Chapter 2

I got out of bed and looked at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. Mom and dad's voices could be heard clearly. The sun's reflections hurt my deprived eyes as I backed away from the window. Picking my clothes for today, I headed to the bathroom. While I was brushing my teeth, I heard a knock on the door. "Lucinda, are you there?" It was mom. "Yes mom im brushing my teeth now, any news regarding today's activity?" I asked. "We're leaving at ten so do take a shower right away." Mom replied.

Quickly, I placed my clothes on the rack and washed my toothbrush before stepping into the bath tub. My worn clothes were on the toilet bowl as I grabbed a shower cap on one of the shelves and placed it over my head. "I hope the water isn't freezing cold." I thought. Slowly, I turned on the tape and placed my hand below it. The water was in fact cold, but it was just nice for a morning shower.

As water ran down my body, I felt like I was in the Arctic. The droplets as cold as snow. The thought of fishing nearby struck me, I was now thinking about the sea while showering in the morning. It's not surprising if you're near the sea, but if you have vivid imaginations of the deep blue, it could be provoking much, especially for a week far from home near the coast. While my mind was slowly drifing away from the sensation of the nice, cool water, Pebbles was barking and Jonathan was crying again. All of that distracted me from my thoughts as I came back to Earth immediately and quickly took a proper shower. Better stop losing focus now.

I got out of the bath tub and put on my clothes. After ten minutes of getting dressed and set for the day, I ran to my room and packed my things. Holding onto my big heavy backpack I looked up at the clock at the far end of my room. My eyes widened. "What?! It's already a quarter to nine?!" I thought to myself as I stuffed everything I could into the last compartment of my bag and swinged my bedroom door open. I hurried downstairs only to see Pebbles sitting up, looking at me with his tongue out. "Morning Pebbles, you seem really excited." I chuckled as I slowly got down from the creaky wooden steps and landed on the floor with a soft thud.

Mom came rushing out of the living room with Jonathan in her arms to where I was. "Oh Lucinda, you're already here! Just wait there your dad and I will be ready in a few minutes." I looked at her rushing back to the living room attending to Jonathan who was surprisingly quiet this morning. Pebbles began chasing his tail in front of me. The sound of the bell on his collar echoed throughout the hall. I sat down for a while and looked at the ground, thinking about how things were gonna go for me today. The sunlight relfected into the hall. It was getting brighter outside. Pebbles eventually stopped running around in circles and sat down in boredom, just like how I was, having to wait for both of my parents who weren't even ready yet.

I got up and took a short walk around the hall. I could tell I was just taking one big round, but the pictures on the walls caught my attention. All of them looked really old with marks and dust all over. Of all pictures, the one that caught my attention the most was a painting of the big blue sea that was just plain empty. Is that an illustration of the sea in front of our challe? There was something mysterious about the painting, I couldn't describe the feeling just by looking at it. There were other unordinary pictures besides the one I was staring at. Beside the sea potrait was a painting of a whale's tail not too far away from a fishermen in his boat. "Pretty normal." Thats what I thought, until I saw the rest.

The picture towards the right displayed an image of a strange sea monster with a huge mouth along with a school of fish, possibly Sardines. It didn't look like it was going to swallow the fishes, though the thought of being swallowed by that thing was disturbing. I inhaled some air before turning my head to the next one. The painting beside it showed a serpent-like creature in a dark shallow water, head looking up whereas facing the slightly brighter surface of the water. The thin body it had made it seem skeletal, especially the head that was just a skull with dislocated teeth.

I could hear mom's voice in the background, she was definately ready for the day. The last picture I laid my eyes on was the fifth in the row. This one was the freakiest I would say, however I can't guarantee because there were at least two or three more pictures on the wall. Knowing how frightening the painting was I definately don't wanna take a closer look at the last ones. The water was murky and dirty-looking as though there was mud all over, along with algae if im not wrong and some sea weed in the background.

The 'thing' that looked like it was about to jump out and attack me had really sharp teeth but no eyes. It looked like some underwater Xenomorph head. I couldn't see it's body clearly as it was more of a foreshadow. Telling where or from what the background was inspired from was my concern but I really like how unique it looked, but I would definately not wanna step foot in such a place, it looked more like a desserted pond or lake.

With that, I stepped away from the wall and headed back to where Pebbles was. My parents had just arrived at the hall and were all ready in their gear and outfits. "Great, about time." I said. Dad held his large fishing rod and proceeded to the front door holding the keys. "Lucinda, we're sorry we kept you waiting, Jonathan was demanding for milk." I narrowed my eyes at her then back to Jonathan who was cradled in her arms. Jonathan again. I thought to myself as we began walking out of the challe as Dad locked the door behind us.

We had to be cautious while walking down the stairs in front of our challe as they wers pretty steep and slippery. Mom held Jonathan tightly. I was hoping he wouldn't wake up and start crying because that would be terrible, already he is a spoiled brat and wanted nothing but his parent's attention. Worst of all they just keep giving him all the attention he wants, it's dragging our damn activity time that was supposed to be approximately ten minutes earlier everytime but we always end up being delayed because of him.

Finally, the sea was right in front of our eyes. Perhaps it wasn't good news for me, probably is for the rest of them but not me. Pebbles began barking like crazy as he began running around, playing in the sand. I looked at him and laughed. He was such a happy dog. I adjusted my hat and went over to Dad who was adjusting the fishing rod.

On the other side not too far away, I noticed a dock of small wooden boats alligned closely together, with two paddles in each boat. Are we allowed to use those? I didn't want to, however I was just curious as to why someone would leave them lying around like that. "Honey, come here, today is your day since you brought us here so you can start fishing first, test the waters, see if you can find anything." Dad yelled. I walked over to him dredfully. T-t-test the water?! My internal voice whimpered.

I took the fishing rod from dad as he stood beside me near the piled up sand at the shore. The sky was cloudy and grey, the wind blew through my ears. It was going to rain, I could feel how cold the air was, I must say it felt good. Now the bait was in the water a few metres away from where we were. I waited and waited for a sign of movement in the water. Patience is the key. Dad took out one more fishing rod and hand it over to mom, but she denied the offer as Jonathan was still in her arms. I looked up at the grey sky and back at the still water. The bait still wasn't moving. I sighed and turned to look at dad who looked annoyed just as I was.

Jonathan eventually opened his eyes and almost started crying again. Because of that mom quickly had to calm him down and reassure him that we were safe, nothing complicated going on. I stared at the both of them before turning to look at the now icey water. The dark clouds were coming towards us in the opposite direction. My heart began racing, I was hoping to catch something from this part of the ocean at least so that my parents wouldn't get so mad at me for wasting their time here. However, I just had to face the music, in fact mom already said she wasn't fancying the idea of fishing here during dinner yesterday. But I didn't listen, and here we are.

Dad narrowed his eyes at the bait. Sorry mom, sorry dad. "Well it's going to rain, we should probably get going," Dad sighed as he began packing his things. With that mom joined in with the help that he needed. I still insisted on waiting for a while more. For some reason I was still determined to get one catch from this part of the resort. Couldn't describe the feeling but it was definately not me, had I even forgotten that the wide blue sea is right in front of me and that I was afraid of it? Or even better, have I gotten over my fear of the ocean after many years.

All was hurrying, when suddenly, I heard a soft splash in the water as the bubbles came out of the water. The sound of droplets echoed in my ears. My eyes widdened, I almost gasped. "Mom, Dad! I think I caught something!" The bait began moving vigourously, whatever was caught was trying to escape. It gave no mercy. Dad came running towards me to help me out. We pulled the fishing rod with all our force. The creature was still pulling back to the extend where I almost dropped the fishing rod. Quickly, I rewind the handle before pulling the fishing rod with all my force and the bait was lashed out in light speed revealing a medium-sized silver fish that blended in with the color of the partial sky above us.

"Congrats Lucinda, you got your first catch!" Dad exclaimed. "Thanks Dad." I replied walking over to mom who was watching Jonathan playing in the sand. Mom beamed at my catch that was wriggling ti detach itself from the hook on the bait. "Oh my Lucinda that is one fine catch." I smiled at mom. "Thank you mom." Crawling on the sand, Jonathan wandered off to the rocky part of the shore without being noticed. Mom was talking to dad while I was attending to Pebbles who was cheering for me in his doggy way.

After awhile mom started screaming like crazy because Jonathan just disappeared without a trace. The only way for us to track him down was to follow his tiny footprints in the sand. Pebbles decided to search for the baby first as he sniffed the ground and followed the trail of footprints which led to the water. For a dog his size, he was pretty fast at brisk walking. I caught up to him and to my surprise, saw Jonathan sitting down beside a huge glossy black boulder with barnicles and seashells surrounding him. I heaved a sigh of relief and wiped my forehead even though there was very little sweat. Pebbles tip-toed to Jonathan, barking at what he found.

There was a large crab in his hands. It was way bigger than his head. I got anxious just by looking at the way Jonathan was neutrally playing with the crustacent, it had large pincers that was not snapping actively but could break a stick into two if it could. "Jonathan..." I said as I gulped. Pebbles started barking furiously at the infant. Sadly he ignored us as he lost his grip on the crab that slowly began retreating away. Jonathan chased after it, crawling on the wet sand.