Page 31 of Barbie: Dreamscape

I give a shaky smile.

“How did you get any sunlight?”

“Through… windows?”

That seems to horrify him. “That can’t be healthy.” He shakes his head, mumbling to himself. “No beach… no sun…” He shudders.

“It’s the only life I’ve ever known.” I don’t tell him that the sunlight itself in Heartland isn’t nearly as vibrant or strong as the blazing warmth I felt earlier today. I wonder if it’s the border mists preventing us from feeling the full power of the sun’s rays.

“I’m glad you left,” Ken declares.

My eyebrows draw together. “I didn’t leave, I—” Before I can tell him that I plan to go back, that this entire journey is so that I can return to Heartland with a purpose, he’s distracted by something behind me.

“Look! A sunset. I love sunsets,” Ken says.

I look too, my breath suddenly caught in my throat. Pink. The sky has gone pink and red and yellow, and every shade in between. Just like the flowers.

My lips part. Every sunset I’ve seen pales in comparison with this.

Ken tilts his head at my reaction. “They don’t have sunsets in your world, either?” he asks, now looking positively horrified.

“Not really,” I say. “Not like this.”

Ken stops dead. He blinks too many times, as if I’ve just told him I come from an underground dungeon. To him, I suppose, that’s what my land must sound like. “Barbie, sunsets are as essential to life as water and air.”

I frown. “Yeah, I don’t think—”

He lifts a hand. “Trust me on this. Sunsets are like medicine. They force you to stay still awhile. Admire the world. Remember you’re here, you’re alive, and the world is so beautiful.”

Remember you’re alive.

Strange. I am alive. But I don’t think I’ve done much living.

It feels like I’ve lived more today than I have in the past seventeen years of my life.

“Here. Like this,” Ken says, kicking off his boots. He sinks his feet into the sand and sighs. “Try it.”

I think about the first inclination I had when I saw the beach. Wanting to not just see it, but feel it.

I carefully take off my boots. My toes sink into the sand and peace washes over me, just like the waves foaming along my skin and brushing against my ankles.

And as day melts into night and I take in a big breath of salty air, I think—this.

This quiet moment is not for any purpose. It’s time I would normally think is wasted. Every minute has always been a chance to study more, to be better, to prove myself to Robin.

But… this isn’t worthless. It feels good to just stand still for a while.

We watch in companionable silence, until the sun is completely gone and the stars break through the darkness. The moon is a hanging crescent.

And in this darkness… it’s easy to see a shell in the near distance, glowing just beneath the sand. My necklaces are emitting the same soft hue. Ken and I look at each other and grin, then both rush toward it.

I dig it out, carefully, and a wave washes it clean.

The key.

“Thank you,” I tell Ken.

He tips his hat at me. “Don’t forget to watch sunsets, Barbie, every chance you get. Wherever you are.”