Monster Belt - Chapter 18

Monster Belt - Chapter 18 .....'Come on, swimming first,' he dragged her, splashing, into the water, 'you can put me through my climbing paces later.' 'Are you nuts?' she pulled her hand away. 'It's best at night,' he glanced over his shoulder at her, 'no-one about, so no distractions.' 'I can enjoy the water perfectly well in daytime, thank you, better in fact because I'm not worried about what I can't see swimming about out there,' she held back. She knew she made sense. Darkness hanging over and below held all sorts of shapes and movement that she didn't want to encounter. 'It's too cold,' she stepped backwards, 'Let's go, we can set off early tomorrow if we go to bed now.' That sounded pathetic. It never worked speaking when caught off guard and there he stood, his back to her, refusing to budge. She'd never been in the sea at night before. She'd paddled in the shallows, walking barefoot along a shoreline with lights of a promenade shimmering like jewels, but never been lifted off her feet,drifting into free fall. It somehow felt enticing, floating in darkness, stars sparkling down,where she'd find she belonged to something bigger, the way she did lying on moorland grass listening to grasshoppers and starlings on a summer's day. Here, stretched under the sky, fear might similarly dissipate.