Deep as the Ocean || An OC x Ben Drowned story || Discontinued

At the beach

The door was open letting in the slightly humid morning air. He closed it behind him and ran with the sandwich bags in his arms to catch up with the, now fishing gear weighted down, men. They were still talking enthusiastically about the biggest fish they had caught. Ben wasn't really interested but he didn't really have a choice other than to follow them as they reached the beach.

His flip flops soon became useless to walk in, they just flung sand everywhere. So he slipped them off and sank his toes into the soft, hot sand. His feet sank in and he looked up at the cloudless sky and smiled. It was so much different from the cloudy city he lived in. It was so nature filled and fresh. A breeze ruffled his hair and he smiled a little.

"Hurry up, boy!" He was snapped yet again from his musings by his father yelling for him to hurry up.

"Coming, coming!" He yelled back and picked up his shoes, tucking them under an arm and then running quickly to catch up.

The soft dry sand slowly gave away to much harder wet sand, his feet pounding satisfyingly as he ran over to where his father and uncle had chosen to set up. They had laid all their fishing gear down and Ben saw no sight of any boat. He was grateful for this. The beach was not crowded but there were a few other early beach goers and fishermen scattered out as far as the eye could see.

Glancing over his shoulder he realized how far away they really were from their small condo. It didn't seem like far from his small attic room but now standing on the wet white sand it was put into perspective.  His father gestured for him to set down the lunch.

"Today I'm going to teach you how to fish on the ocean." Ben wasn't excited.

—

After much teaching and not much learning Ben's father finally set Ben up with his own rod. It was stuck into the soft sand and propped up on a Y-shaped piece of driftwood. The lure was a large dragonfly shaped one with double hooks. Ben had proven to be unable to cast the line out into the ocean far enough so his father had done that for him. Now to wait. His uncle and father were still, STILL rambling away. He wasn't sure what they were talking about but he didn't really care either. This was probably the most boring thing he had ever done. How was this considered a sport?

As his attention wandered so did his eyes. Yet again he was admiring the beauty of the nature around him. The sun was high in the sky and baked down on them. Despite this there were much less people then he would have expected. He dug his feet into the warm sand and gazed over the ocean. Distantly, a few buoys floated on the surf, showing the start of the open ocean. The cove itself was almost as large as an ocean, or that's what it looked like. He could barely see the outline of the far end. Just barely. If he squinted really, really hard.

A trickle of sweat went down his nose and he pushed his glasses further up. It was really starting to heat up as the day progressed. Despite wearing a shirt his back was baking. Maybe he should go test the water. Glancing at his father he slowly stood and brushed off the sand on his butt before sneaking past them. They didn't notice him leave. He jogged down the water and stood next to it as it washed up and touched his feet. It was deliciously cool. He giggled under his breath and stepped out deeper into the surf.

When it was up to his knees he stopped and let the tide wash over him, crash behind him and then pull out and repeat. It was soothing. The cool water was nice against his hot burning skin. Taking a deep breath he ducked below the surface. Wiping his head up out of the water he shook it causing salty droplets to drip all over his face. His lips were salty and tasted of gross sea water. He licked them anyway and then laughed internally at himself. His back wasn't burning up anymore. His arms and face were probably going to be sunburned as hell.

He glanced over his shoulder but his family hadn't called him back yet so he started to walk down the beach, well the edge. He was still about thigh deep in the cool moving water. As he walked he hummed softly. Nothing big or fancy just humming as he gazed at the world around him. His head in the clouds. Suddenly he stepped on something sharp in the soft sand and lost his footing.

"AH!" He exclaimed as he jumped away holding his foot.

He looked down at the tide as it pulled out and found he had stepped on a rock. While he had not been paying attention he had walked very far down the beach and was now standing next to a large pile of rocks with a peer over them. He hadn't seen this before, time to explore.