Page 70 of The Last Sunrise

Tucking ourselves away into the inside of a rock that looks like a tiny cave, the perfect size for two people, we sit down on the sand, both out of exhaustion and the need to be close to each other. It’s shallow enough that it doesn’t freak me out.

“There’s no monsters inside.” Julián scoots closer to me, draping his arm around my shoulder.

“How do you do that?”

His head tilts. “Do what?”

“Always know exactly what I’m thinking. Even about monsters in a cave.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, he pulls me closer. “I told you, I’m observant. Especially so when it comes to work or something I adore. Which, funny enough, is only you these days.”

“Same here. I haven’t found myself able to adore something for a long time.” A yawn escapes my mouth, and I stretch my arms above my head. The blanket he spread out beneath us is so comfortable, inviting me to lie down, to snuggle closer.

“Your place or mine?” he asks, noting how tired I am. From the long day in the sun, from the full-body crying.

“Hmm, could we sleep here?”

Julián looks around. “Are you asking about comfort or safety?”

“Both?”

“Safety, yes. Comfort… it’s a far cry from your suite bed. Even my shit mattress is softer than the sand.”

“I don’t mind. Do you?”

A proud grin covers his handsome face. “I’ve slept on the sand more times than I can count. Our bodies weren’t originally made to sleep on fluffy mattresses, you know. As a society we’ve become so disconnected from nature that we pay for the experience. I heard a tourist from France asking Amara where he can buy something called a grounding mat. When I looked it up online, it was the artificial version of lying in the damn grass! I couldn’t believe it. Same with these cold-plunge bullshit wellness scams. Yeah, it’s good for our bodies to experience shock and it can help with recovery, but have these people never heard of jumping in a lake or cold sea? Consumerism is the doom of humanity, truly.” He rubs at his temples.

“Sorry, it just drives me mad how far from nature we’ve gotten. Sitting in little boxes the entire day with screen light on our faces, going to work before the sun is up, coming home after it’s down. No family meals and if there are, everything comes from a box. No one cares about the quality of our natural water because they’d rather just spend a few euros and drink it out of plastic. Amara spent like hundreds of euros on a red light for her face, when red light comes from our natural sunrise and sunset.” He shakes his head. “I was born in the wrong time. The modern world makes me crazy sometimes.”

“I get it,” I tell him, meaning it. He’s so right and he would have an absolute heart attack if he got wind of the wellnessindustry in the States. I decide to wait until another time to tell him some of the craziest things I’ve seen and heard even my mother do and buy.

“So, are you really okay to crash here?”

I nod at his uncertainty.

“If you’re uncomfortable or can’t sleep, we’ll go. Just say the word. Deal?”

“Deal.” I smile and scoot my body against his. I’ve never felt more comfortable, safe, and at home than in his arms.

I wake up to the sound of the waves crashing. What a perfect alarm clock. The sky has just started to turn orange, preparing for the rising sun. Julián is asleep behind me, his arm draped over my body, hugging my waist. I try to wriggle out without waking him, but his eyes softly open.

“Everything okay?” he asks in a raspy, sleepy voice.

I nod. “I just wanted to see the sunrise.”

He sits up, situating his body behind me so I can lean my back against his chest. “You know, I’ve never watched a sunrise,” I tell him.

“Ever?”

Shaking my head, I turn to face him. “On top of my epilepsy medication, I usually have to take sleeping pills, too, and they knock me out and keep me out, so I’ve never been awake early enough.”

“Thank you for saving your first sunrise for me.” Julián’s mouth meets mine and it’s a gentle touch that whispers against me.

“You can have all my firsts and my lasts,” I promise him.

“Is that a promise? I’ll do anything and everything to make sure we have many, many sunrises together, deal?”

I nod. “Deal. And I’ll do anything to stay here with you and this breathtaking sunrise.”

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