The next day, Shannon opened her eyes slowly and immediately closed them again as the daylight hit her. She thought back to last night and groaned as she remembered. They had partied for hours at the bar and then carried on the party back at the house. Just as she was wondering why the daylight was so bright in her bedroom, she felt something that felt like water drops hit her on the face.
"What the...." She said out loud as she opened her eyes properly and noticed she wasn't in her room. She tried to sit up and her head throbbed, then she realised that she was in fact outside, on a sunlounger and it was now raining.
"Oh no" she groaned as she dragged herself up and off the lounger and spotted Maxi, Karen, Heath and Whippet all fast asleep on the other loungers by the pool.
"Guys c'mon, get up" she croaked as Karen and Heath got up and wobbled inside, Whippet had now also woken up, rolled off his lounger and started to crawl inside slowly.
"Maxi, c'mon" Shannon said, shaking him
"No, not time for school" he slurred
Shannon laughed "Maxi, it's raining and you're outside, get up"
"How did we get here" he asked her as he sat up with a jump
"I have no idea but I say we get inside" she replied as she attempted to run towards the house.
The house was very quiet and Shannon saw that Karen and Heath were now nowhere to be seen and Whippet was gulping water from a bottle.
"You ok?" Shannon asked him as he finished the bottle, smiled at her and nodded.
Maxi came crashing into the kitchen and nearly fell over but Whippet managed to catch him and all three of them started to laugh.
"Oh god" groaned Maxi "I have to be in work in two hours"
"Me too mate" said Whippet, still laughing
"And Kailan" added Shannon
"Where is he?" asked Maxi, looking into the living room
"Dunno" shrugged Shannon "I'll check my room"
Shannon headed to her room and quietly pushed the door open as to be honest, she had no idea who was in there.
She giggled to herself as she found Kailan and Jesse both asleep on her bed, snoring loudly.
"Guys" she whispered, to no response
"Kailan" she said a little louder and she touched him lightly on the arm.
"Huh" Kailan mumbled as he opened his eyes
"You'd better get up, you're at work in a couple of hours" she said softly.
"Am I in work today?" mumbled Jesse
"I have no idea Jesse" laughed Shannon
"No you're not buddy" replied Kailan, patting him on the arm.
"Good" groaned Jesse "Coz I think I might actually be dead"
Kailan dragged himself out of the bed and gave Shannon a sleepy smile "You want me to move him babe?" he asked, nodding at Jesse who was now snoring again.
"Nah, leave him" Shannon smiled back and they crept out of her room and went back into the kitchen.
Whippet was now pouring coffee into mugs and Maxi had sat at the table, resting his head in his hands.
"We better come alive quickly guys" said Kailan "Hoppo will kill us if we turn up to work like this"
"I have just the thing" said Shannon as she opened the fridge and pulled out a box of eggs and a huge pack of bacon and sausages.
"Shannon saves the day" cheered Whippet and Maxi waved his arms in the air.
Shannon fried all the food as she figured that they would need the grease and they ate in silence. After another huge mug of coffee each, Kailan, Whippet and Maxi were ready to face the day and go to work. Shannon gave Kailan a kiss goodbye and as Maxi and Whippet followed Kailan out the door they both leaned towards her with their lips pouted and giggled. Shannon laughed in return and gave them both a kiss on the cheek and waved all three of them off as they walked towards the beach looking a lot brighter than they had earlier.
Shannon cleared away the plates they had used, poured herself a large glass of orange juice and took it outside. It had stopped raining now and the sun had started to appear. Shannon loved it when the sun was warm but not too hot so she wanted to make the most of the peace and quiet. She sat in the big comfy lounger and closed her eyes.
"Morning again" croaked a voice beside her. She opened her eyes to see a very pale looking Jesse sit on the end of her lounger.
"Good morning sunshine" she smiled
"Sorry about taking over your bed Shan" he said sheepishly.
"Not a problem Jesse, I wouldn't have gone back to bed anyway so you're very welcome" she replied
Darren popped his head out of the kitchen doorway and waved at them both "Anyone want a cuppa?"
"I'd love a coffee mate" replied Jesse as Shannon shook her head and held up her orange juice in reply.
"I wonder how much we drank last night" said Jesse
"I woke up outside so it's a mystery to me" replied Shannon and they both burst into laughter.
Darren joined them and handed Jesse his coffee and they continued to laugh about the previous nights antics when Jesse's phone started to ring.
"Oh bloody hell it's Yatesy" he groaned "I hope I don't have to go into bloody work" and he got up and walked back towards the house talking into his phone.
Darren wandered over to the pool and stood on the edge so Shannon ran up behind him and tried to push him in. He was too quick for her though and easily overpowered her and threatened to push her in, holding her over the edge of the pool and laughing.
Jesse came back into the garden as Darren pulled Shannon back to safety but they both stopped laughing when they saw Jesse's face.
"Everything ok mate?" asked Darren
"They've had three deaths on the beach today" Jesse replied quietly
"Bloody hell" exclaimed Darren "Three?"
"Kids too" Jesse added
"Oh how awful" said Shannon
"Yeah" nodded Jesse "Yatesy said Kailan and Maxi are really cut up about it"
"I need to go down there then" said Shannon standing up
"I'll come with you" said Jesse "In case I need to cover for anyone"
They were heading straight down to the beach when Jesse stopped and grabbed Shannon's arm to stop her.
"What's up?" she asked him
"I should warn you what it's like down there when this happens" he replied.
"Ok" Shannon said, wanting to keep going but was very aware that Jesse was being quite serious
"When we lose people or can't save them or whatever the case may be" he started "Well it hits us all really hard"
"I can't even begin to imagine" Shannon said
"Don't be upset if Kailan doesn't want to talk or if he wants to be alone ok" he added with a sympathetic smile "It doesn't happen very often luckily but we all try to get on with it as best we can"
They started walking again and as they got to the lifeguard tower there were a good few ambulances there and a group of children who looked around ten or eleven years old were huddled together, crying uncontrollably.
Jesse and Shannon walked into the lifeguard tower to find Hoppo talking to Kailan, Yatesy and Maxi
"Do you need me to cover at all boss?" asked Jesse
"That would be great Jesse if you can" replied Hoppo "I reckon Kailan and Maxi should go home"
"I've said I'm good thanks" said Kailan sternly
"And I've said you're done for the day" replied Hoppo
Maxi nodded at Hoppo and walked out of the tower and Shannon squeezed his arm as he went past her and he gave her a small smile back. Kailan followed but was very quiet and didn't even look at Shannon as he walked past her. Shannon smiled at Hoppo, Jesse and Yatesy and turned to follow Kailan out of the tower.
"Kailan, wait" she called after him as he marched up the road.
"Kailan" she shouted again as she caught up with him and he stopped, still not looking at her.
"What can I do?" she asked him, taking hold of his hand
"Nothing babe" he sighed "I am horrible company right now so I'm better off going home alone"
"Ok, I understand" she replied
"It was a group of school kids and they went swimming" he explained "They all got into trouble and we just couldn't get to them all and three of them got swept out"
"You did your best" she said quietly, pulling him into a hug,
He hugged her back tightly and then released her slowly,
"I'm gonna go home babe" he whispered
"Ok" she replied "But remember if you wanna talk, shout, get drunk or do something crazy I'm here for you"
He nodded and winked at her, turned and jogged up the road towards his apartment. Shannon watched him until he was out of sight and then went home herself, hoping that he would be ok.