the dark tower

In a dream, we climbed up and down the stairs of a dark tower. There were no lights, or floors, no windows, only landings and the endless red railing. You held the flashlight. Up and down we went, looking for the children. Up and down, up and down. But we didn’t find them. Thank god.

deep ones

I went swimming at the beach for the first time today since I got here. We swam at Ko Olina, which was well kept, quiet and uncrowded, but I think my dreams of becoming a fish are coming to an end, as ocean water really irritates my skin. I still love swimming though, but I think I’ll start keeping to pools, instead, or limiting my beach swimming to ‘swimming but keeping your head above the water at all times’.

What my brother likes to do when we swim at the beach is to go as far out as he can (without going past the barrier). I always try to get out to where he is, but I’ve always had this fear of stepping on something (like rocks or coral) or something just touching my feet while I’m out in the deep areas where I can’t see what’s beneath me. Earlier, I swam out to where he was, which wasn’t too far, but the slope was steep and the water quickly became deep.  When I was catching up to him, I frequently dunked my head underwater to check what was beneath me. At one point, right when I was near where he was, I started seeing black spots under the water, and a jolt of fear spread through me and I decided to swim back and take a shower. It was probably just a trick of the light, but it still scared me out of the water.