Foggy shores

Chapter one

It's September 2021, working at The North Fitness Club as a lifeguard has been the same old same old since I had been back from my summer job as a lifeguard at Splash Beach water park (which is only open from May to September).  I came back to work at 4:00 PM one hot afternoon with the pool almost at maximum capacity, since it was a small indoor pool. I walked into the lifeguard office that was about a 4 x 10 room to a girl that was a couple years younger than me, or at least appeared to be. When I shut the door it made a small noise and the girl quickly turned her head.

"Hey," she responded as I walked in.

"Hello," I said back with slight confusion in my tone, not knowing there were new people hired.

"I'm Josie," she responded accordingly to my reaction.

"Oh okay," I replied as I set my bag down on the counter, "I'm Caroline, I just came back from my summer job at Splash Beach."

"I started over the summer, it's my first job cause I'm fifteen," she kept talking.

So she was three years younger, I still found it super weird that fifteen year olds could be hired. I looked out in the pool area to see if I saw any more newbies. There were two boys out on stand on the pool deck, one larger and looked almost twice the age of the smaller younger one.

"They're also new right?" I asked Josie.

"Yes, the one across the pool is Kevin," she said as she pointed straight ahead of her, "he's nineteen."

I nodded as she moved her finger over to the slides, which went from the inside of the building to being outdoor and back indoor for the ending.

"And that is Steven," she continued, "he's also fifteen.  So yeah that's the new ones."

"Is there anymore?" I questioned.

"Umm," she sat there and thought, "that's it for now, but there's a new lifeguard training class next weekend."

"Oh okay, how fun," I replied, "we are definitely running low on people."

I looked across the pool to see the larger boy, Kevin not standing at the bottom of the slides anymore.  The door from the pool to the lifeguard office swung open so quick I thought for a second it was going to come off of the hinges.

"Why hello there," the large dude said with a lifeguard tube in one arm and the other arm extended at me waiting for me to shake it, "I'm Kevin."

"Hi, I'm Caroline," I responded.

"Nice to meet you," he said back.

He started to turn back out towards the pool intending me to follow, so I did. Once out on the pool deck he stopped right before the edge of the pool.

"Yeah I have six other jobs beside this one," he boasted, "I'm a part time police officer, I'm an EMT, I work as a lifeguard on the coast, I volunteer with my church, I work at the morgue, and a volunteer fire fighter."

"Oh wow," I said. I was shocked, but onto him, because there is no way a nineteen year old can do all of this, I know because I am nineteen.

"Where did you come from, job wise?" He asked with a curious concerned look on his face.

"I was a lifeguard at Splash Beach water park for the entire summer," I started turning away from him looking at the small kids playing in the pool. "I was a head guard, so I had a lot of responsibility."

I looked back at him because he was silent. Happy as ever he stood there about to explode, I was so confused considering I just met this dude. 

Is he going to kill me or run away from me? I don't know until he says something.

"I worked there when I was sixteen!" He shouted and I quickly turned to the pool checking if anyone heard. Some parents have a strange look but did not worry about it. "I am good friend of Mr. Dave, that's how I got the job there."

Dave was the owner of Splash Beach, which I am surprised he knew his name considering I knew he was lying. I had been working there since I turned sixteen, and I have never met Kevin.  So, for the remainder of the time talking to the obsessive liar that Kevin is, I just nodded to whatever he had to tell me or talk about.

The rest of the shift was slow, I met Steven, who I figured out hat I already knew because he goes to the same church that I go to, Tally Baptist church. People came to swim and left, and by the time closing time rolled around at 8 PM no one was left swimming. Josie, Kevin and I began to clean the bathrooms around 7:45 PM.

Several days passed filled with waking at 7:30, to leave at 8:00 for my 8:30 classes at Harrison State Community College almost in the midst of Phoenix, Arizona. Walking around the college, everyone believed as if they could not come in contact with anyone, so in the halls and in classes no one spoke. After leaving the zombie apocalypse every afternoon, I would have just enough time to stop by home to grab anything I needed for work before I had to be there at 4 PM.

Walking into work the weekend of the new lifeguard class surprised me when I saw one of my old coworkers at Splash Beach water park ready to be trained at The North Fitness Club. Joe Black was his name, he dated one of my best friends in high school, Maria, in which they were both 16. Him and several others that I worked with have gone to or are currently going to Brook Lane high school, which was a school in the middle of nowhere and there were so many students at that school you could never leave the house and avoid seeing anyone from that school.  Joe looked as if he was 19 going on 20, because of all the facial hair and length that stretched 6 feet and some inches in the air.

"Hey!" he sparked up as he saw me come into the room like he had not seen day light in weeks, "looks like we continue to be coworkers."

"Since when did you apply?" I responded with a higher tone in my voice.

"Right before Splash Beach closed," he replied stepping into the pool about to begin the class.

"Oh okay, well I'm glad someone transferred from Splash Beach," I said back placing my bag in the lifeguard office when I finished.

I watched and guarded the class of three new guards that were training and swimming back and forth in the pool. Matt, the lifeguard trainer in the Phoenix area was showing them all that they needed. By the time they were through, it was 5:30 PM.

Joe gave me a slight wave and walked out with the class.