Repeat (A Once Upon A Time Fanfiction / Captain Swan's Daughter)

4

It felt like it was later than midday, but the small hand on the town's clock was only pointing at the 11. I had no idea whether there were any libraries or other public places I could quietly sit in for the remainder of the day.

"Excuse me." I turned to see a polite elderly man waiting for me to move from the doorway. I was standing and blocking the entrance to Granny's diner, and knew I really had to find somewhere to go.

I walked towards a signpost, as I couldn't see very far into the distance. I used to wear thick black glasses every day, but there was a boy in my class when I was 12 who started bullying me for it. He was one of the stupid boys who wasn't clever enough to come up with proper insults, so was just mean to everybody and mocked their insecurities. Since then, I've only worn my glasses when I was alone.

One arrow on the signpost had the word 'Beach' neatly painted on in white paint. You could tell that it was paint, because one drop of paint had rolled down from the top to the bottom of the letter 'C'. There was no doubt that the beach was where I wanted to go. I had never been on a proper vacation. The closest to a vacation I've had is camping in an old friend's back yard, but it rained heavily and we had to go back inside. It was embarrassing that I was 15 years of age and had no memories of a nice day at the seaside. I didn't even have any memories of a mediocre day at the seaside, or a bad day at the seaside.

I took a road that took me directly towards a small dock. There were one or two small sailing boats, but it was the huge ship that caught my eye. It looked like the sort of ship you'd see in an fairy tale book or a fancy museum. If a couple of pirates with overgrown beards, cutlasses, and hooks as hands, I wouldn't be shocked. I had always thought boats were beautiful. I never understood why anybody would choose a ridiculously expensive modern car over a beautiful ship or yacht.

After I'd finished admiring the vessel, I turned to walk towards the golden sand. The beach was completely empty, so nobody would see if I were to skip until I found a spot to sit. I had only ever build sand castles in an old sandbox in kindergarten, but this sand felt nothing like the dull, gritty sand I once played in. The sand that coveted the seashore was soft and bright. The sun's rays had been beating down onto the coastline all morning, so the sand was warm against my feet.

I found a section of beach where the sand was damp, but not wet enough to soak through the material of my rucksack. I first put down my converse shoes, tucking my socks and the shoelaces inside the shoe. I them out my bag over the top of them. Like I said, so nobody would be able to steal my things without me getting there first. I hadn't yet met anyone in this town who looked capable of committing a crime, but growing up in the foster system had made me very cautious. I often found it hard to trust people, which lead to me putting a metaphorical wall up, which lead to me not having very many friends.

I dipped my toes into the salty water. I was at the very edge of the sea, so my feet only touched the wave for a few seconds before the water was pulled back towards the horizon. Despite the cold, I took a few steps forward to have the sea water rise to above me ankles. I didn't need to worry about the water reaching my clothes, because I was wearing high waisted black shorts. They had once been jeans, but my legs grew and I didn't want to waste my money on buying a pair of shorts that looked like the shop owner had cut them with a bread knife anyway. My shorts actually looked a lot neater than some of the distressed denim shorts I had seen on mannequins in shop windows.

After a few minutes, the cold water was starting to affect the rest of my body. Once I had shivered, I decided it was time to lie down on the sand and dry off in the warm sunshine. I took off my faux leather jacket, rolled it up, and used it as a pillow. I took my glasses out of my bag, unfolded the arms, and put them on. I then took out my book before zipping up my bag again. The book I had with me was Snow White, which I knew was a book for little children, but it always put me in a good mood.

The heat from the sun and the calming book must have relaxed me so much that I fell asleep. When my eyes reopened, the sky was no longer a bright shade of blue. There were dark clouds and cold waves were angrily splashing into my legs.