A Whole Bunch of Loki's

The Siren's Call - MerLoki

I loved the ocean.

Well swimming in general, even if it was something I didn't do often.

Living out in the country, spending most of my time working and the rest of my time being spend either doing needed household things or many other leisurely distractions meant that I hadn't been in a long time.

In fact, the last time I can even recall being at the beach was in August of 2016 when I was visiting a friend, the heat was beating down on us and as she lived in a beach town we had decided to have dinner on the pier before walking the burning sand of the seafront.

Before that I had been a young teenager, at least fourteen.

Life and money issues just kept getting in the way of any plans for days out, whether it was my own solo one or a family one.

But I had decided to finally give in to my whims and go for a swim in the sea after so many years, I'd booked two weeks off of work and the first four days of week one were going to be spent exploring around a sea town that was a two hour train journey.

It hadn't taken me long to get to my temporary accommodation and set myself up for my stay, I'd arrived in the late afternoon and decided that after an hour of relaxation in my room I would wander around for a while, get accustomed to the lay out of the town and perhaps get a good batch of seafront fish and chips.

I was positioned much closer to the town than I had thought, after catching my bearing and managing to figure out which bus I needed, it had taken me barely fifteen minutes to get to the town centre to begin my adventure.

The centre wasn't big and most of the retail shops were getting ready to close whilst the clubs and restaurants were beginning to thrive with their evening revellers.

As I passed through I took note of places to visit before I left, bookshops, game shops and strange memorabilia shops catching my eye at every turn and inviting me to spend all my hard earned money that was supposed to last me a full month in only a day.

This meant that I'd have to plan carefully.

So I decided that on my first official day that I would go to the beach and have my fun, try not to catch too much sunburn and enjoy my swimming, on the second day I would go to the local arcades and waste time winning prizes or going on rides, the third day would consist of some more beach exploring and maybe some drinks and the final day, before I left for home in the afternoon, would be spent going around the various shops.

My stomach growled and brought a stop to my musings, meaning that it was time for me to get some well needed grub.

I managed to follow the basic flow of the crowd and reached a hill where at the bottom I could see the beach.

At the very bottom of the hill was a small building split into two sides, one selling refreshment and the other beach goods such as buckets, spades and body boards. I knew from the many years of coming here when I was younger that on either side of the building was a bathroom.

From the building, two grey paths sloped into two separated beaches that were emptying quickly as the sea air brought in a slightly chilled breeze.

I made my way down the hill and chose to go to my right, the side we always picked, though rather than going down the slope and onto the sand I continued around on the pavement and walked the edge of the wall that acted as the partition of beach life and town life.

It didn't take long for me to find a small shop selling the food I was after and I soon found myself sitting on the edge of the wall, my legs underneath the protective bar and dangling over so my toes barely touched the sand below.

The nostalgia that flooded back was instantaneous and I'd be lying if I said that it didn't make me just a little emotional, the thought of having at least one more family trip here beginning to take precedence over anything else.

I found that I ate slower than usual, as if that would salvage the moment as I stared out towards the sea.

There was a strange pull about the vast amount of water that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I just felt that I needed to get closer and this peculiar feeling didn't stop by the time I had finished my food.

Heaving myself up, I scrunched up the paper and found a bin to throw it into before I climbed through the metal bars and eased myself onto the cooling sand, the unstable feeling of sand meeting the soles of my shoes throwing me off temporarily.

I moved forward and quickly adjusted to how heavy my feet felt walking across the grains, drawing ever closer to the sea that lapped at the sand and darkened the shore with each wave.

From somewhere that seemed to be coming from the water and yet also somehow from all around me was this strangely melodic sound, one that drew my attention and refused to let it go, like it was a Boa Constrictor that had finally begun to crush its prey.

I hadn't realised how far I had stepped into the water until a cold wave washed over my knees and managed to draw me out of my strangely hypnotic state, the instant chill of the temperature change causing me to squeal a little and quickly retreat further back onto dry land.

Once at a safe distance, I turned back towards the sea and found that I couldn't help but laugh at what had happened.

It reminded me of the time my brother drifted too far out as he lounged in his rubber donut, unable to hear my parents as they frantically called for him to come back until a man had swam out to grab him and bring him back.

Now that his life is no longer in danger it's a funny memory to look back on, aside from the rescuer essentially reprimanding my parents for what happened as if they weren't overprotective enough, but that happens when people jump to presumptions.

I briefly glance down at my jean covered legs and let out a sigh, thanking every God I didn't believe in that I'd brought a spare pair of slip on shoes so that I wouldn't be sloshing around in my sodden trainers.

The peculiar lull from the water seemed to disappear as soon as the water hit me and for that I was thankful, I'd hate to have ended up like my brother, minus the floating device.

I turn my eyes back towards the sea, just in time to spot something.

Somewhere in the distance, I could see the silhouetted outline of a head and shoulders that seemed completely unphased by the waves that seemed to be getting gradually bigger.

If I didn't know any better, I would have said that this figure was staring in my direction and the thought sent an unpleasant chill down my spine until I managed to convince myself that it must be a trick of the setting sun against the constantly shifting ripple.

With a concerned frown, I slowly step back before turning away completely and heading back to climb up the wall, wanting to go back to my room.

I was clearly too tired after a stressful day of travel, that's all it was.