A Walk On The Beach

Chapter 4

Boy

I’M SORTING THROUGH my suitcase that Caitlyn had to pack for me because I can’t pack shit. Anyway, Evelyn bursts through and she’s shrieking and yelling, saying things like, “She’s downstairs! JORDAN! She’s DOWNSTAIRS!”

“Evelyn, you might want to calm down?” I say, slowly closing my case.

She tugs at my shirt sleeve. “Girl – black hair – white summer dress – blue bells – blue scooter – key – beach house – talking – to Tyler – go – Jordan – or you’ll miss her!”

It takes me a moment to realise what she’s on about, even though it becomes perfectly clear when I get downstairs.

“She’s gone!” she gasps. She looks at Tyler, who is building sandcastles at the steps of the house. “Where did she go?”

“Who?” he asks.

Evelyn starts her abbreviated sentence again. Tyler looks as confused as ever. He gives up and is about to enter the house when he stops by me and says, “Hey, a girl stopped by. She’s sixteen years old.”

Evelyn looks at him with disbelief. “That’s what I was trying to get at, Tyler! What is her name?”

Tyler’s face screws up with concentration. “She says it’s a secret.”

Of course. She changes her name all the time. Stephanie said. Her parents let her. So now she’s still a mystery.

I sigh. “Well, thanks anyway, Tyler. Evelyn, come here.”

I take her inside. She looks up at me with big blue eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she says.

“It’s not your fault, Evelyn,” I tell her, because it isn’t. “Now tell me what you know. This girl. Why do you seem so interested in her? You didn’t tell me even after we played Monopoly Island Beach style.”

“Beach Island style,” she corrects me.

“Whatever.”

She giggles. Then she’s serious. “You know that night Daddy sent you out to buy some milk?”

I nod.

“Well, you took quite a while so I went outside to have a look even though Mummy said you were fine. I didn’t listen. I was outside when I saw that girl. She walking bare foot, like you always do.” She takes a deep breath, dramatically. “Her phone rings and she’s rummaging through her bag and her key to her scooter fell out. You then walked by. You saw the key drop, too and picked it up. You were calling for her. I know you shouldn’t. She’s pretty. You’re going to like her so I pulled you in before she turned around.”

“She turned around?” I ask.

Evelyn nods. “She heard you, I’m sure she did, but she was on the phone.”

“Why did you pull me away?” I ask.

She shrugs. “If she’s your girlfriend then who’s going to build sandcastles with me? Tyler can be a bit boring, you know.”

“Who said I liked her?”

Her blue eyes, identical to mine, narrows. “If you didn’t then why did you rush downstairs once you got what I was saying?”

“Er...I was curious,” I tell her.

She shakes her head, blonde curls whirl around her head. She folds her arms across her chest. She’s a spitting image of Caitlyn, which scares me. Caitlyn is rather terrifying. Two Caitlyns. Oh, the horror! Evelyn says, “I may be little, Jordan, but I’m not all that stupid.”

Yeah, I know.

The girl at the house is leaving for a holiday. I want to say hi before it’s too late, but I’m not sure. It is night time and I’m looking out the window to her house. She is sitting on the porch steps looking sad. Her parents are heaving luggage to a car. She is stroking the blue scooter. She speaks with her mother, who smiles and says something. Then they haul the scooter into the car boot.

This is the first time I’ve seen the family together. The father is tall and the mother is petit. Another person emerges from the house. He is taller than the girl. He looks like her brother. He doesn’t seem happy at all. He walks right past the girl, who looks almost angry. But more upset than furious. She goes back into the house. I see her dark figure from the window. She’s moving around. She reaches up to top of the open window and pulls something down. It’s the blue bells. Then she reaches outwards and pulls the window to a close. She pauses and my heart stops. I swear she’s looking right at me. I take a step back into my own shadow.

For some reason, I don’t want to be seen. I hate how I can’t see her but she may be watching my every step. It’s like, why do I have to show myself when she doesn’t?

I’m so childish.

When I look again, she’s gone.