ocean front property. / yoonmin

₀₂ ° come to the window

sweet is the night-air! 
only, from the long line of spray 
where the sea meets the
moon-blanched land, listen! 

the wind was cold and rough through jimin's hair. standing on the edge of the water, letting the frigid sea lap at his feet, he watched the storm arrive slowly. grey, almost black clouds rolled toward him sluggishly and he figured it would be here by early morning, if not tonight.

the water itself was an icy blue, outlined in lacey white foam that framed the rising tides against the beach. the air was salty and dry, reminding jimin of the harbor a few miles away that was always filled to the brim with boats. old abandoned, broken down sailboats and fishing boats, careening against each other.

jimin could remember when people actually used the harbor, when people in this old town weren't miserable and settled. shops selling fish, ice cream, and lunch. hell, they even had shit for kids to use on the beach ㅡ he could remember crabbing in the harbor with his father when he was younger, the art lost on him now. he remembered the big hardware store bucket they would put the crabs in, and watching them crawl around until they were ready to let them go again. he remembered the tears when they accidentally killed one. silly, he thought, now.

a while ago people stopped passing through this town and the people that lived here grew older. business died and shops closed up. the cream teas and pasties disappeared and so did the spirit. something died in this town a while ago but jimin could never bring himself to leave, not even when everyone else did.

he didn't know how long he had been standing there, staring at the silvery horizon, his hands shoved in his pockets and goosebumps covering his arms. he carried along the shore, his battered shoes sinking into the damp sand with each step.

most of the houses along this shore were old or temporary. people set them up for the summer, tore them down at the end, and he never saw them again. only a few people lived in this town, and even fewer actually on the beach. jimin remembered it was a plan of his mother's, to live on the beach, to have their front door open up on to the sand. his father opted for one of the houses across the street which were bigger and sturdier. somehow his mother convinced him otherwise.

no one lived in the houses across the street anymore. the street was barren, maybe a few structures left up here and there but almost all of them were taken down. jimin only saw people if he actually went into town.

though a few houses were still scattered along this beach, once filled with people who had the same idea as his mother's, he never really saw anyone. there was an old man who used to ride his bike along the shore but it was rare for jimin to see him anymore. a younger couple, the youngest people he'd seen on this beach apart from him, live around here, too. sometimes he goes to have tea with them and he admits they're probably his only friends. but they're bland. he wondered if they used to be full of life like this town was, and their passion passed just the same. some of the houses on the beach were empty, too, and some of them were occupied by people he'd never seen and never met.

when he ventures into town, jimin always makes sure to pass by the tea shop, and greet as many familiar faces as he could. he didn't like to admit it, but he was desperate to hold onto what was left of this place. sometimes he goes to the visitor's center to look at pictures of what this town used to be. there's a picture of him in there. he and his mother sit on the wooden pier attached to the harbor, their feet dangling off the edge. her head is resting on his and her eyes peer into the camera like she couldn't be happier. he asked if he could take it, once, but later decided against it, wanting to keep a piece of him and his mother somehow connected to the town.

most days, nobody ran the visitor center counter, but if he was lucky, jimin would get to talk with someone else who remembered what this place was like. he would ask if there was anything he could do. anything they could change. but the answers were all the same. this town just didn't appeal anymore and there was nothing they could do about it.

so today jimin stayed on the beach. he let the water run over his feet a couple times before he decided it was too cold, even for him, and he began to make the trek back to his house. before he got too far, he heard the long, low rumble of thunder behind him.

jimin looked over his shoulder into the horizon at the growing storm that seemed a lot bigger than before. he frowned and kept walking, the sand hardly any warmer than the water itself.

he wondered how he'd make it through the night.

🌊 ㅡ OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY.

lucy wrote this chapter and that's
why it actually sounds genuinely
british ('cause that's where this fic
is set uwu!) hope yall enjoyed :))