It was the vastness I missed, all those years away. The forever extending expanse of water that cools my head and soothes my heart. Despite a slither of land breaking the line separating the gentle waves from the clouds, I always believed the tides went on forever. Maybe I couldn’t see that far ahead when I was young, maybe it was among the many fantasies I composed for myself.

The sound of the water lapping against the wood transported me back to days long lost as I wandered down the pier, one hand clutching my big hat and the other pulling my shawl closer to my chest. The breeze softly tugging at me as if it wanted to slowly pull the feeble shreds of me away into the sky as retribution for what I knew.

I closed my eyes, stopping just short of the piers edge, I was surrounded by pools of light, molten gold that formed puddles across the wooden beams while the sky cascaded red hot fire; red, yellow, orange burning bright into ashen purple before gently settling upon the vast aqua.

Behind my eyes, I saw only flickering residue of the epic portrait before me. Instead of burning light, what arose instead was dancing demons, faces of evil that mocked me. Red horns and purple beasts pranced across my vision, and as they danced they set off flashes of fireworks that sent me it’s a spell of dizziness. The burning flames had travelled behind my eyes, and the burning sent tears welling till my eyes snapped open.

All was still. I was alone. Looking over my shoulder, I peered back at the house. It was in fact a mansion, sporadic specs of light still on in certain rooms. I imagined them sat together, the stunned silence still ringing around every crevice.

Ivy tumbled down the rich red brick, smothering the white accents leaving only the windows free to throw their light like stones into the water below.

The pier itself was at the bottom of a winding pathway that took one from a great double door at the rear of the house down to the water. Weaving and meandering past trees that bore no fruit but protruded from a quaint selection of flowers; Hydrangeas, Peonies, Rose hedges, and Hollyhock, all unsuitable for this warmer climate but all reminiscent of a classic English garden despite the distance from even the continent. All reminiscent of the status that brought us all the wealth in the the world…that bought us the pier. That they thought would buy my silence.

I reached into my pocket and retrieved a letter, handwritten and in a cursive font. The stationary itself was official - stamped with the header of the Governor’s office.

My eyes fell onto the words now scorched into my mind, I feared I’d never stop seeing them resurface. One word in particular made me pause. One word: Annihilate.

The wells of tears burst their dam, I’d found what I shouldn’t have and I now knew the weight of the operation. My grandfather, the governor of the island, agreeing to allow the government to launch arms from here, from this paradise, to annihilate a foreign enemy.

The wood beneath me creaked as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Rubbing away tears I tried to breath, I had to breath, and comprehend what I knew but couldn’t stop.

Another creak arose behind me. A cold wave washed down my neck. I turned with the ocean breeze, not flimsy like the carnations above, not malleable like the rippling expanse. The tide won’t move me. My father won’t hurt me.

His eyes bore into mine, the wetness of my tears growing cold around my lashes. He held a gun that waved with his eyes, usually set with concrete but now swaying with unease - maybe even horror at himself.

A moment became an eternity, I was a child again, playing in the light before the never ending tides, dancing with infinity before I even knew what that meant.

I didn’t look at the gun again, I didn’t look at my father, or the house, or the past. I didn’t even know if it was pointed at me, in that moment I saw only light ricocheting, bouncing off the water. I was trapped in a mirrorball of ember balls of fire.

I looked up. There it was, shooting across the bruised purple sky, far above the light. Bang. A bomb. Annihilation.