Max and the twins spend most of their days swimming. One day, they swim during a thunderstorm and a fork of lightning strikes the water near them. The twins swim gracefully with good technique, but Max has superior stamina. When Chloe waits for him to come out of the water, Max comes to believe that she is starting to have feelings for him.

As he recalls the three children walking away from the beach, adult Max reflects on the nature of memory and ponders the identity of the version of himself who is observing them from the shadows. Max notes that he cannot conjure a mental image of Chloe, although certain features of her remain intensely vivid to him. He finds it hard to believe that all that remains of her now is a figment of his memory. At the same time, he finds it to be a frustrating paradox that even though Chloe now only really exists in his memory, she still somehow eludes him. He cannot really possess or control her. He reflects on mortality in general, including his own. Max remembers kissing Chloe in the dark at the picture house and reflects on how strongly he felt experiences and emotions in childhood.