Chapter 1

The weather was fairly cold that evening as the chills of the breeze sent shivers down my spine everytime the wind blew. It was a Friday evening and we were heading back to the resort after a long day of fishing at the coasts of the sea. The window next to me was fully open, all i could see outside was the line of trees and the forest on each side of the road. The wind blew my hair even stronger everytime dad speeds up.

With the strong winds outside, we didn't need to turn on the air conditioner, the temperature was just as low. However, mom felt it would be better if we just closed the window on my side of the car since we were all freezing, except for my baby brother Jonathan who was fast asleep beside me. Next to him was Pebbles, our White Labrador. "Jonathan must be in a world of his own now," I said. Pebbles looked at me and barked. There were lights up ahead, revealing the streets of a neighbourhood. "Yes sweetie, it's been a long day for us, your dad and I have some plans for tomorrow so make sure you get some sleep after dinner tonight."

I looked at Jonathan in his small baby cradle. "Poor Jonathan, he must've been really tired, how far are we from the resort?" I asked. Dad's eyes looked up at the rearview mirrow. "About an hour more honey, the whole place is relatively big." He replied. I sat back and looked at the scenery outside. The sky was slowly turning dark. All that could be seen was the forest and empty fields. Mom turned back to look at me, I could tell she was just as exhausted as I was. "Its alright, go take a nap, we'll wake you up once we reach the challe." She said. "Thanks mom, but not now," I replied.

Mom's eyes showed a sign of concern immediately after I said that. "Are you sure sweetie, is something bothering you?" She asked. I dread answering her, while today was a great day for all four of us including Pebbles, the feeling was different for me. My mind was full of mixed emotions. I didn't know how to answer mom, afterall it wasn't that bad. "It's nothing," I replied. Mom looked at dad whose eyes were focused on the road. I felt bad, im sure my parents would know why, but saying it and feeling it are two different things. All I can say is, I've always had a fear of the ocean, and our vacation was taking place near the sea, which made things even more disturbing for me.

"Well, do you still wanna go fishing tomorrow?" Dad asked as he turned the steering wheel to the right. I looked up and stared at both he and mom for a while. "Sure, why not?" I said, my words sounded shaky. Judging by my relentless tone, my parents would know I wasn't in the mood to fish. "Lucinda, your mother and I understand that you do not like the ocean, but times like this happen once in a lifetime, you might as well enjoy it now before it's too late, don't think too much about it."

I took a deep breath, thinking of what to say to him. What if the ocean isn't as terrifying as I thought it would be? Perhaps there's more than just the big blue sea. Maybe instead of overthinking about it, I should use this chance to get over my fear. I looked up at my mom and my dad who was speeding up a little on the empty road. "Mom, dad, let's all go fishing tomorrow." A few seconds of silence passed as mom smiled and nodded. "Of course sweetie," she said.

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As soon as we got to the challe, it was night. The sky was full of glimmering stars that sparkled. Jonathan eventually woke up and started crying. Mom got him out of the car while dad picked up the fishing rods and tanks full of fish and other sea creatures that we caught earlier. Pebbles ran around the patch of grass, wagging his tail with his tongue droped out of his mouth. He looked really happy. "Pebbles come here!" I exclaimed. The big bulky White Labrador came running towards me as I crouched on the grass, getting ready to cuddle him as much as I wanted to.

That night, the sea was still. The shore was vaguely empty, but you could still hear the wind howling. "Lucinda, come inside, it's cold out there you could get sick," Mom called out as Pebbles and I headed back into the challe right away. As soon as I got into the house, I shut the door behind me and took off my shoes. My socks were kind of sandy so I headed straight to my room upstairs and changed to a different pair.

I could vaguely hear mom preparing dinner in the kitchen as well as Dad talking to her about the plans for tomorrow. Putting my soggy socks aside, I stared at the window next to my bed. It was dark outside. I sat on my bed and looked out the window The sea was silent. There was nobody at shore, not even a bird or animal. Placing my hand on the window pane, the chills from the other side contracted my palm. "This might be the perfect spot to fish tomorrow," I thought. The sea was somewhat peaceful, I liked it's momentum and how untouched it was. I immediately felt relaxed just by seeing it from a distance. It didn't seem that scary afterall.

"Lucinda, come downstairs, we're having dinner now!" Mom yelled. Even though I was upstairs I could still hear her pretty well. It's either because I have good hearing or this house was just plain old. I ran downstairs and saw everyone at the dinning table except me. Pebbles was on the floor eating his dog food while Jonathan was making those usual 'baby sounds' with the chunks of food all over his face.

I sat on the chair and looked around me. "This place is beautiful at night." I said to myself as the lights were shinning right into my eyes. There were all kinds of seafood on the table. Scallops, oysters, clams, tiny crabs and fish. The oysters were made into omelets which I enjoyed eating. However, there wasn't enough for everyone as we didn't manage to find a lot of oysters, it was mostly just clams. "Mom, Dad, I found a great place to fish tomorrow," I said. Dad looked at me in surprise. "Where honey? We haven't explored the whole place yet, unless you're talking about the sea that's right in front of our house."

I nodded. "Yes that's the place." Mom looked at dad who stopped eating for a while. Jonathan was begging for mom to continue feeding him. "Are you sure dear? It seems empty to me," she said doubtfully. "Well we could give it a try, afterall we're already here so we might as well," dad replied. At first, I wasn't sure if fishing at the sea was great idea. Even though during the day there are still people hanging around there at the shore and boats coming in, did it even make sense to fish there in the first place?

"Lucinda, we'll try fishing down there tomorrow but if we don't find anything we'll head back to the same fishing spot that we went to today, is that alright?" Dad said. I looked at him in guilt, and nodded slowly. For some reason I felt guilty because I didn't know what to expect. Already mom feels that the sea is solemn, like nobody ever goes there, especially at night, or it's probably our first time here so we don't know for sure. "But in case we get bored, your father and I brought the frisbee as well so we could spend some time playing with it." I looked at Pebbles who was now laying on the floor not too far away from us. Judging by his eyes I could tell he was full, and somewhat exhausted.

"Thanks mom." I said looking back at her. Jonathan started wailing again. His cries were so loud that it felt like a sharp needle piercing my ear drums. Eventually we were done eating as we cleared the whole table. "I gotta make some milk for Jonathan, get ready for bed Lucinda." Mom said.

After dinner, I went straight to my room, got my toilitries and headed to the bathroom. It had been a long day for me and I felt sticky with all the sweat and sea water on my skin. My hair itched and I could feel the stabbing dampy sand in my finger nails and toe nails. . I took a quick bath right away and cleaned myself thoroughly to ensure there wasn't anymore fishy scent.

When I was done, I headed back and got ready for bed. My hair now had a flowery scent that was soothing to smell. It was a relief to be clean. I turned off the lights. Now that the room was dark, the reflection from the window made the room a little brighter. I once again looked out the window to ensure that my idea of fishing at the sea wasn't going to be complicated for us, and that we will all be safe tomorrow. I then pulled up the sheets and went to sleep.