⫸Ocean's Soliloquy⫷

Chapter 3

Layla was finally free from the presence of her father, as they finally arrived at the hotel he promised. She wasn't excited, but she knew her father would love for her to get out of his sight as much as possible, and that's the only thing they can agree on.

She eagerly hopped out the car, only wanting to bring her photo and toy; she stuffed them into her bag and couldn't stop the smile forming on her cheeks. Perhaps this holiday won't be so bad as she imagined.
Her father wanted a smoke before checking in, so Layla was free to wander around the sided beach, however, remained uncomfortable from the ashy gaze. Her little legs carried her to the sand in fits of glee, kicking off her shoes carelessly and crouching in the crystal stones. She never felt so free, so in the clouds with joy. The term ecstasy was an understatement.
She desperately wanted to swim away forever, but the problem was she couldn't swim at all, due to her father's beliefs it is a waste of time for her. She scorned her father's voice and decided to look for shells, however afraid she will pass time too soon and end up having to go back to her father.
She halted those thoughts, however, and her body tensed and her happiness was drained quicker than lightning. She skipped her way along the sand, running beside the stone walls, eyeing the coast for anything that catches her eye. Her feet flicking up the grains so rapidly, but soon came to a stop at the sight of a quick glimmer in the corner of her eye; she finally found something she could keep. A hollow coned shell sat buried in the sand, damp and solitary. Its white twirled shape stuck out the very best, and Layla was beyond eager to take it and claim it as her own. She pulled it out of its sand prison and brushed the wet grains off with her fingers, holding her hands in a cup to get a better look. Her eyes lit up like matches and she stood to her bare feet, still admiring its structure.
Like a craning ghost, a shadow dawned over her, and she gasped and shot her head around, being greeted by her father's distant eyes. And though he was terrifying in his attire, she obeyed the clear message he got across just with a glare. She placed the shell inside her bag and quickly ran back past the stone walls and up a slanting to the pavement, finding her shoes in the same space she left them.
Her father almost teleported, already walking with harsh steps from beside her to the hotel doors, white royal columns turning grey with his miserable air.
She strapped her sandals back on and hesitantly followed, but grateful she had the opportunity to connect with the beach again, it felt like years.

Her feeble form brought itself into the lobby of the hotel, polished white and gorgeous chandeliers, carpets rough and sleek, also white like snow, like a mansion of a Queen. She enjoyed the atmosphere, but the hoary colours of her father dimmed the lights, and brought a twisting feeling inside her gut. At least she knew she will be fed real food.
Her father was walking much faster than her, the elevator door opened and she dashed to get inside. She didn't notice the mother and child inside the cell, only her father whose eyes were like cracked moons, yet their features took away everything that makes a moon. She simply avoided eye contact and stared at her toes, still half caked in sand. She begged the sunlight to come back; the doors opened, and the window which stared from the other end of the hallway beamed with light, and she bathed in its warmth. It faded away once her father stepped in front of her, walking without a word to the room which she dreaded to stay in. Her heart made sounds like thunder and she followed with hesitated haste. She forbade to say a word and knew what to do: she stepped in after her father and instantly made her way to the smaller room, quickly closing the door and exhaling her held breath. 
She threw her bag onto the bed and got up onto the rather soft white sheets. She took out her things, speckles of sand landed themselves on the bed, making her pout in annoyance.
She paid no mind, for she loved her shell she found, its pretty shape somehow pulling her into a trance, it was a formulation of marble and calcium carbonate. The white cloud colour contrasted with her hand, making her at last smile.
She placed it to her ear, and just like a fairytale she heard the sea, beyond the boundless ends of the earth.