The sun shone upon the sands that shifted to the shape of Aquila's feet. He was embraced by the ocean winds, blowing his salty hair off his Wayfarer shades. The waves crashed at slowly crept to the tips of his toes as he stood in the shores of the empty beach. The light rippled through it clearly, lighting up the grains of sand and the pieces of rock and abandoned shells on the shallow bottom.
Clumps of wet sand flinged to his feet when Seohyeon in a purple surfwear and Euphemia with an orange one ran from his back carrying their surf boards. The crystal waters sploshed by their feet as they rushed through it. The sound of the waves mixed with their silent laughter in the sea air.
Fritz' voice bursted as he leaped off a cliff, "This place is amazing!"
Aquila smiled as he stooped down on his knee to Dawn. He scratched its chin as it offered it some triple-choco-flavored ice cream. He kissed its head as it licked the ice cream on the cone. "I wish the times when I couldn't trust you off-leash came back," he said softly to its face, "You know, because you'd run and run until you get lost." His arm wrapped around its neck, scratching its chest as he dropped to sit down. His fingers picked up his sunglasses and placed it on Dawn's bi-coloured eyes as his mouth chuckled. He huffed silently as the palm leaves crackled and swayed, "I guess I'm sorry for trusting you when it's already too late. But hey, you can't blame me for caring."
It finished the ice cream as it devoured the cone. Its green and amber eyes stared upon the silence of its master. It began licking his arm and slobbering it with ice cream as he chuckled.
He smiled and scratched its chest, making it fall on its back with the pleasure, "We had a nice run, didn't we?" His fingers went to its belly as his stare turned to the waves where Euphemia stood on her orange surfboard as she tried to balance it with her bent knees on the wave while Seohyeon curled her purple board nearby as the sun glimmered on the waters.
Dawn rested its head on his lap and stared up to him silently.
"What the hell am I saying?" he asked silently as he shook his head with his chuckles. "I hope you had an awesome day strolling around the shore with your friends."
The dog licked his fingers and stared back into the sunset.
"Pretty isn't it? Quite a shame that things like that have to go," he chuckled as he stared with it, "Pretty things always go first, because they always get picked first, but it doesn't have to be going away forever."
It ran towards the shore turning its head back to him occasionally.
He smiled, "I guess we can do that." He stood up and grabbed a surf board nearby and walked towards the shore. He chuckled as he watched Dawn trying to chase a tiny crab, it later proceeded to trying to dig it out from its burrow.
The dog later proceeded to Aquila as he heard his whistle. It swam to the warm transparent waters gently flowing and crashing to his waist. Its tounge licked his arm as it carried it on to the top of the surfboard.
He gently paddled his arms to the crystal waters when he lied on his chest. He later flipped on his back and carried the dog on his stomach. He turned his head to the side and stared upon the sting rays on the sands beneath them.
The dog began barking to the water as it looked through its reflection at the side of the board.
"They're sting rays Dawn," he said to its ear, "they won't screw with you if you don't screw with them, so relax."
It turned to the other side of the board and began barking again.
He turned his head to where its stare were. He smiled, "That's a small reef shark, it isn't going to do anything."
It laid on his chest as his hands petted his head. It felt his warmth as it laid its head on his neck while the rays of the sun showered upon them.
The water crept to his back as the waves gently came to them and flooded the surfboard. It made them drift slowly on the clear waters as a school of fish swarmed beneath them. The warm winds brushed to their faces, holding his hair and its fur. It came from the cloudless blue skies that held the sun that seemed to be lower than the last time he noticed. They continued not to notice as it slowly slid down, closer and closer to the ocean's edge in the horizon. The reflection of its red hue grew stronger and stronger on the ocean waters.
The sun turned crimson red. It paved a path in and as it kissed the waters where their stares crossed as it moved towards the sun. It slowly reached for the ocean's abyss, and it was already halfway.
Aquila had one of his cheek rest on the surfboard while the waves came as his stare pierced through the orange glimmers on the to the sunset. He held Dawn's head as it stared quietly to where his eyes were, "That thing gets me every time."
The dog raised its head while never fazing its stare.
"I guess this is how I can pay Avery when he used to bring me here," he said silently as he smiled, "and I guess the love for this and seeing my dear friends enthralled to this makes us similar." He chuckled as his fingers scratched the dog's chin.
Dawn raised its head and turned it to him. It stared at him deeply with its amber and emerald eyes.
He chuckled, kissed the dog and gently wrapped his fingers on its snout with a smile. "Yes Dawn," he said silently, "you're a dear friend, more like a best friend."
The dog shook its head and broke free. It licked his fingers before staring back to the horizon filled with the sun searing crimson red blood. It laid his head back on his chest, as if it's asking for more of his fingers' treatment.
He watched Dawn's eyes eatch the scene, sparkling through the tinted reflections as it ended with the abyss engulfing both the sky and the sea. His arms placed the dog on the edge of the surfboard, as he flipped himself. He paddled with the cool waves while it gently laid itself on his back.
Their bodies soon grew closer to the shore. Their eyes stared upon a fire lighting up the sands with its crackles and the cinders that carried the words their mouths spoke. Its light shine up the people that enjoyed the caramaderie that engulfed them with the silvery smoke. Their feet carried them to it through the waves and the wet sand where the edge of the surfboard left its trails between their footprints as it was dragged through it.
Seohyeon was coughing harshly, "Today was great," she said with her voice hoarser than before. She had a towel covering her cold body in her purple bikini, wrapped around her back with Euphemia's arm as she leaned on her.
Euphemia looked into her eye, "And yet you seem to sound worse," she said as she roasted some marshmallows skewered to a stick with tomatoes and some fruits and some meat.
He sat between the girls and Fritz after they nodded to each other and left Dawn with the other dogs at the side.
The fire engulfed Fritz' kebab as he chewed on bacon. "You want some bro?" he offered him with a pan full of bacon strips, after he swallowed the food in his mouth.
He answered with a nod as he took a few strips. His lips whistled to Dawn, who slowly came to his feet. He smiled as he fed it the bacon and soon the kebab. "Good shit right there, right?"
The German Shepherd approached Aquila as well. It slumped to his legs.
"Lou!" Fritz angrily called out, "You can't eat that."
Lou approached his master, Fritz. It snatched a stick of kebab and went back to the dogs.
"Goddamn it."
Aquila chuckled. He took the whole pan of bacon and took a burger and a hotdog from the bag behind him. His smile came to his face as he watched Dawn consume each strip, a lot at a time, and finish with licking off every inch of grease before proceeding to devour the hotdog and the burger with 3 and 2 bites respectively.
The other stared at him with a silent smile. They all knew what was happening, and they all felt the same way on what they should do. They knew that they didn't and they shouldn't say a word.
His eyes started to glimmer to the flames. Tears soon overtook his eyes. He closed it, as a drop escaped from the edge of his eye. He didn't see darkness, instead he could see a red orange hue in his eyes. He could feel the fire's warmth in front of him. He soon felt the embrace of fingers on top of his hand. And soon he felt arms, as it pulled more warmth towards him as the grains of sand upon where he sat gave his legs a warm and rough embrace. He later felt his tear slide down his cheek, before it gave the back of his hand a lukewarm touch.
The reddish glow in his enclosed eyes soon faded into darkness. The warmth of hands on his back disappeared in an instant. The grains of sand soon grew to grass as the cold embrace of water engulfed his legs. The warm touch on the back of his hand was soon followed by the cold pokes on his body coming from above as the sound of silence of the sea was replaced by the sound of the rain beating the ground.
He soon felt a hand on his shoulder as he opened his eyes. He sweeped his hair covering his eyes with its waves to the side. His stare locked blankly to the image of Dawn, a concrete memento staring back at him with its tounge out.
The hand behind him tapped his shoulder, and the rain had stopped falling on his head. The sound of the rain battering an umbrella came to his ear from over his head. But the cold never grew weaker, not even a hint of warm.
It was Euphemia. She offered him some white flowers. Her arm began to shake lightly as she held the flowers to the side of his face. She was hesitating on something.
"Flowers," he said silently.
"Uh, yeah."
He huffed a breath of silver, "That wasn't question."
She arched her brow and sat beside him. "What was it then?"
His stare never moved, he was silent for moments. "A thought that went too loud."
"Keep thinking loud thoughts," she said, "sometimes it helps, and I might be able to help."
"I was just wondering if it will really remind me of its purpose," he said silently.
"Huh?"
"Flowers," he said as he pulled the neck line of his grey cotton sweater, "will it remind me of how beautiful her life was, even though I just noticed because I knew she was going to be gone?"
She smiled, "Well, try to see it in my perspective."
He turned to him as he took out the picture of Dawn with him and Kyliegh. He held it between his fingers.
She leaned towards him, "Try to see the hope that something beautiful will bloom after," she said softly to his ear, "something beautiful that distracts them now, and will make them forget."
He stared blankly on the wet photo, "By will, you mean could."
"Could is better than can't," she said with a smile. She snatched the photo from his fingers, "And you should start trying now." Her fingers started to dig a hole in the grass.
He grabbed her wrist tightly, "I want to do that myself."
"Really?" she mocked, "You were taking so long, too long, like you weren't planning to really."
He shrugged as he his eyes turned back to the memento, "I can't keep doing this."
She tossed the photo into the hold and pushed the mulch of mud back to where it came, "That's why you have us."
"You should stop giving me false hope," he said blankly.
She shook her head, "I'm giving you plain reasons," she said smiling, "it's up to this," she pointed to his chest where his heart was, "it's up to this to decide which is genuine hope and which isn't," she continued, "not this," she added as she poked his forehead, "because it can't."
"Hmph."
"It's up to you and your heart to whether fulfill or not the purpose that all fairy tales share," she said, "to tell young, brave and bold hearts to believe that there's always happy endings, or at least there are hidden admist the shit storm coming closer to them as they grow up."
"Bu-"
"Shh," she interrupted, "I know what you're thinking," she said, "but sometimes reality tends to end like a fairy tale unlike the bullshit mainstream beliefs of children wanting to sound like they're mature."
He leaned and rested his head to her shoulder, "I still can't go to the hospital to see her like that," he said as his voice shook with his head, "I can't go through this again."
"Go through what?"
"Be helpless," he said, "I can still see Dawn's eyes as she gave her last look into the world." He shook his head, "She wasted it on me, she could have spent it on something better, like the scene painted by my garden and the clouds in the blue sky as it was lit by the sun," he grimaced silently, "the last sun she would see."
She bumped his shoulder with hers, "Hey," she called out sternly, "she'll make it out of thast hospital."
His eyes widened, "Oh, sorry." It quickly grew sad and worried, "But still, Dawn, I can still remember it clearly."
She chuckled as she shook her head, "Dawn didn't waste it," she smiled, "she knows she's going to see the same thing anyway," she said. "But she'll never meet someone like you up there, at least for a long time."
"If there really is something up there."
"Hey," she whispered, "I'm don't have a god too, but its better to have something to give you some hope from time to time right?" She embraced him, "And let's be honest, we both need it. We both need it for Dawn, and for her," she said, tapped his back and stood up. "Now, let's go," she smiled and began to walk towards the glass exit, "she needs us at the hospital, hoping that she'd make it, hoping that we'd be there to watch her go through it every last second."
He turned his head to her as she continued to walk between the Japanese lanterns on the paved path in his garden. He gave the cold winds bringing the rain a sigh. His legs stood him up as his eyes stared at the memento. He bent his knees as he reached his hands towards its head, while the rain mixed with his tears. He smiled as he petted the stone on his palm, "We had a nice run, didn't we?"