomach was turning inside of me. I frantically felt around in the water again and felt nothing I peered as far as I could see and I saw nothing. I looked back to the shore thinking he was there, he was no where.
I stood there in the water with the pull of the tide, the roar of the Ocean, the sun had set and it was now too dark to see anything but just to barely make my way back to the stairs. There was nothing more I could do, I called out
“Hello” hoping to hear something at least but nothing. My stomach was still turning what if he had been hit by the Eagle and was knock unconscious he would drown. I stood there frantic turning in all directions hoping to catch just a glimpse of his pale back floating in the water. I felt around in the water again and was almost taken by the Ocean pull myself.
I had no choice but to go back to the castle it was now too dark to see anything without light. I made my way out of the water which was very hard as I was fully soaked and the dress skirts were very heavy when they were wet.
I dragged my way back up to the castle all the while hearing the Eaglets screaming for more dinner. I made my way back into my room and pulled off my soaking dress and pulled the towel off the rack of the wash basin. I toweled myself off and went to put on my bodice.
I got a lamp and filled it with oil and lit it and raced back down to the shore, I looked around frantic still hoping to see him along the shore I ran down very far and back up the spot where I had started from, I decided to go again out into the Ocean where he had been and feel around again. I could not go out as far as I had the lamp still in my hand, I reached down and felt nothing. I felt something wrap around my leg, I pulled at it and saw it was only seaweed. I stood there again ” Hello ” and heard nothing. I went back to the shore looked up and down again as far as I could see in the darkness and saw nothing. I knew I was alone.
As I made my way back up to the stairs again I could not help but keep thinking he was still out there hurt by the bird. There was no way he could have just vanished he must have been hit and fallen.
I began to then think why did the Eagle do that in the first place, I knew them, they knew me but only as close as wild animals will allow humans to be – just at a distance. The parents had never made contact before with me in any way I had only been watching them from a far with their Eaglets. Why would he do that I was in no danger from this man, he was just standing there.
Then the thought of him out there in the water again brought the sick feeling inside again, what if he was hurt, I realized that by now though he would be dead if he had been knocked out by the enormous talons that I knew the male had. There is no way he could have survived being in the water this long.
As I made my way back into my room in the castle I again took off my wet clothes and towel dried myself, as there was nothing more I could do. I looked out the window to the darkness of the sea with the sick feeling in my stomach still.
Though was it real, I had not seen him go past me at all out into the water. There was no evidence of anyone else being there, no shirt on the sand. How did he get there, he did not come from the water, his hair was dry, how could he stand so still even in the night tide. He could not have vanished in the short time it took the Eagle to get passed me to him. I heard nothing but the scream of the bird.
He was no where still when I looked for him again and again. Was he real at all. Did I only imagine him and the whole thing.
I went across over to my bed and pulled back the sheets and realized that I had taken a chill even though it was still humid and warm, it must have been the chill of the Ocean.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was he still out there, had he been there at all ?. I had been soaking wet that much I knew without a doubt the pile of wet clothes was still in the wash basin. The oil lamp had been blown out I could smell the oil still lingering in the room. I knew I went back there for a reason.
How though did I not see him pass me in the first place to get out there, why would this great beautiful Eagle swoop down on him for no apparent reason – even with a reason why would he have done that.
I tried to sleep but still the sick feeling inside of him being out there and now alone in the cold was nagging at me so, there was nothing I could do though I knew – it was dark.
Why didn’t he turn and look at me surely he knew I was there he must have seen me when he went out. What was he doing there ?
The hours ticked by on the clock the sick feeling inside was waning I was slowly drifting off to sleep but not really.
I must have fallen asleep as I dreamed of him, the same scene. This young man standing in the Ocean and a Bald Eagle swooping down and him just vanishing into what seemed to be the waves.
I awoke the next morning to the familiar screech of the Eaglets, the feeling inside had subsided. My head was hurting from the lack of a good sleep and skipping dinner. I went to the kitchens downstairs to get some coffee to try to wake myself up so I could plan for the party that was to be my birthday party this weekend. As I walked down the stairs the thought of him again almost made me lose my footing. I had to stop and catch my breath.
When I made the coffee and took the first smell of the aroma I almost forgot about him for just a moment. I could hear the Eagles best outside the kitchen window and my bedroom window. It was still rather warm in the castle, even far down in the kitchen, so I walked through the living room back out through the front door to the front outside yard, as was my usual habit.
I had picked up the newspaper that I had gotten inland the last time I went in, I took it with me and walked out the door and I again had the thought, was it real at all ?
I put the paper and coffee down onto the table and was going to walk over to look up at the nest though from down here I could see nothing but the flap of the wings of the babies over the edge of the nest. I saw both parents soaring high above as they always did in the morning. I turned again to go back to the table and get my coffee and go over to the railing and look across the Ocean at the dawn. I heard the horn of a ship and walked over to the other side to see it. As I walked I thought again – was it real. I turned and walked over to the other railing and looked over across the Ocean and dropped my coffee cup – it was him.
The sick feeling in my stomach came back and I felt light-headed and dizzy, the light was just coming the morning was grey and there was only a slight haze of fog. It was him, he was standing in the same place as last night out in the water and still no shirt on, his back was still facing me. I stared at him for a moment and grabbed out for the railing. My knees went to water and I had to hold myself up. I tried to take a deep breath but as I was he again raised his hand to his eyes to shield from the sun. I gasped, he was real it did happen.
Once I caught my breath he was still there I was going to go down the stairs and speak to him to ask him if he was alright and who he was and what he was doing here. It still took me several moments to regain myself. My throat went dry and I could barely swallow. Why was this pale young man just standing in the Ocean in the early light of the morning without a shirt, wasn’t he cold at all. He was just as last night; motionless.
When I regained myself enough to walk again I went over to the top of the stairs, I thought at first to rush down, but then the feeling of uneasiness came over me again. I started to descend slowly as I was getting more and more nervous and the feeling inside was growing again. How could this be ?
I then heard the roar of a great Sea Lion that seemed to be much to close and a call I had never hear before I looked for just a moment for the Sea Lion as I also knew he was still out in the water. I looked for just a moment and saw the Sea Lion facing his direction seeming to be calling at him. I also knew the Eagles were soaring just above my head as I could hear them screaming.
I looked back again and he was gone.
I stopped dead in my tracks and held tightly to the side rail for fear of falling. There was no way he could have gone anywhere without still being visible I had too much of a commanding view from up here. The light was coming I could feel the first rays on my face.
I sat down on the steps I had not made it all the way down yet, if i had not sat I would have fallen. I blinked my eyes and looked out again and he was still no where. I could not believe what I was seeing. The feeling of light in the head had come over me again and my stomach had taken a turn that I had to take deep breaths in order to keep control of it.
I sat for a while and when I finally got my strength together again I stood up and proceeded down the rest of the way the stairs to the shore. I looked up and down and saw nothing. I walked a little way looking for evidence of a person – nothing, no shirt, no clothes, no boat, no footprints other than my own. I rolled my head back trying to get my senses back together. What was happening to me, I knew this was real, I knew this has happened.
How could a person just vanish into the water it was impossible I knew that. There was no where he could have gone except back into the shadows of my imagination.
The Eagles and the Sea Lion why were they acting strange ? It had to be real this had to have happened. Why was there no evidence of him though anywhere ?
I decided to go walking at the beach tonight near sunset hoping it would clear enough to see the sun set, anything to try to at least get cool. I could hear the Eaglets in their nest squeaking and screaming for food as was their usual daily activity. Looking out the window I could see their parents soaring high above in the sky. I saw them both swoop down into the Ocean and pull out a fish and take it back up to the nest and land on the high rock that was in the nest.
The squealing always intensified when one of the parents brought a fish in I could see their wings all over each other. Their parents always keeping a close eye on their babies, always just within protection distance of the nest. They knew me but even of me they were weary. They seem to have been acting just a bit odd the past few months but I really thought nothing of it, just different than last year.
As the time neared sunset, the clouds started to break just above the horizon, I would be able to see the sun set. I just decided to go a bit early.
As I went down the steps I looked up and down the stretch of beach that was at the bottom and as was usual there was no one there along the beach or in the water.
I went slowly down thinking that there may have indeed been a cooler than it had been breeze. I could smell the Ocean air much stronger the further I went down. I got to the bottom and again looked up and down the coastline and saw no one looked out across the Ocean and saw no one. It was peaceful with nothing but the roar of the Ocean, the feel of the spray, down here I could not see the Eagles only see the nest and that is because I knew where it was.
I walked and felt the sand between my toes and felt the sink of sand. I went down to the water and felt the coolness of it wrap around my ankles, it was wonderful after such heat. The hiss of the surf as it pulled out back into the darkening Ocean. On the horizon I could see it was much lighter than it was where I was as it is at that time of the day, the sun was just beginning to set into the water. I walked along still feeling the Ocean wrapping around my ankles. I pulled my dress up to my knees and went out a bit further feeling the pull of the waves just gently. I stood out and stared across the Ocean with no thought just calm and finally coolness.
I turned and was startled by the sight of a young man standing in the Ocean facing the setting sun.
I knew that there had been no one when I came down and yet there he stood with his back to me. For a moment I was speechless, I had seen no one come past me so how he got there was a mystery.
He was out further than I was motionless which was I thought strange as the tide was coming in and the waves were getting stronger, I could feel it around my knees the pull of the Ocean is nothing you can easily ignore. I was going to say something to him but then a feeling of uneasiness came over me. How could he have gotten past me and me not see him.
The thought of him getting past me almost made me angry as I could see no possible way he could have done it without coming out of the Ocean itself. His hair was not wet though that I could clearly see, his curly brown hair which in the sunset shone red highlights blowing in the wind off to one side sitting just on top of his shoulders. His shirtless back was very pale but his shoulder muscles were clearly defined. His slender waist gave way to a glimpse of the top of black pants. He had his hand up near his face seeming to shield his eyes from the sun.
I had wished he would turn around, did he know I was there how could he not, how could he have gotten there without me seeing him ? He was so still I wondered if I was really seeing him at all or was he just a vision perhaps from the heat. The tide was coming in more, the pull of the Ocean was so strong I had to step back a bit so I would not be knocked over by it. I looked out across the Ocean and the sun was just about to set on the horizon, I smelled deep the smell of it and let my eyes wander back over to him. The uneasiness was growing in me as I began to think there was something wrong.
I heard one of the Eagles soar and scream down past me, I was frightened by it as they had never done anything like this before, I saw it to be the male. I could feel the wind from the flap of his wings as he raced past me and towards the man in the Ocean. I bent down as I was afraid that he would hit me if I did not, I closed my eyes for a second and stood straight up again and looked over and saw the man was gone. I saw the Eagle soar back up towards his nest.
I had thought he had gone down in the water to avoid the Eagle or perhaps the Eagle had even hit him. I was waiting for him to come back up out of the water. He never came back up. I waited as the minutes past I was beginning to worry whether he had been hurt or not. I waited a few more minutes and decided to go over to where he had been. I pulled up my skirt higher and began to fight against the tide and go over to the spot where he had been – he was not there.
I looked down at the water and saw nothing, I reached down into the water all the way up to my shoulders and felt nothing and I was sure that this is where he had been standing. I turned and looked all around me several times, my stomach was turning inside of me. I frantically felt around in the water again and felt nothing I peered as far as I could see and I saw nothing. I looked back to the shore thinking he was there, he was no where.
I stood there in the water with the pull of the tide, the roar of the Ocean, the sun had set and it was now too dark to see anything but just to barely make my way back to the stairs. There was nothing more I could do, I called out
“Hello” hoping to hear something at least but nothing. My stomach was still turning what if he had been hit by the Eagle and was knock unconscious he would drown. I stood there frantic turning in all directions hoping to catch just a glimpse of his pale back floating in the water. I felt around in the water again and was almost taken by the Ocean pull myself.
I had no choice but to go back to the castle it was now too dark to see anything without light. I made my way out of the water which was very hard as I was fully soaked and the dress skirts were very heavy when they were wet.
I dragged my way back up to the castle all the while hearing the Eaglets screaming for more dinner. I made my way back into my room and pulled off my soaking dress and pulled the towel off the rack of the wash basin. I toweled myself off and went to put on my bodice.
I got a lamp and filled it with oil and lit it and raced back down to the shore, I looked around frantic still hoping to see him along the shore I ran down very far and back up the spot where I had started from, I decided to go again out into the Ocean where he had been and feel around again. I could not go out as far as I had the lamp still in my hand, I reached down and felt nothing. I felt something wrap around my leg, I pulled at it and saw it was only seaweed. I stood there again ” Hello ” and heard nothing. I went back to the shore looked up and down again as far as I could see in the darkness and saw nothing. I knew I was alone.
As I made my way back up to the stairs again I could not help but keep thinking he was still out there hurt by the bird. There was no way he could have just vanished he must have been hit and fallen.
I began to then think why did the Eagle do that in the first place, I knew them, they knew me but only as close as wild animals will allow humans to be – just at a distance. The parents had never made contact before with me in any way I had only been watching them from a far with their Eaglets. Why would he do that I was in no danger from this man, he was just standing there.
Then the thought of him out there in the water again brought the sick feeling inside again, what if he was hurt, I realized that by now though he would be dead if he had been knocked out by the enormous talons that I knew the male had. There is no way he could have survived being in the water this long.
As I made my way back into my room in the castle I again took off my wet clothes and towel dried myself, as there was nothing more I could do. I looked out the window to the darkness of the sea with the sick feeling in my stomach still.
Though was it real, I had not seen him go past me at all out into the water. There was no evidence of anyone else being there, no shirt on the sand. How did he get there, he did not come from the water, his hair was dry, how could he stand so still even in the night tide. He could not have vanished in the short time it took the Eagle to get passed me to him. I heard nothing but the scream of the bird.
He was no where still when I looked for him again and again. Was he real at all. Did I only imagine him and the whole thing.
I went across over to my bed and pulled back the sheets and realized that I had taken a chill even though it was still humid and warm, it must have been the chill of the Ocean.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was he still out there, had he been there at all ?. I had been soaking wet that much I knew without a doubt the pile of wet clothes was still in the wash basin. The oil lamp had been blown out I could smell the oil still lingering in the room. I knew I went back there for a reason.
How though did I not see him pass me in the first place to get out there, why would this great beautiful Eagle swoop down on him for no apparent reason – even with a reason why would he have done that.
I tried to sleep but still the sick feeling inside of him being out there and now alone in the cold was nagging at me so, there was nothing I could do though I knew – it was dark.
Why didn’t he turn and look at me surely he knew I was there he must have seen me when he went out. What was he doing there ?
The hours ticked by on the clock the sick feeling inside was waning I was slowly drifting off to sleep but not really.
I must have fallen asleep as I dreamed of him, the same scene. This young man standing in the Ocean and a Bald Eagle swooping down and him just vanishing into what seemed to be the waves.
I awoke the next morning to the familiar screech of the Eaglets, the feeling inside had subsided. My head was hurting from the lack of a good sleep and skipping dinner. I went to the kitchens downstairs to get some coffee to try to wake myself up so I could plan for the party that was to be my birthday party this weekend. As I walked down the stairs the thought of him again almost made me lose my footing. I had to stop and catch my breath.
When I made the coffee and took the first smell of the aroma I almost forgot about him for just a moment. I could hear the Eagles best outside the kitchen window and my bedroom window. It was still rather warm in the castle, even far down in the kitchen, so I walked through the living room back out through the front door to the front outside yard, as was my usual habit.
I had picked up the newspaper that I had gotten inland the last time I went in, I took it with me and walked out the door and I again had the thought, was it real at all ?
I put the paper and coffee down onto the table and was going to walk over to look up at the nest though from down here I could see nothing but the flap of the wings of the babies over the edge of the nest. I saw both parents soaring high above as they always did in the morning. I turned again to go back to the table and get my coffee and go over to the railing and look across the Ocean at the dawn. I heard the horn of a ship and walked over to the other side to see it. As I walked I thought again – was it real. I turned and walked over to the other railing and looked over across the Ocean and dropped my coffee cup – it was him.
The sick feeling in my stomach came back and I felt light-headed and dizzy, the light was just coming the morning was grey and there was only a slight haze of fog. It was him, he was standing in the same place as last night out in the water and still no shirt on, his back was still facing me. I stared at him for a moment and grabbed out for the railing. My knees went to water and I had to hold myself up. I tried to take a deep breath but as I was he again raised his hand to his eyes to shield from the sun. I gasped, he was real it did happen.
Once I caught my breath he was still there I was going to go down the stairs and speak to him to ask him if he was alright and who he was and what he was doing here. It still took me several moments to regain myself. My throat went dry and I could barely swallow. Why was this pale young man just standing in the Ocean in the early light of the morning without a shirt, wasn’t he cold at all. He was just as last night; motionless.
When I regained myself enough to walk again I went over to the top of the stairs, I thought at first to rush down, but then the feeling of uneasiness came over me again. I started to descend slowly as I was getting more and more nervous and the feeling inside was growing again. How could this be ?
I then heard the roar of a great Sea Lion that seemed to be much to close and a call I had never hear before I looked for just a moment for the Sea Lion as I also knew he was still out in the water. I looked for just a moment and saw the Sea Lion facing his direction seeming to be calling at him. I also knew the Eagles were soaring just above my head as I could hear them screaming.
I looked back again and he was gone.
I stopped dead in my tracks and held tightly to the side rail for fear of falling. There was no way he could have gone anywhere without still being visible I had too much of a commanding view from up here. The light was coming I could feel the first rays on my face.
I sat down on the steps I had not made it all the way down yet, if i had not sat I would have fallen. I blinked my eyes and looked out again and he was still no where. I could not believe what I was seeing. The feeling of light in the head had come over me again and my stomach had taken a turn that I had to take deep breaths in order to keep control of it.
I sat for a while and when I finally got my strength together again I stood up and proceeded down the rest of the way the stairs to the shore. I looked up and down and saw nothing. I walked a little way looking for evidence of a person – nothing, no shirt, no clothes, no boat, no footprints other than my own. I rolled my head back trying to get my senses back together. What was happening to me, I knew this was real, I knew this has happened.
How could a person just vanish into the water it was impossible I knew that. There was no where he could have gone except back into the shadows of my imagination.
The Eagles and the Sea Lion why were they acting strange ? It had to be real this had to have happened. Why was there no evidence of him though anywhere ?