When honeymooners Jimmy and Julia first set off for the lighthouse, they assumed it would take half an hour – maybe 45 minutes – at the most. Yet, they had been walking now for over an hour and the lighthouse seemed as far away as when they first started out. Remarkably, it had been forty-five minutes since they last saw another human being. Walking along the tip of the Cape, at sunset, was like walking on the edge of the world as far as they were concerned. And they were not only approaching the end of the world, but they were the last two people standing. They pretended that – despite centuries of existence – this slice of earth was made for them only, waiting for this very moment.
Like any couple on their honeymoon, they were filled to the brim with the idealism of new love. The future couldn’t look any brighter; till death did them part. This was the promise they made. And the promise they planned to keep. Forever.
This was Julia’s first time on Cape Cod. Jimmy, on the other hand, had vacationed there frequently with his family growing up. He finally convinced a reluctant Julia into making it their honeymoon spot after exploring other, more expensive options.
Jimmy was eager to make new memories at his favorite place on earth with his favorite person on earth. He was worried that without the childhood foundation of memory, she wouldn’t be quite as impressed as he was. But to his pleasant surprise and relief, she fell in love with the Cape immediately, just as he had all those years before.
The young couple walked hand-in-hand along the dunes, plotting their future as the amber sun slowly melted into a velvety orange sea. The sand was cold and clammy, but felt so good beneath their feet, following their long day of soaking up the rays of the sun, swimming in the sea, and disappearing into one another and into their future, desperately trying to hold onto the present. All-in-all, it was destined to be one of those days that live at the forefront of the photo album of their minds. Memory snapshots that stayed as fresh in memory as they were when they were first experienced, making other experience pale in comparison.
They dreamed of one day owning a cozy cottage on the Cape to spend their summers off from teaching. He could write and she could paint, as the waves lapped gently on the shore. They also dreamed of one day watching their children frolic on the beach as they made their art.
Meanwhile, the sun continued its gradual descent into darkness – seemingly setting even slower than usual, as though it knew it had a special audience all to its own. The moon was off to an early start, beaming high above them, a vibrant contrast to the red-orange glow of the sun, casting a surreal, almost heavenly light.
“Are you sure you want to keep going?” he asked.
“I’m sure if you’re sure,” she responded in usual solidarity.
“This might be the last chance we get.”
“Don’t say that. It’s never too late.”
“I’d like to think that,” he said, suddenly growing sad at the sobering nature of reality.
“Well, then I guess we have no choice,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. “We better keep trekking.”
So they did. As the sun continued its deliberate set on the horizon, the lighthouse still loomed, seemingly never getting closer. Now tired, they walked in silence in a way that only soul mates can.
Far out in the distance, what appeared to be two figures suddenly materialized in front of them, surrounded by what appeared to be heavenly, halo-esque light.
He pointed straight ahead. “Do you see that?”
“What?”
He pointed again.
“Don’t you see it? Looks like two people.”
She squinted and did, indeed, see two shapeless figures seemingly glowing in the distance.
“Do they look sort of odd to you?” Jimmy asked.
“You mean, like angels? Julia asked. “Yes, I see them. But it’s probably just the sun and the moon playing tricks on us.”
“Probably,” he said, but not really believing it.
“Or, maybe they are angels,” she said, half-serious.
“Could be,” Jimmy said.
As they continued heading towards the lighthouse, the figures drew closer. The angelic halo surrounding them was now gone, but something else was becoming clear. The two figures weren’t simply strangers. They were individuals that they knew all too well. What they were seeing were replicas of themselves.
“Wait a minute ... is that ...”
“Us.”
“I think so.”
They both became hushed, as they continued approaching their alternate selves until they stood face-to-face, standing in stunned silence. They noticed that their alternate selves looked slightly older and worn and it seemed as though they were being pulled together like powerful magnets. Surely, it was a dream. There was no other rational explanation.
“I forgot how young I once looked,” Jimmy’s alternate self said, breaking the awkward silence, but not the confusion.
“Can you explain what’s happening?” Jimmy asked his alternate self, who – aside from looking much older – appeared much less confused. It was as though the alternate Jimmy and Julia were expecting this encounter.
“Tomorrow, in our world – your future world – everything is final. We will be going our separate ways. We were given the privilege to come back and inform you. So you can avoid everything we did wrong. We don’t have much time.”
“I don’t understand,” Julia asked.
“We were once where you are now,” other Julia stated. “In this exact moment. In this exact space. At this same sunset. But now, we are as far from this moment as we could possibly go. Tomorrow, everything becomes final.”
“It’s too late for us,” other Julia said. “But it’s not too late for you. You can avoid this. You can avoid everything”
“Avoid what?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m afraid that’s all we can tell you,” other Julia said.
“But we can assure you that you’ll know when the time comes,” other Julia said. “And when it does, remember this moment. Please, whatever you do, remember this moment. So you don’t make the same mistake we did.”
“Not for our sake. But for yours,” other Julia said. “This very moment.”
Jimmy and Julia nodded in agreement then turned to one another, then back at their alternate selves. But they were now gone. All that remained were their footprints in the cold, clammy sand.
Alone once again, the couple looked at each another in an equal mix of disbelief and awe.
“Is this a dream? she asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“How could it not be?”
“Well, if it is, I guess there’s no way to know until we wake up. And if it is a dream, then whose dream is it?”
Jimmy got no answer in return. For a moment, he grew worried that his Julia was gone, too.
“We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”
‘Of course we are,” Jimmy assured her.
“It’s getting dark,” Julia said.
They looked out into the sea, in the sun’s waning moments, in search of their visible and invisible future. The glow around the sun resembled the glow of their other selves.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said. Jimmy nodded in agreement.
They embraced and kissed, and then made otherworldly love at the foot of the dunes as the sun went down on what they would forever regard as the most memorable experience of their lives. It was not only a moment they would remember, as the promised, but a moment they would return to every day for the rest of their lives.
Afterward, they held each other in search of forever, while looking out into a forever sea, shimmering by the light of a cold, indifferent forever moon before heading back to civilization.
They vowed to make it to the lighthouse on their next trip. But by then, it would be too late. As these things so often were.
