Ocean's Eye

Chapter 1: Gift from a stranger

It was the last boat tour of the year and Ocean was finally ready to switch from his part-time job as a deck assistant of the lake to his full-time position working at the Casino Niagara for the rest of the year. It was a simple pattern he's been following for the past 2 years since the Casino's conception. He was lucky enough to get in during their mass hiring for their grand opening. Him doing full-time from fall to winter and then part-time in the summer working on many of the tourist boats that lour tourists into the mist of the falls. The pay might not be much but it was much more than if he was solely working at the casino. As much fun as the boat tours were he's always enjoyed the autumn season which exchanged the heat of long summer days and unbearable humidity coupled with the harsh sun that burnt one's skin in exchange for a lovely cool breeze and falling leaves of gold, brown and red. Not only was fall a season trailing into the great reset that was winter but fall was also the time of year when he could relax before the great winter rush when people from all walks of life would flood into the city to escape for the holidays.  

Packing up his stuff and walking down the stairs, his feet crossed the metal bridge for the last time that year before they set the boats away for the winter. The young man was sad to be parting with his summertime cruise but was also happy that the icky sticky heat of summer would finally be gone and in turn, he would be met with the cold, silent barren world that mother winter creates every year. Winter is my second favourite. He thought with a slight smile tugging at his lip.

"What a lovely tour." Ocean looks up and sees an old woman with a cane and a hunched back clad in a black overcoat and large woolly scarf wrapped so high around her neck all that showed weir her eyes and nose. He paused and stared back at the roaring falls as the white spill from the lip of the lake poured into the valley below.

"Indeed it is the last tour of the year hope you enjoyed it." He gives the woman a friendly smile before slinging his black duffle bag onto his shoulder and pulling up his pants. They were one size too big for the lean man but he wore them anyways because his girlfriend Fefee got them for him from some expensive store called Levi's back in Toronto. He wanted to show her how much he appreciated the gift so he's been wearing them nearly every day even though they're slightly inconvenient he constantly reminds himself to invest in a good belt so he doesn't have to keep pulling them up every time he walks.

"Oh, young man may I ask you a favour." She says with a light voice. The women had the type of worn-out voice only the elderly possess when their time is near due. He looks at the pale woman and then up at the setting sun which is slowly being shrouded by rolling gray clouds. 

"Can you take a photo of me? I'm travelling alone and would like to send photos back to my family." She says pulling out a kodak disposable camera out from her coat pocket and shakily handing it to him. Her hands were white as snow and veins snaked up her hands bulging prominently under her paper-thin skin. As he took the camera his finger brushed hers and he nearly dropped the kodak after grazing her cold skin. It was only 2 degrees outside yet her flesh felt like it had been submerged in a bath of ice a chill so cold that it travelled from her flesh to his sending an undesirable chill down to the bone. 

Trying to shake off the feeling of her touch he sets his bag down next to him and winds up the dial on the back of the camera until it stops. Taking a few steps back and peering into the viewfinder he angles the camera so the background of the boat and the falls can be seen behind the old woman.

"Alright 3..2..1" The camera gives a satisfying click as the dial resets. 

"Here you go." He says handing the camera back to the woman and picking up his bag.

"Oh thank you so much." With a simple head nod, he begins walking away but stops when a cold boney hand is placed on his shoulder. Turning around he peers down at the old lady with shifty eyes. He watches as her gray irises dart back and forth before she reaches into her coat pocket once again and retrieves a silver chain with a pendant hanging in the center.