Endless Summer

Dive!

Marianna arrives at the viewing platform on the cliffs, alone, as time ticks away. The sea wind howls in Marianna's ears, herald of impending disaster. "How can I awaken that power again?"

"Don't think about running away, face up to it instead." The words of the strange girl echoed in her mind.

"'Face up to it'... face up to the Anomaly?" Marianna gazes at the distant sea, from where the cube and the waves have yet to rise. She looks down at the sea below her. "How could I forget? Isn't this place a natural diving platform?" Marianna takes a deep breath, and raises her arms above her head. "Three... two... one... Dive!"

As the sun begins to rise, she hurls herself fearlessly from the cliff. No different from the countless dives she's taken from the platform. As she descends, the cube slowly rises, and the gigantic wave approaches. "So salty... so dark... but it feels so comfortable..." She reaches her hand out. "Is this the power the Anomaly has granted me? I've got it now, that feeling... this time I can do it!"

She fights to master the changes in her body, to harness the power she has gained through her transformation. And then, at last, a massive conch shell emerges from the water. Translucent, the shell grows out from the cliff and covers the town. "I did it! Mom, I did it!" Marianna walks onto the street, happy; time seems to have stopped in the town... the smile on Marianna's face freezes. "How could this be...?" All that remains of the once warm town is a field of ruins, devoid of any living beings beside Marianna herself. "Too late, it's still too late... Next time, I'll make it next time." Marianna wanders through the empty ruins, mumbling to herself. "If time could stand still, I would have hoped it would have been in our happiest moments... I'd like to give mom a hug as the fireworks rise from the sea... Not like this."

Marianna wraps her arms around herself, embracing the void. The white conch vanishes as she hugs the void.

It's June 9th, 7 a.m.