The next morning felt normal enough.
Too normal, actually — that suspicious kind of normal where even birds sound like they're trying to act natural.
Dioka woke up first again, brushing back his hair and replaying yesterday's whisper in his head. He didn't tell Guakulia everything — not the part where it didn't feel random.
He didn't want to look paranoid.
Guakulia stumbled out of bed like a man who just fought the entire dream realm bare-handed.
"That river whisper thing is still living rent-free in your head," he muttered, half-asleep.
Dioka shrugged. "You don't forget something that felt like someone breathed inside your skull."
"…Bro don't say it like that," Guakulia said, visibly creeped out. "Use nicer words."
But behind the jokes, Guakulia was watching him. Quietly.
He felt something too yesterday — not a whisper, but that sudden cold air that didn't match the season.
Neither of them said it out loud, but both boys were carrying the same invisible weight now.
---
THE PATH BY THE NORTH CLIFF
After breakfast, they headed toward the cliffs. It was tradition — every week they walked the north path to watch the ocean from the highest point. Dioka liked the peace; Guakulia liked pretending he could jump and land dramatically (he absolutely could not).
The path was quiet today.
Wind slow, sea muted.
Too muted.
Guakulia kicked a pebble down the slope. "Bro, why's the ocean so calm? Did it run out of waves?"
"It doesn't look normal," Dioka murmured.
Normally the sea fought the cliffs like they owed it money.
Today?
It was… still.
Not calm.
Still.
Like it was listening.
Then, it happened.
---
A FLASH OF SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE
Guakulia paused mid-step. His eyes widened slightly — not fear, more like confusion dipped in disbelief.
"Yo… Dioka… am I tripping or—"
He pointed toward the horizon.
Far out on the water, just for a split second, something shimmered.
Not a boat.
Not sunlight.
More like…
A silhouette.
But not human.
Not shaped like anything familiar.
Just a tall, thin form standing on the ocean like it wasn't water at all.
And then—
Gone.
Not vanished dramatically.
Just… erased. Like it was never there in the first place.
Dioka felt his chest tighten. "You saw it too?"
Guakulia nodded slowly, trying to play it cool but failing miserably. "Bro, what did we just see? A sea ghost?"
"Ghosts don't reflect light like that."
"…So a bougie ghost?"
"Guakulia."
"Okay okay, I'm serious. That was— bro, that was something."
Both boys moved closer to the cliff edge without thinking, eyes locked on the horizon like the figure might appear again.
It didn't.
But the sea?
It suddenly breathed.
A single massive exhale of wind pushing through the cliffs — not violent, just heavy, like the world itself shifted its weight.
Dioka shivered. "Why does it feel like everything's… watching?"
Guakulia swallowed. "Because it is."
---
THE WORLD RETURNS TO NORMAL LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED
Two seconds later, the waves returned.
Birds chirped again.
The wind softened.
The ocean looked exactly how it should: wild and loud and full of noise.
Dioka exhaled shakily. "We're not imagining this."
"Nope," Guakulia said. "And honestly? I kinda wish we were. Because what was that silhouette standing on WATER? Bro, that's disrespectful."
But Dioka wasn't laughing.
He felt something heavy in his chest — not fear, but recognition.
Like the whisper yesterday and the silhouette today were connected.
Two puzzle pieces.
Two small taps from something ancient waking up.
Something that knew their names before they knew its existence.
And it was only the beginning.