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

The red haired boy

He climbed up the rocks, careful not to fall and reached the wood of a pier. Glancing around he realized there was no one over here. Like no one. Everyone was closer to where his father was with the fishing rods. He was not far away but if he stood on the other side of this pile of rocks, no one would be able to see him. This small amount of danger sounded fun.

He pulled himself up onto the rough wood and then stood. A splinter dug into his hand but he ignored it as he walked barefoot down to the edge. The pier hung out over the water, there was a ladder that dropped into it but he didn't feel like testing his swimming skills with the deep water. The view was breathtakingly beautiful. The water lapped against the wood gently, it was a dark sea green and he couldnt see down into it. The horizon was grey with a distant cloud cover. Somewhere far out he could see the glint of a boat floating out there. The sun felt much more gentle over here, not as blazing as before. He sat down on the edge and hung his feet over the edge. Nothing could get him here, it was too beautiful.

The breeze ruffled through his hair again and he closed his eyes, just breathing the salty sea air. A seagull screeched overhead startling him a little and he jerked his eyes open, losing grip on the edge of the pier and falling into the water. His feet hit first and he plunged below the surface. The sudden cold shocked him and he froze up for a second, forgetting what he needed to do. Then his instincts kicked in and he shot up through the surface, sputtering. He wiped his eyes frantically and spun in a circle. He wasn't good at swimming, not at all.

He had lost his glasses and he squinted looking for the wooden pier. It was a distant blur on his vision. How had he gotten so far from the pier? He flailed as he tried to swim in that direction. Oh god what if he dies? No one can see him. Stupid stupid. He moved as best he could towards the beach but his wet shirt weighed him down. He panted and spat out sea water. Something touched him. Something under the water. Holy fuck. Every image of sharks, underwater creatures, squids, angler fish, everything gruesome he had ever seen online flashed through his mind. They would never find his body.

Instead of that though a pair of hands took him around his waist gently and a head broke the surface next to him. There was a boy around his age with dark skin, and dark red hair. He was swimming next to him in the water. The boy turned to him and grinned. His eyes were red. Ben gasped and then inhaled sea water and coughed it out. The guy laughed, his laugh was like wind chimes. "Careful." They started moving towards the pier. Ben was having a hard time thinking about what was going on right now.

Was this random boy saving him? Where had he come from? Who was he? Why were his eyes red? He didn't have any answers. Suddenly they were at the base of the wooden ladder. The mystery boy pushed him up and then backed up letting him climb. He scrambled up the wooden ladder and collapsed on the deck with a thump. He stared at the sky for a second, he had thought he was done for, before remembering his savior. He sat up quickly, causing his head to spin. But there wasn't a mystical boy with red hair and dark eyes floating in the ocean below. Only his glasses and a seashell on the edge of the deck. What the fuck?

He scanned the lapping waves for any sign of the mysterious boy, there was nothing but the frothy surf, wind, and sun of the beach. Another seagull flew over head cawing loudly. Ben was very confused. Where could his savior gone? There were no other ladders to the pier, he couldn't have just swam off could he? Wait. Where had he come from to begin with? Ben had no idea.

He picked up his glasses and shoved them on his face, the blurry world around him sharpening to focus. He took another good look out across the waves for any sign of the red haired boy. There was nothing, just grey waves under a blue sky. He shook his head, flinging water droplets everywhere. The slight breeze washed over his wet body making him shiver despite the hot sun beating down on him still. He suddenly remembered the seashell and picked it up, studying it.

It was white with a red underbelly and flared edges, he had never seen a whole shell like this. Not that he had seen many seashells to begin with. It was very pretty. Did the boy leave it? Or was it here when he fell in and he hadn't noticed? Whatever, he slipped it into his pocket to study later and turned, walking back down the wooden pier. He came to the rocks and hopped down them carefully, he didn't want to slip and fall now that his feet were wet. He reached the beach perfectly intact besides the trauma of almost drowning. He was being a little dramatic about that but still.

He started back towards where his father and uncle sat on the beach in the distance. As he walked he replayed what had happened. He had fallen. There had been something touching him, he tried to remember what it had felt like. Hands? No that was after. In the moment he had been so scared he hadn't bothered to figure out what had touched him, fearing it to be a giant octopus coming to take him to a watery grave. Then there was the boy. He was rather pretty from what Ben could remember in the panic of the moment. His skin was dark, Mediterranean? Ben doesn't know enough about ethnicity to tell but definitely not white. His hair was not really red, well it was but not the actual color. It was auburn, like toned copper. He thought that was strange, maybe it was dyed.

What he really remembered though was the guy's eyes. They had been red. Now that was freaky. Red eyes and a random boy swimming in the ocean did not bode well for the teenager. He kicked the waves with his foot, skimming his toes in the cool water but staying out of the deeper waves. He had enough of that for the day. He wrapped his arms around each other, shivering still. What type of person had red eyes? Why would you wear contacts if you were swimming, it wasn't adding up to Ben. Something was off but he couldn't put his finger on it.