Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Two~

I woke up to the sun shining into my room. My white curtains blew in the breeze from my cracked window. In my panic the previous night, I managed not to shut it all the way. Sitting up in my bed I could see the beach and hear the oceans waves crashing on the shore in the distance. I stretched myself awake and shivered as my feet touched the cool floor.

I made my way to the kitchen where someone was bustling around. I could hear an egg cracking and bacon sizzling on a pan. My stomach grumbled. A floor board creaked.

"Morning, Audrey," my dad said. I froze.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked as I entered the kitchen.

"Connor's with James and your mother is out doing whatever it is women do," he said simply. I nodded even though he had his back turned and couldn't see.

"Interesting."

"Since it's me and you I decided to cook some bacon, eggs, and toast. That way I don't have to make a lot of food and we don't have to tell anyone."

I laughed. No one in my family ever wanted to share the bacon. With only two of us there, we could just split it.

"How did sitting at the dock go last night? I didn't even hear you come back inside," he asked, sounding suspicious.

"No, I didn't meet a boy if that's what your question is really asking." Well, not a boy that didn't seem like a piece of my imagination. "Let's just say my morning is a lot better."

My dad scooped the rest of the bacon onto a large plate. I grabbed one of the two with an egg on it. I sat down at the mahogany table and waited for him to bring over the toast.

"Food," my dad laughed as I said it.

"You sound like you're a zombie."

"I am when it comes to bacon," I shamelessly admitted. My dad sat down and the urge to eat as many bacon strips as possible overcame the wish to look cute in a swim suit. We only talked after we consumed everything on the table.

"So what are you doing today?" my dad asked as he put the dishes in the sink.

"Going down to the beach again," I said guardedly. I wasn't going to take 'you're going to burn' as a reason to stay inside.

"You spend so much time down there. It must be more interesting sitting on that dock than what it appears." I wanted to mumbled that he had no idea; but, instead, I kept my mouth shut.

"It's just as boring as you think. I take the old sketch pad with me for entrainment."

My dad nodded his head once before filling up a brown coffee mug with coffee and walked away. I quickly went to my room to get dressed in shorts and my bikini. Just because I never got in the water didn't mean I wanted a farmer's tan. I snatched the sketch book off my night stand and grabbed some water color pencils that were very useful considering I could stick them in the ocean to make them work.

Shoving my supplies in an old beach bag, I took off towards the dock. The hot sand burned my feet but I hardly noticed.

If my feet hadn't been so hot I would have stood, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to get near the water, and looked out at the ocean. If what I had seen was real, then there was someone in the water last night. ; Someone who never came back out. Too bad my curiosity and imagination outweighed reality in my mind.

With the need to know, I forced myself to walk to the edge of the dock. What I saw there was a disappointment. Nothing. Absolutely nothing other than the usual. Waves rolled in, with their sea green color, effortlessly. A small fish swam by.