Secrets in the Water

Chapter One.

   Today was the day. Today was my first day off since I moved to Incheon. Today I planned to spend my day checking out the beach and the town, familiarizing myself with everything. But first, I had to wake up the train engine in the other room. Now I know Soonyoung isnt really a train engine, but the boy snored like one. I push open the windows in his room, letting the breeze waft in, bringing the scent of salt from the ocean in with it. "Hoshi, Up and moving or you'llbe late for work." I yell at boy sprawled out on his bed, sighing as he doesn't even budge. I nudge him with my slipper a few times. "Come on Soonyoung I'm not your mother wake up!" Finally he starts to move, yawning as he speaks. "You're right, you aren't my mom, she at least knew how to cook." This earned him a kick to the thigh. "Ow! Okay I'm up! Jeez." He whined as he sat up. "Good, I'm not here to babysit you, I have things to do so get ready and we can walk to the beach together." I tell him as I leave his room, not really wanting to see my best friend of ten years with morning wood.

"Coups, do you think we can stop on the way and get food? I mean no offense but, your food isn't very appetizing." Hoshi asks as he walks out of his room, pulling his shirt over his head. "Yeah whatever, we can stop but shit next time you need to wake up on time, we can't afford for you to lose your job for being late. We have rent to pay." I sigh, looking at him as I sip on my coffee. He just gives me a sheepish shrug as he pulls his shoes on. "Yeah I know it wont happen again, I just forgot to turn my alarm on last night." He used the same excuse on Friday to. I honestly don't know why he doesn't just go out and buy an actual alarm clock. I follow him out the door, locking it up behind me as he talks to the neighbor. "Hey there Hosh, how's it hangin'?" Our neighbor asks. The kids a few years younger than us, when he turned 18 his parents put him up in his own apartment to get them out of their hair, he wasn't from Korea and his name was honestly hard to pronounce. I remember when we met him he tried to tell us how to say it but we couldn't for the life of us say it. Instead, we call him Bam. "Hey Bam." I wave to him, earning a smile and a wave as Hoshi starts to talk to him. "Hoshi come on, we wont be able to stop to get food if you don't hurry." That makes him move, he says a goodbye to Bam and runs down the stairs after me.

"I wish my parents would pay our rent lie Bams do like hell, he's lucky." Soonyoung rambled as we walked towards the small shops near the beach. "They only did it so they wouldn't have to deal with his hyperactive ass." I shrugged as I shifted my surfboard under my arm a bit. "Yeah but still, he's living without paying any bills, how cool is that?" He sighed dreamily. This boy had very small dreams sometimes, I wondered why I hung out with him. We finally hit the sand, a soft sigh leaving my mouth as sand seeped into my sandals. "I'm going out to the water, get yourself something to eat." I told him as I started towards the water. Finally after being here for a week I could finally take the time to try out the waves.

Stopping a few feet from the water I sat my board down, sliding my sandals off and pulling my shirt off. The warmth of the sun immediately flooding my body as I sat in the sand, pulling out my wax bar and getting to work on the bottom of my board. This was my least favorite part of surfing, mainly because it couldn't be done in the water but also it was boring. Rubbing the bar around the bottom, making sure not to miss an inch. The seagulls gathered on the beach aways down, the smell of dead fish finally hitting my nose, another downside of the beach. Finally I got up, making my way into the water with my board under my arm, ankle strap secure on my right ankle as I went. The warm water rising higher as I go further. I sit on my board, a leg on either side of me as I watch the water ahead of me, it wasn't particularly windy so I didn't really expect many large waves. I just needed at least one to fullfill my day, to make me happy.

There wasn't many waves, but I finally got two good ones. I started paddling back towards shore, giving up for the day. I didn't notice the large swell behind me before it was too late. I was immediately taken under as the wave crashed over me, yanking me into the deeper blue water. The ankle restraint snapping and my board being carried away with the water towards the sand. I'm a goner, I feel it already, the air in my lungs depleting as I fight to the surface, only to be knocked back by another swell. Adrenaline kicked in but it did me no good, I couldn't fight the current. I opened my mouth on reflex, the rest of my air being replaced with salty water. I closed my eyes, trying to think of a way out of it. My mind shut down, I was beginning to lose consciousness, I floated along, my eyes slowly closing as I stared at the sun above the water.

I was barely holding onto my consciousness at this point. But next thing I knew, I saw a rather large fish tail before my eyes closed completely. I was losing my sanity along with my consciousness because I swear I felt arms wrap around my waist. Whatever happened next I honestly couldn't tell you. I woke up on shore to the life guard giving me CPR. Coughing up water I rolled onto my side, gasping for air as the small group of people that crowded around sighed. "Hey there are you okay?" the life guard asked, helping me sit up properly. I nodded but I honestly felt light headed. "I'm glad you're alright, I can't say the same for your board though." I looked in the direction he gestured and sure enough, my board was in two pieces. Great. So much for a good day off, I would have rathered of been at work.