Miko Beach

        Callum sat on the stone wall, about 40 feet from the ocean. The sun was setting. He loved living by the beach, but more specifically, he loved living by this beach. This beach was almost perfect in so many ways. For one, few people came here, so he was often alone on his sunset viewings. It was also a very clean, quality beach, with naturally white sand and clear blue water. The thing was, nobody came to clean this beach, so it was an anomaly for it to be so pristine. In fact, it was almost otherwordly, because logically it shouldn't be possible on this planet for a beach to look this beautiful without heavy upkeep. But Callum liked that part of his beach, the mystery of it, so it never really seemed abnormal.

      The beach was named Miko Beach, for reasons unknown. And on this particular day, it was a fairly typical sunset. There were no other people within Callum's line of site, but that wasn't unusual. His house was about half a mile from the beach, so it was easy for him to just bike over. While there were neighbors, this part of California was sparsely populated, so there was at least a mile separating Callum and his family from the other residents of this area. 

        Callum's best friend's name was Cynthia. They had been going to school together since kingergarten and had always gotten along to the greatest extent two people can. As in, they were the kind of friends who communicated rather than argued, who could visit each other's houses unannounced, could eat each other's food without asking, and could tell each other absolutely anything without fear of facing judgement. As in, people always thought of them as a pair, and they dragged each other into trying new things, and they biked together at least twice a week. As in, they were a package deal.

         As Callum sat watching the water lap peacefully onto the shore, he suddenly felt unexpectedly lonely. It was such a beautiful day, what with the golden sunshine and the seagulls flying overhead in a clear blue sky, that he felt he needed someone to witness it with him. He pulled out his cell phone from the pocket of his khakis and dialed Cynthia. She picked up after 4 rings and said she could bike over in 15 minutes. 

        As usual, she was right on time. She had two braids in her hair and was wearing a white tank top and pale blue shorts. She sauntered over to the ledge Callum was sitting on and plopped down next to him. She didn't say anything; Cynthia knew Callum well enough to understand that that wasn't why he called her here. For the next half hour, they both just sat and watched the sunset, quietly enjoying each other's presence.

        And then for the half hour after that, they continued watching the sun set. For whatever reason, it seemed like the sun was still in the exact same position. So for the next half hour, they continued watching, and it became obvious; the sun literally was not moving. At this point they were both confused. Callum pulled out his phone and searched up if there were meant to be any strange astronomical happenings on this evening of September 15, 2036. There weren't. And even if there were, he was pretty convinced that the sun was never supposed to just... not move.

        "Lets go."  he said quietly.

        Cynthia nodded and stood up. Both of them were spooked, but didn't say anything as they treaded throught the sand toward their bikes, which were parked next to each other. But as they approahced, something in the environment changed. It suddeny went from being pleasantly warm to being cold. Not, not cold. Freezing. Callum felt like his interior was frozen. And his stomach suddenly felt weightless, like he was at a dive secion on a rollercoaster. He turned to see if Cynthia was okay and found her looking back at him, mouth open, unmoving.

        Callum tried to go to her but couldn't. It felt like he was stuck in a thick wall of mud. His head began to pound. His body was growing weak and he stopped resisting. Suddenly, he fell backwards into the sand. He was shaking violently, and started coughing up blood. He stared in front of him and felt a sense of foreboding. Next to him, Cynthia was wrething onto the rocks. He half-crawled, half-scooted over to where she was, and they both collapsed back onto the sand, breathing heavily.

        "What... what just happened?" Callum spluttered out after a few minutes.

        "That was the worst feeling I've ever experiened in my life," Cynthia said, crying quietly.

        Callum managed to give her a hug before grimly saying,

        "It's okay. We'll rest now, and then try again in the morning."

        They both looked back at the ocean and the setting sun, which had yet to change position. 

        "Callum I - I'm not sure morning is happening any time soon," Cynthia whispered.

          "Me neither."

          The two of them were silent after that, and eventually fell asleep. When Callum awoke, he turned to see Cynthia sitting up beside him, holding her knees to her chest and staring off at their bikes, which were still only about 15 feet away but seemed much, much further. He couldn't tell how long he had been sleeping, since the sun remained in its seemingly perpetual state of setting. Callum was astounded at how this scene, which he had found to be so beautiful just hours earlier, now seemed so foreboding.

        For some time, they just sat there, cross legged, staring at their bikes, which seemed to be mocking them from the grass. Suddenly, Cynthia turned to face him. 

        "Callum, listen. I'm going to try again. Try going through the barrier, I mean. If something happens, I need you to be there for me."

        Callum was uneasy with this idea, but knowing Cynthia, she wasn't going to let him argue. So he nodded and stood up, positioning himself behind her. She took a deep, steady breath, and squared her shoulders. The place where the "barrier" had first affected him was about 4 yards away. Callum watched nervously as Cynthia took one tentative step after another, after another, after another.

        She took one more step, and suddenly her face contorted in pain. She started shaking violently, fear in her eyes. Callum lunged forawrd to pull her back, but as soon as his hand made contact, he felt a flash of pain like an electric shock. He fell backwards, and watched, helplessly, and Cynthia continued to sob and writhe in agony. She turned to face him, and managed to reach out a hand, and then managed to make a step... and suddenly she was free.

        She collapsed on her knees, gasping for breath. Callum ran to her side and pulled her to his chest, and they both sat there, breathing heavily and crying.

        "Callum, I... I think we're stuck here. Stuck on Miko Beach."