Juan was standing on the steps leading to the ocean beach. Their rough stones were warming up his bare feet, spreading a pleasant sensation all the way up his body. The orange circle of sun was slowly getting down, preparing to melt on the water surface in a few moments once its bottom edge would touch the distant line of the horizon.

It was a long day.

Juan slowly turned his head to the left, then to the right, observing the beach, the ocean and the sun. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh air. A light breeze touched his face, tousled his hair, then quietly disappeared somewhere behind him.

He looked down at the stone step under his feet and cautiously touched the next one with his toe, like checking if it was real. The same pleasant warmth filled him up, and he began descending to the beach.

The last step was covered with sand. The ocean breeze was blowing it away, yet the old stone’s grooves still kept its yellow particles. They tickled the soles of Juan’s feet as he walked further towards the ocean. The feeling of absolute calmness enveloped him, making him forget all the day’s hustle, unresolved problems, unanswered questions and unaddressed issues.

It was a long day.

Once the water surface was about a couple of steps away, Juan stopped and looked around. The sun was still there, hanging in the air, a bright blurry giant preparing to go to sleep. The waves were lazily rolling back and forth, leaking the sand and washing some of it away back into the ocean.

Juan sighed, sounding half-sad, half-relieved at the same time, like someone who had just realized that everything had already been done and there was nothing left to do, regardless of whether that was good or bad. He rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, getting used to the sunset light and ocean cool salty breeze, and slowly lowered himself on the sand.

Listening to the waves' reassuring whisper, he closed his eyes and froze, not willing to disturb the quiet serenity around him.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” a voice came from behind Juan.

He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head, searching for the person who asked that question.

“I’m here.” Juan looked to the other side, finally seeing him. “Yeah, felt like the sound came from the left.” The stranger smiled, somewhat awkwardly. “Probably because of the wind.”

“Could be that,” Juan responded slowly, then glanced at all the vast space of the beach. “You want to sit… here?” involuntarily he sounded a bit surprised.

“Yeah, I kinda do.” The stranger kept having that sorry-type of smile. “Just thought we could both use some company.”

Juan raised his eyes at him, shrugged and nodded towards the ground: “Sure, why not.”

“Thanks.” Producing some satisfactory grunting, the stranger sat nearby. “I’m Chao by the way. And hello to you, sir,” he said merrily.

“Hi, Chao. I’m Juan.” He closed his eyes again and turned his face to the ocean, enjoying the warm gentle touches of its breeze.

“Long day, huh?” Chao fidgeted for a while, making himself a comfortable deepening in the sand.

“It was.”

They remained silent for some time, listening to the waves and not thinking about anything.

“Quite the place this is, don’t you think?” Chao stretched out his legs and leaned back on his elbows. “A peaceful island of quietness after all the day's hustle and bustle.”

“Yep, feels right like a spot to stay forever.” With his eyes still closed, Juan pressed his forehead against the knees he was hugging. “Nowhere to run, no time to lose, literally.”

“You sound like someone who’s got too much on his plate.” Chao chuckled. “Busy man, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t we all?” Juan lazily replied.

“We are, we are…” There was some uncertainty in Chao’s voice and he quickly changed the subject: “Well, since we are having this conversation, mind telling me how was that long day of yours? Seems like we both are no longer racing against time.”

“I don’t mind… I guess.” Talking to strangers wasn’t something Juan would normally do, but the calm sleepy atmosphere of the beach made him no longer care about such things. “Where do I start?” He pursed his lips, thinking. “After about an hour of restless sleep I woke up, realizing I had a presentation to prepare. New company’s direction and all that... Some stupid speech to get things done and be the best enterprise out there.” He waved his hand in the air like getting rid of an annoying fly. “And other garbage of that sort, the one you have to spit out before laying people off and cutting the budgets.”

“That bad?” Chao raised an eyebrow.

“Not bad, not good, just the way things are. Wasn’t my first duel with the staff. Part of the profession. Can’t say it gets easier over time though. Everyone wants to be a manager, not everyone thinks about managing that kind of situation. But you have to. Sometimes later, oftentimes sooner. It’s not about sitting in your shiny separate office, sipping coffee and having nice productive discussions over dinner. It’s about, well… managing. And you either manage or you don’t.”

“Did you manage?”

Juan felt a slight mockery in the question and chuckled. “That depends on the side of the barricade you’re currently occupying.”

“Sorry.” Chao raised his hands peacefully. “Just came out that way, meant no offense.”

“I take none. It’s fine.” Juan waved him off. “What’s done is done, especially now.”

“Guess so. Hope your day got better after that.”

“Hah,” Juan couldn’t hold his laugh. “Right after that I had to talk to my wife’s lawyer.” He touched the ring on his finger. “Divorce process and all the property and money questions, you know. Who gets what and how much. To spice things up, my wife happened to come as well which I hadn’t expected. Not today. Long story short, after a couple of hours of screaming, crying and cursing, the doors got slammed, and the lawyer was either dumb or kind enough to say that it had been a very productive meeting.”

“Kids?” Chao started thoughtfully drawing something on the sand with his toe.

“Four.”

“Oh my…”

“Exactly.”

“So, how you were going…”

“Same way I was going to deal with the layoffs. Pay for it.” Juan sighed heavily and got silent for a moment. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids, but so does my wife. If there’s one thing I can be sure of, it’s that she’d never let me have them. Guess what? Once I told her I want to resolve this peacefully and kids should stay with her, she punched me in the face. Not slapped, punched. And I’m telling you, that madam can deliver a blow.”

“Frankly, I’d expect a reaction like that.” Chao didn’t sound surprised at all. “I mean, you could’ve tried, I don’t know, winning her back, fixing whatever had happened between the two of you—”

“Have you ever been married?” Juan interrupted him in a tired voice. “Or, at least, in a long-time relationship? If you don't mind my asking.”

“Well…” Chao kept polishing his drawing on the sand, avoiding Juan’s gaze.

“Thought so. You see, sometimes you do so many stupid things that fixing and winning back becomes no longer an option. At first it’s some little trifles that seem to be of no importance and you just let them be. You forget about them, but they never forget about you. They slowly grow, one over the other, turning into a terrible pile above your head that’s being held by a thinning straw of your relations. One day that straw finally breaks and the avalanche of trouble goes all the way down.” Juan produced another sigh. “But, in case you’re wondering, I tried. First to fix the unfixable, then to win back the unwinnable. Can’t use this as an excuse, probably should have tried better, but life usually doesn’t offer you a checkpoint to roll back to and start over. Let’s just say, pretending to be a happy couple didn’t really work out for us.” He got quiet and stared at the ocean.

“Don’t want to push you, but I sense your perfect day didn’t end with that?” Chao grinned. “There should be a final chord to such a spectacular chain of events.”

“There was…” Juan puffed out his cheeks. “Next I got a call from my brother.”

“There’s always a brother…”

“Not sure about always, but the one I have has a supernatural ability to screw things up a little bit more when you already think that everything has been pretty much screwed up completely. This time he held some grudge against a police officer, meaning I had to bail out his sorry and heavily beaten ass. I’ll skip the precinct details. Too much boring paperwork and his drunken bellowing. So, after that, on the road home, he gently poured the contents of his stomach all over my car, screamed the whole range of all possible inappropriate words about my neighbor’s mother, fell off the stairs and finally passed out in the basement. On top of that, bear in mind, I haven't been divorced yet, so my wife and kids were watching the whole show.”

“Looks like fun.” Chao ran his hand over the sand in front of him, erasing his drawing.

“Yeah, fun all the way.”

The waves became slower, quieter, as if they were also listening to the story, whispering something from time to time, like a group of friends gossiping about each other.

After a while, Juan raised his head and asked: “So, Chao, how was your day?”

A long moment of silence hung between the two of them. Chao lowered his head between his arms placed on his knees. When, hearing no reply, Juan was about to change the subject, he finally muttered: “Cancer.”

“Shit.”

“Yep,” Chao chuckled bitterly.

“Which one?”

“Does it matter? Every one of them bastards is bad enough.”

“Guess you’re right. Some are curable though…”

“Well, that one is among those that are beyond any cure.” Chao shrugged, slightly irritated. “Had a chat with my doctor this morning only to know the estimated amount of time I’ve got.”

“Just like that?” Juan’s brows went up.

“I’m sparing you the small talk we had before he finally went to the juice of it. The whole thing had started months ago. A week earlier he told me that ‘he sees a positive trend’. But this trend seemed to have other plans a few days later. I was just tired of all the jabbering and sweetening the pill and asked how long. Then I walked out of the hospital and, upon some thoughtless roaming through the streets, ended up being here.”

“How long did he tell you you have?”

“Not enough,” Chao snorted and turned away. “Plus, I don’t think that matters anymore.”

Juan looked around and sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

They stopped talking and stayed silent, each one consumed by his own thoughts.

After some time Chao finally asked quietly: “How did you die?”

Juan dug out a little shell from the sand, threw it into the water, then slowly responded: “Something clicked in the head.” He shrugged indifferently. “No idea, a stroke or some vein burst in the brain. I’m no expert at such things, it just happened, so I didn’t really have the time to check. Was going up the stairs after placing my sleeping brother on the couch in the basement, then everything got dark. The next moment I was standing on those stone steps over there and looking at the sunset.” He turned to Chao. “You? I mean, I guess I know…”

“A nut.”

“What?” Juan’s eyes got wide.

“A freaking hazelnut.” Chao shook his head, like not believing himself. “I choked.”

“Seriously?” Juan couldn’t hold his grin. “Please do tell more.”

“Fine.” Chao produced a long sigh. “I was really pissed, ok? Angry at my doctor, at that damn cancer, at the whole world, as it kept spinning and not giving a shit about such an important matter as me leaving it soon. So, while stomping through the streets and pushing everyone on my way aside, grunting and muttering curses, I suddenly felt an urgent desire for some nuts. A click in the head, like in your case, though it didn’t kill me right away, just started a chain reaction instead. I saw a store nearby, bought a huge bag of hazelnuts and went to my favorite spot in the park.”

“Looks like a line from a bucket list so far.”

“Friend, I’m sharing with you an intimate moment of my passing away,” Chao theatrically pretended to be offended. “May I ask for some respect and silent listening?” Seeing that Juan threw up his hands in the air and whispered “sorry” with his lips, he continued: “Where was I? Ah, yes, bag of nuts, park, favorite spot. A cozy corner, far away from the crowded areas. I’m that type of person that balances on the thin line between being an introvert or turning into a sociopath. But I’m also a nature lover, so city life makes it extremely difficult to find a place for hanging out. There is one though. Not fully abandoned, but a bit aside, so other peeps rarely come there, yet some passers-by may sneak up occasionally. Every time that was happening, I was getting anxious as hell. How dare they enter my island of solitude?” He smirked, shaking his head. “But the only time I wished there was somebody, anybody, I was completely alone. Not a soul even came near. Obviously at first I was glad, forgetting about cancer and all. Opened a bag with nuts, shoved a handful of them up my mouth and started eating. Then suddenly a thought about an approaching meeting with the grim reaper appeared in my head. That caused some intensified chewing right in the moment of inhaling. Throwing the rest of the nuts all over the place, I fell on the ground gurgling and twitching. Wanna know what I was thinking about at that moment? Screw you, damn cancer, you won’t take me alive!”

“Really?” Juan squinted and made a sarcastic face.

“No, just kidding. Would be a nice one-liner for some novel, don’t you think?” Chao smiled, then continued: “Honestly, I didn’t think about anything else apart from getting that damn nut out of my throat. You know, doesn’t matter how much you’ve got left, the moment you see the end, the only thing you want is to crawl a little bit further away from it.” He started drawing on the sand again. “A few moments later the choking finally reached its peak, the breathing stopped, and, same as you, I found myself standing on the stone steps, looking at the beach and seeing your lonely figure in the middle of it.”

“That’s nuts, man.” Juan tried really hard to keep a serious face.

“Yeah, in a nutshell.”

“A truly nutorious story.”

“You are nut the one to judge me.”

“Nuturally.”

“Fine, consider yourself victorious.” Chao waved him off, then whispered barely audible: “Nutter.”

“I heard that.”

“I know.”

Once again both of them got quiet, as if they needed such pauses between every part of the conversation, to extend the moment, to stay on that beach for a little longer, to watch the sun, wishing it to freeze at its current place just above the horizon, barely touching it.

“Did you feel anything?” Juan gestured around. “I mean, the moment you got here…” He tried to find the right words. “How do I say it? Any change…”

“You mean if there was something in-between my death and appearing here? Like a transition?” Chao shook his head. “Nope. Nothing. One moment I was on the park’s grass, philosophizing about the necessity of breathing and agonizing with a nut in the throat preventing it, and then, once that had stopped, I was just here. No idea what happened to my body back there, how much time has passed and so on. The weird thing is, the whole situation seemed completely normal, as if someone whom I fully trust told me: ‘Dude, you’ve just said your final goodbye to that world, here’s a beach for you, go sit back there and chill for a bit.’ Like that.” Chao snapped his fingers, then glanced at Juan. “What about you?”

“Same.” He copied the snapping gesture. “Just like that. Realized that I’m done there and now I’m here. I wonder if my wife is pissed again or a little bit happy. All things considered, I guess it’s not that bad, she’ll probably keep the house and most of the money, as we haven’t been divorced yet. The children should be covered by that. The paperwork for the inheritance though…”

“Man, even after death you talk about money and how much your wife gets,” Chao started laughing. “Honestly, you’ve deserved your manager’s position in… well, whatever you were in.”

“Finances…” Juan shrugged absently. “Doesn’t matter which area in particular. Same as with your cancer, all of them bastards are bad enough and everyone is trying to deal with it.”

“Hello, darlings!” They both raised their heads abruptly, hearing a new voice nearby. “Well, aren’t you two a lovely pair of gentlemen?” An old lady was approaching them, smiling happily and dragging a small cart behind her. “May I treat you with something delicious this wonderful evening?” She put the cart in front of her and opened its lid, showing them various snacks and pastries it was filled with.

After staring at the lady for a couple of moments, Chao was the first one who managed to speak: “You sell… food? Here?” His wide opened eyes looked around the beach.

“Of course not, silly!” The lady kept smiling. “I’m giving it away.” She placed her hands on her hips. “My, my… Skinny you boys are. What can I offer you, tell me.”

“Smells kinda nice.” Juan leaned towards the cart. “Do you have cookies perchance?”

“But of course!” It felt like the lady got slightly offended by the fact that he doubted such a thing. “Here,” she handed him a couple of small rounded treats wrapped in bright paper. “Take two, dear. And don’t forget the most important ingredient.” A little white bottle appeared from the cart. “Warm milk for your cookies.”

“Thanks.” Juan started smiling like a child. “That’s really nice of you.”

“You are very welcome.” The lady patted him on the head, then turned to Chao. “Now, what about you, young man?”

“Erm…” He scratched his head, thinking. “Can I have some hazelnuts?”

“You absolutely can!” A small, but tightly stuffed pack of nuts had been produced out of the cart and transferred into Chao’s hands. “Please don’t rush, darling. And don’t talk with your mouth full.” She handed him a bottle of water and winked. “Just in case.”

“Thank you.” He smiled back at her. “May I ask what’s your—”

“Bon appetit, boys!” she interrupted the question, quickly closed the cart’s lid and walked away. “Take all the time you need and behave yourselves, young ones. Good boys these two are, and polite as well…” They heard the old lady’s happy murmuring while she was getting further and further away, the sun was shining on the cart behind her, making some bright reflections.

“Well, that was… unexpected.” Juan glanced at Chao who was fully focused on opening his pack of hazelnuts. “Seriously, dude? Nuts?”

“What?” Chao stopped for a moment and stared back at him. “I said I love them… And besides,” he stuffed his mouth, “it’s not like they could kill me… anymore.”

“Don’t know about that.” Juan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What if this is hell and you’re doomed to choke on hazelnuts over and over again?”

“Khm… Khm…” Chao loudly cleared his throat and coughed a couple of times. “Did you really have to do that?” He took a sip of water from the bottle. “I was having a nice moment…”

“Relax.” Juan showed him a cookie. “If this was hell, I would probably be endlessly going up the stairs after dealing with my drunken brother in the basement.” He took a bite and closed his eyes blissfully. “Man… that tastes good.”

“Do you think she’s… well, like us?” Chao pointed at the old lady who was quite far away already.

“Doesn’t seem to be like us.” Juan frowned. “I think she’s local.”

“What do you mean local?” Chao was already chewing again.

“Don’t know. But she surely does know her ways around here. Have you noticed how easily she carries her cart that looks pretty heavy? Take note that the sand doesn’t add to its velocity either, yet she’s pulling it as if it was rolling over a flat and smooth surface.”

“Meh…” Chao shrugged and took another handful of nuts. “Between the two of us I’m not the materialistic one. We’ve got some nice food and that is good enough for me. Maybe she’s a fairy.”

“Or a witch.”

“Must you always—”

“Hello.”

Once again both of them quickly turned their heads dumbfounded, hearing another voice at the side. There was a little girl standing not far and looking at them with a slight curiosity in her big eyes.

“Hello,” she greeted them again, as if reminding to show some good manners.

“Hel-lo,” Chao managed to swallow his hazelnuts and croaked.

“Good… evening,” upon saying that, Juan found his official tone to be really awkward considering the situation.

“Are you…” The girl rubbed one foot against the other. “From here?”

“No, not really.” Chao thought about it for a moment, then added apologetically: “We actually don’t know where we are.”

“Me too.” She tilted her head, squinting at the sun. “Did you die?”

“Yeah…” the word came out of Chao’s mouth with a long sigh. “I’m afraid we did.”

“Me too.” The girl produced the same sigh, then shook her head and added: “But that’s ok, don’t be afraid… We all die.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, they stared at her as she slowly started walking away.

“I will go talk to that madam over there.” She stopped for a moment and pointed at the distance. The old lady with the cart was standing there and waving at them. Or, most likely, at the girl. “I think she’s lonely here.” The girl slightly nodded, like confirming her words to herself, then concluded: “Goodbye. It was nice to meet you, sirs.”

“Bye,” Chao waved to her.

“Have a good ev…” Juan felt his formal tone coming back and quickly corrected himself: “Goodbye.” Once the girl went far enough, he muttered: “Just a child… And already here…”

“Happens to the best of us,” Chao’s voice sounded quite apathetic.

“It’s not funny.”

“Cause I wasn’t joking.”

They stopped talking, getting lost in their own thoughts. The wind carried some illegible scraps of words from the direction the old lady went as she spoke with the girl.

“Man… it’s quiet out here.” Chao finished his pack of nuts, carefully folded it, and put in his pocket. “Is it just me, or does it feel like we’ve got frozen in time, like a pair of flies in amber?”

“Definitely not just you.” Juan extended his finger, pointing at the sun. “Haven’t you noticed that our yellow friend has been hanging right above the horizon since we’ve come here?” He brushed the cookies’ crumbs off his shirt. “It hasn’t moved an inch since then.”

“Seems you’re right. Well…” Chao stretched on the sand. “Can’t say I’m in a hurry.” He turned his head to Juan. “Do you think we’ll just stay here… Like that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Juan crossed his legs and closed his eyes. “Not sure I’d want that, though, can’t say I’m against it either. Feels like I don’t really care, not giving a damn about anything since I’ve come here. Doubt that my opinion matters in the end.”

“I think I like it,” Chao sounded rather content. “The time has stopped, the sun is always there, I’ve got a nice snack and can just breathe in this fresh ocean air. I’ll take it.” It felt like his voice was getting further away.

“Well, since you put it this way…” Juan smiled with his eyes still closed. “I think I'm beginning to like it as well. The past is no more, the future seems to walk away, there is only this present moment, hanging in the air and looking at us, telling us that it has always been here, waiting. We just never really noticed it. You know what, Chao? I’ve been meaning to ask you something… Chao?” Juan opened his eyes and looked around. He was alone on the beach. “I see…” He turned his head to the sun and noticed that it had finally touched the thin line of the horizon and started to go down. “Hang in there, friend.” Juan smiled again and whispered: “I’ll take it too.”

It was a long day.

But every day eventually ends.

The sunset poured its orange fading light over the shore, the waves went back into the quiet ocean, the final breath of breeze flattened the sand and flew away.

The little girl was standing near the water with a big bright lollipop in her hand. Far, far away, the old lady was hurrying towards a distant figure coming down the old stone steps covered with sand. Over there the sun was hanging just above the line of the horizon.

Was once posted somewhere else. Not anymore. Just want it to be here.