Into the Shifting Tides

Chapter 2: Meeting Disaster

After a minute of moderate paddling, she finally reached the shore in one piece. Collapsing in the crystal white sand her body eased from tension. She can finally breathe comfortably. But there was another problem which shook her awake, her body bolting up to a sitting position.

"Where am I?!" she screamed. The beach she was brought to by the mysterious event last night wasn't clearly a part of her hometown, it wasn't the same beach as before.

There were washed out barrels, wooden planks, broken crates and many more strange things near to where she sat. There is even a broken pole with dirty and old sail just right off the corner.

Pushing herself up to a standing position to get a better view around her new surroundings, she saw what seemed to be a human figure from afar lying down in the sand. Her curiosity kicked in and she walked towards the unmoving figure. "Please I hope it's not a dead person," she whispered, or else she will be haunted by the memory of it until the end of her days.

As she gets closer, she noticed that it was a guy, maybe around her age or a little older. He has a light brown skin, his medium length hair reached above his shoulders and is raven black with brown highlights on some end strands, sharp jaw line, a typically average body, a gold earring in his right ear, he wears a loose white long sleeved shirt tucked in a dark navy blue pants pairing with a silver belt and some buttons on top his shirt were undone showing a glimpse of his broad chest, overall... He's quite good looking.

Out of the blue, she suddenly slaps herself lightly waking her senses from inappropriate thoughts. "Get yourself together! Don't get distracted!" Mherdelle reminded herself. She knew she had been starring at the guy for like several minutes mesmerized by his appearance before she even noticed that she was drooling over his good looks. Well, not literally drooling...

"Uh... Hey! You there... Are you dead?" she asked stupidly, lightly kicking the man's side instead of shaking him awake, "Hey mister. Are you OK?"

But after a few tries, she fails to receive any response. "Oh my Gosh! A dead body!!!" she screamed frightened as she took several steps back. "May your soul rest in peace," she said, then she gestured the sign of the cross. "And please don't haunt me, I still want to live!" she pleaded brushing her hands together while looking at the sky. "But I'm sorry I couldn't give you a proper burial." Because she knew she couldn't handle carrying a lifeless body around, or bury him herself at the beach. "But I could get you some flowers instead. Just don't haunt me."

"You're noisy," said a manly voice which caught her attention. Her eyes immediately diverted back to the man whom she thought were dead.

"You're alive?!" Mherdelle exclaimed, surprised.

"Aye," the man replied, his eyes then flickered open. His metallic silver irises seemed like a foggy glass underneath the glorious morning sun, but it was sharp. "And did I just heard you said something about a funeral or is it a burial? Care to elaborate that?" he added.

"Oh that!" she laughed nervously. "You must be hearing things."

The man pulls himself up to his feet to a standing position, removing the sand off his clothes, then unexpectedly, he pulled out a pistol attached on the side of his belt and aimed it directly at Mherdelle. Both frightened and surprised, she immediately threw her hands in the air as she stood still in her tracks.

"The heck! What are you doing?!"

"Just checking something," the man replied.

"How can you be just checking something with that 'thing' pointed towards me?!"

The man still didn't answer nor move his sight away from her. His silver eyes bores threat and danger.

"Look, I never harmed you nor threatened you, I just thought you're dead because you're not moving a single muscle when I found you," she explained, but he looked uninterested. "Could you just put the gun away from my face and let me go peacefully or... maybe we could talk this out?"