Recall

Rhys

Oceanside was not what Rhys had expected. It was the smallest town he had ever seen. Rhys had lived in the city his entire life, so when his parents told him they got jobs in a town called Oceanside, it was a big surprise. They moved him and his siblings into a large house up on a cliff above Tunnel Beach. It was a much larger house than the one they had in Seattle, but that didn't matter to him. What did matter to him was that he had to start over, make new friends, and go to a new school that was a half hour drive outside of town.

"Do you need help Rhys?" His little sister Alexis asked. She stood at the bottom of the staircase Rhys was in the middle of. She was sixteen years old and the only one who wasn't bothered with the move. The two had been told time and time again that Alexis and Rhys looked more alike than Alexis and her twin brother Cade, but the only thing he saw in common was their eyes. They both had dark brown eyes with different shades of gold swirled throughout them.

"No, I got it," Rhys said, pulling his two suitcases up to the top floor. Upstairs he found a long hallway with eight doors, all of which were closed. His mom had told him that he could have the room at the end of the hallway, the one closest to the edge of the cliff. He dragged his bags up to the door and dropped the heavier one. He pushed the door open with his free hand and looked around. It was a square room with one glass wall facing the ocean. He threw his bags onto the bed and left the room. He needed to get away for a while, it was all too much for him to handle. They had only just arrived and he already missed his friends back home.

He opened the door next to his where his brother was opening his suitcase. "I'm going to go look around town if you want to come?" He asked.

Cade looked up from his suitcase, pushing his glasses back up on his nose. "Are Mom and Dad still outside?" He asked. Rhys hesitated, knowing he was asking if they were still fighting. He was sure they had both agreed on moving to Oceanside, so he didn't understand what they were arguing about this time.

"I think they're in the kitchen unpacking," Rhys said. Cade's room had a smaller window above his bed that was facing towards the large pines surrounding their house. "They found the bikes," He said.

"I guess I'll come, did you invite Alexis?" Cade responded. Cade and his twin sister never got along. Rhys already knew he could only invite one of the two.

"No. We should go now," Rhys said, noticing the clock set up beside the bed reading: 4:33. His parents always enforced family dinners, so they needed to be back before five o'clock. A crash from downstairs echoed throughout the house, making them both jump.

"What are you doing!" A voice yelled from downstairs. Rhys looked to his brother, knowing he would want to escape more now than before. Outside the sun just started to set behind the trees, alerting them to their limited time. Cade nodded and quickly followed his brother out of the house. Their parents, too involved with the argument didn't notice the front door slam shut.

"Your helmet's in the back of the car," Rhys said, tossing him the keys he had taken off the side table. He watched as his brother took them and walked away, he hated seeing his siblings upset. None of the four had ever stood up to their parents and Rhys was tired of it, he just didn't know what to do or say. Cade fumbled with the keys until the hatchback of their family car swung open.

"Do you want yours too?" Cade asked, holding up the black helmet.

Rhys shook his head, and walked around to the side of the house. He picked up the two bikes that leant against the blue paneling of the house and brought them back to his brother.

"Are you sure?" Cade asked again, still holding up the helmet.

"Yeah. Just lock the door and give me the keys," Rhys said. Cade nodded and handed them over, taking his bike from Rhys. The house was on a large property that had a gravel road leading up to it. It was bumpy for them to ride over, but neither complained. At the end of the gravel, where it transitioned into concrete was a small mailbox that looked to be falling over. I'll probably have to fix that, Rhys thought to himself. After the long drive he knew it was just exhaustion, but he was angry at his parents. All their fighting affected his siblings, and he always felt like it was his fault because he never did anything about it. He couldn't fix whatever the problem was, and that hurt him more than he cared to admit.

"Should we go into town?" Cade asked when they reached a point where the road split into two ways. One went into town, and the other was a parking lot in front of the beach.

"Sure, I don't really want to go to the beach yet," Rhys said. The beach was full of people walking along it, whereas the town looked empty. Empty was just what Rhys wanted at the moment. Leading into the town was an old sign that read: Welcome To Oceanside. They road over a small bridge after the sign, but Rhys paused at the end of it. He could see the beginning of the town in front of him, but back behind him in the middle of the bridge was what looked to be a memorial for someone. It was the kind he was use to seeing on the side of highways, but it was on the bridge's railing. A framed picture was in the centre of all the miscellaneous objects. It was a teenage girl. She had short blonde hair, but that was all he could see of her features from the distance. Rhys considered going back to get a closer look, he wasn't even sure why. It just felt like something he should do.

"Rhys, are you coming?" His brother called.

Rhys nodded. "Let's go."

On entrance, the first thing Rhys saw was the hill. All the houses appeared to be stacked on top of each other. At the bottom was the long curving beach. It stopped at the large cliff their house was on but continued past it for miles. He and Cade biked along the first street after the ocean, it was supposed to be the main road, and yet there was little to no cars on it. There were a few small beach houses that were all identical, and then a couple shops across the street.

"Rhys," Cade screamed. He looked to his brother in a panic, praying he was okay, only to see a scratchy red car coming at full speed towards them. He swerved off the road to where his brother had stopped, but the front tire of his bike skidded into a gravel ditch.

Rhys fell off his bike. He tried planting a foot in the ground to stop himself. But it was no use, he tumbled down to the bottom, his head hitting the rocks. The razor shaped pebbles smashed against his head. "Rhys?" He heard in the distance. Rhys looked around, wondering why it was suddenly foggy.

"Cade?" He asked, but his voice came out as a whisper. He tried to look past the mist for his brother, but then everything turned to darkness. "Cade?" He repeated louder. The pain in his head tripled and a flash of white light had him squirming in pain.

"Hey," A feather light voice whispered through the light. Rhys blinked a couple times, until the silhouette of a girl kneeling in front of him appeared.

"Who are you?" He asked. The light started to dim and the girls features became visible. She smiled, her forest green eyes lighting up simultaneously. She brushed her short blond hair behind her shoulder and leaned towards him.

"What d-" The girl started, but a loud voice interrupted before he could hear her answer.

"What happened? I need to hear a full report," the new voice said. At the same time the girl slowly started to disappear the same way she had appeared. Rhys held his head, the feeling of agony returning. "Do you remember what happened?" The same voice yelled.

Rhys nodded. "Where did she go?" He asked. The girl had left so quickly he hadn't even gotten to ask who she was.

"Who?"

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Hope you liked chapter two, and thank you for reading! Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked it, because I always love constructive criticism!