When The Ocean Cries

".....rouble..... call out......Nadia....."

"Nadia."

"...... member.......time......just call out....."

"Nadia, wake up!"

Nadia jolted up from her dream. The same one that'd haunted her for years now, one she could never remember when she woke up.

She looked towards her room door, where her sister was incessantly screaming her name. She ran a hand through her hair and felt the bedside table for her glasses.

"I'm up, Noelle; you can stop screaming now."

"Nadia, we're going to be late to school! Mason just texted and says he and Piper are by the path already. And who goes back to sleep on a school day?" Noelle whined outside her sister's door.

Nadia rolled her eyes and got out of bed. She looked down at her attire and realized she was already dressed for school. The opened Kindle on her bed told her she'd drifted off while reading. She shut her Kindle and grabbed her bag before making her way out.

"Took you long enough."

Nadia winced at the sight of pastel highlights in her sister's hair. Her sister's constant need for stimulation could be overwhelming at times.

"Did you not just dye your hair back two weeks ago?" Nadia asked.

"I got bored with it and wanted to spice it up. Now come on, I already packed up some breakfast for us to eat on the go."

Noelle grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the house, Nadia screaming at her to lock the door before she proceeded down the dirt path that led to the entrance of the forest. They'd never quite understood why they lived so remotely, but neither minded so they never asked.

Just by the entrance was a beige convertible with two occupants waiting for them.

"Took you two long enough, did you make a detour to Narnia on your way here?" Mason joked.

"Buzz off you impertinent hag." Nadia shot back.

"I miss the good old days; you know when people used to greet each other with actual greetings." Piper exhaled.

Noelle giggled and hugged Piper tightly.

"Good morning, Piper. Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning, Noelle, and yes, I slept beautifully; thanks for asking."

Mason started up the car and drove them all towards Titan High, their school. Once on school property, Noelle hopped off and waved them goodbye as she ran to catch up with her friends. Nadia sighed and slumped back in the car seat.

"Finally, good riddance to her and her bloody ugly hair," Nadia said.

"Come on now, it's not that bad. It's very, Noelle."

"Piper, stop defending her. It is atrocious, and that is that."

"The bell goes off in 5 minutes, how about we saved the discussion of Noelle's life choices for lunch, eh?" Mason interjected.

The three walked to their class together and settled into their usual seats as their homeroom teacher walked in. Ignoring his ramblings, Mason leans forward and taps on Nadia's shoulder. Nadia leans back slightly, her eyes still trained on the teacher.

"Are you ready for our calculus test fourth period?" He asked quietly.

"More or less, you know how awful I am at calculus. Is Piper?"

"The most prepared I've ever been for anything." She chimed from behind Mason.

"I think we have a free period before it, let us go over a few things together then."

Meanwhile, down the hall, Noelle was taking notes in class when she felt a chill run up her spine and a whisper pass her ear. Noelle froze up, her pen falling from her grasp and rolling onto the floor.

She was sitting at the very edge of the classroom; there was no one after her. She reached out slowly to touch the wall behind as though to confirm it had not shifted. She let out a sigh of relief when she encountered no extra space.

She picked up her pen and carried on taking notes, but she couldn't fully ignore the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood. This was not the first time she'd had such bizarre experiences.

Like Nadia and her dreams, she'd been haunted by whispers and shifting shadows for nearly 6 years now. She had tried telling their mother, but she was always brushed off. For a while, the hauntings lessened, but they never truly went away.

She eventually stopped talking about it, the hauntings returned to their usual routine when she did. You'd think that after having dealt with it for years she'd no longer be phased, but she was still as spooked by them as she'd been the first time she'd seen a shadow through her bedroom window at 10.

The whispers didn't disturb her for the rest of class and she slowly relaxed, pushing the incident to the back of her mind.

At lunch, she sat with her friends as they discussed random topics when she saw something whiz past behind her. She whipped her head in that direction and her eyes widened with horror at the sight.

Just two tables away one of the shadows that haunted her stood, its body hunched over Nadia. Her body acted before her mind fully processed it.

She practically flew from her table to Nadia's and jerked her sister away from it, gaining the attention of all the nearby students. Nadia snatched her hand back and glared at her.

"What the hell Noelle?!"

"Nadia, I know you hate my hair and you don't like us talking while we're in school, but please, I need you to come with me to the bathroom right now," Noelle said with an urgent tone in her voice.

"What could be so important that you need to tell me? And what on bloody earth are you looking at?!"

Noelle's eyes were transfixed on the shadow. It was the first time she'd seen any so clearly. It was tall and lanky; its face had no defining features, but she could tell it was looking at her. Her mind was in chaos as warring emotions filled her.

On one hand, she was terrified of what the shadow wanted with her sister; they had always been fleeting and never once approached her, let alone her family. But on the other hand, she felt relief. Relief that all she'd experienced had been real and not symptoms of a possible mental illness like her mother suggested. Relief that she'd been right.

Nadia snapped her fingers repeatedly in front of Noelle's face before she got a reaction. In the short moment she took her eyes off of the shadow, it vanished. Noelle dragged Nadia out and into the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"What has gotten into you Noelle? Are you high or something?" Nadia demanded.

"You were right, Nadia; something did happen to us when we were 10. Something mom isn't telling us."