Reunion- A Flash Fiction Piece

Jonie eased back the tent flap to see where she would wake up this morning. It wasn’t easy living in a magical teleporting tent, but at least she could honestly say that each day was a fresh start. Still, she longed for home.

Leather sandals that looked about Jonie’s size lay in the sand before the tent, and thin stakes marked out a windbreak fence about ten yards away. The morning sun played with a few trees and the gentle mounds of sand, scattering shadows around.

Initially, Jonie would greet the first person she spotted and ask them about the location and date. She quickly learned this approach led people to side-step her with widened eyes or shaking heads. Now she knew to let the world come to her. Eventually, perhaps, it would return her home. She hadn’t been in the same place for more than 24 hours, despite her attempts to stay grounded. She couldn’t escape the traveling tent. Even if she wandered away– or ran off– or hid– the tent would find her, and she would wake up ensconced in its nylon mystery.

Today, she skipped over the sandals and raced to the shore. The endless ocean greeted her; its waves tickled her toes. The beach was empty, the sun a red dome glowing above the water. Jonie’s earliest memories were of the ocean: surfing with her parents, sailing with her father, fishing from its shoreline. She examined those memories carefully like the seashells at her feet.

Her last memory before the tent took her away from home was of the sailboat accident: her parents screaming into the downpour, the roar of thunder from the sudden storm seeming to split the world in two. Lightning shivered across the black sky, and an enormous boom tore her from the sailboat.

Afterward, there was darkness. Only darkness, until she emerged from the now-familiar yellow tent onto a thickly forested path hundreds of miles from her family’s North Carolina home.

Under the brilliant morning sun, Jonie opened her mouth and shouted across the water. This beach reminded her of home. How long had it been? In the water, her reflection danced, but it couldn’t hide her aging face. Years, certainly, though it was easy to lose track in a space away from time.

She took three huge leaps and dove into the ocean, her feet kicking rapidly, drawing her deeper and deeper into the water. Out, maybe a mile from shore, maybe only a hundred yards, she spotted a familiar sailboat. It looked microscopic, but she would recall that beloved boat anywhere. With powerful strokes, she began to bridge the distance, the distant sailboat growing from miniature toy-like appearance to its true 40-foot size. On board stood a woman with long, dark-brown hair and purple eyes that matched Jonie’s exactly. Smiling beside her was a broad-shouldered man with rolled-up sleeves and a thick beard.

“Mom! Dad!” Jonie called, and they answered her in turn, reaching down to scoop her from the ocean. Their embrace belied time itself, bringing her back through the years to her home, a reunion unencumbered by reality.

Behind her, in the sand, the tent fluttered in the breeze before disintegrating and slipping away into the nether.

*I wrote this story for Melissa’s Flash Fandango Challenge #131. She provided the prompt image of the tent.*