Annaka

was already sitting out front with Taz.
“Look at you, Anna!” she said as I pulled up. “This yours?”
“It is now.” I got out to pet Taz. “We always used to joke, y’know? He called me the co-pilot, and said one day I’d be the captain of this ship.” I put a hand on the hood of the truck. “God, we had some great memories riding around in this thing.”
“Keep them close.” Tia smiled. “So, what did you wanna talk about?”
Right. There was no way to tell Tia about what had happened the night before without her thinking I was out of my mind. After all, the real reason I drove to Tia’s was to get everything off of my mind.
“It was nothing.”
Tia narrowed her eyes. “Nothing, huh?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just didn’t want to be alone. Maybe I needed some puppy time.” I hugged Taz and he licked my face.
“Well, we could all go for a ride. You could drive this time instead of me being your chauffeur.”
“You know I think more of you than that.”
“Says the daughter of the one and only Jayla Brooks,” Tia said with a laugh.
“Oh, stop that,” I said as I climbed in the driver’s seat. “You guys coming or what?”
Tia, Taz, and I all fit in the front of the truck and we took off. There was some traffic, but nothing like back in Halifax. Here everyone seemed comfortable and relaxed; back in Halifax everyone was always in such a rush and traffic downtown gave me anxiety attacks. It felt nice being on an open road under a clear sky. It was soothing, and that’s exactly what I needed to smooth down my rocky thoughts. I never felt present back in Halifax, but coming back to Yarmouth was forcing me to live in the moment instead of waiting for one.
“Hey, remember back when we used to play here?” Tia asked as we drove by the waterfront. “Dad would always freak out when we got too close to the edge.”
“Yes.” I laughed. “I remember how he always looked prepared to jump in. Did you wanna head to the lighthouse?”
“Heck yeah. I haven’t been there in a while.”
“You? I haven’t been there in years.”
Tia grinned. “More reason to go.”
I switched onto the main road and we made our way out of town. We drove for a while and admired some of the homes along the way—a bit more upper class and pretentious than the ones in town.
“I go to school with someone who lives out here,” Tia brought up. “She had a party out here once. A bunch of the folks who went got too drunk and had to walk back to town that night. It was a disaster.”
“I can imagine,” I replied. “Beautiful scenery, but it looks like this road stretches forever.”
Taz was curled up on Tia’s lap and I focused on the road. I didn’t even need directions; it was all muscle memory for me.
I couldn’t contain my smile when we rolled up to the lighthouse. Just like the night before, it felt good to be back. Taz stood up in the front seat and began barking.
“Woah, calm down, big guy.” Tia petted him and opened the door. Taz darted out and made his way straight to the water.
“Figures,” she said. “Lets go to the top!”
Tia grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the path. I didn’t know what had happened the night before. Was it time travel? I didn’t understand how it worked, but I knew I had to be there.
“You look ridiculous right now.” Tia pointed out the smile plastered on my face.
I didn’t care. The lighthouse was beautiful. The sky was grey, unlike the pink from my memory, but it still felt great. No buildings, no loud cars, no shitty neighbours—just me, a friend, and a lot of open space. We could see Taz at the bottom of the hill sniffing other dogs’ butts and chasing birds, barking happily.
“My dog is the biggest dork,” Tia said with a laugh.
“He has personality, and that’s all that matters.”
“What did you really wanna talk about?” Tia cut into my thoughts.
I hesitated. I couldn’t just say, Hey, Tia. Last night I ran into my imaginary friend and he brought me back to the place where we’re sitting now, only it was ten years ago. To be fair, I had tried telling her about Clay when we were kids, but she didn’t believe he was actually real.
“C’mon,” she pressed. “It’s gotta be something. I’ll pry it out of you.”
I knew she could. But that didn’t mean I would let her.
“I don’t know. It’s just weird being back here after being away for so long…everything I knew here is gone. I actually had a dream I was here at Cape Forchu last night.”
“Oh, yeah? Is that why you wanted to come here?”
“Yeah, I guess. But it wasn’t like other dreams. It felt so real.”
“Was it, like, a lucid dream?”
I didn’t know how to explain something I didn’t understand, and I knew if I told Tia the truth it would sound ridiculous. So I just shrugged.
“I don’t know. Everything is just weird. It’s home, but everything is different, y’know?”
Tia nodded and looked out at the ocean again. “That is a rough place to come back to, and you have a lot going on. I guess it makes sense to dream about it. What else would you really be thinking about?”
She had a point, but it wasn’t the point I was trying to make.
“You said your dad was still here,” she continued. “Have you been thinking about him more?”
That question threw me off guard. I suppose it was an easier segue then speaking about an imaginary friend.
“Yeah…I have been thinking about him,” I said in a low voice.
“This town is small.”
“It is. I know. Mom never speaks about him.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“And I have mine for wanting to know.”
“Fair point.” Tia shrugged.
I didn’t even know what he looked like. I wondered if I had his