Mysterious Chime (Book #1)

C H I M E 3

³| ENGLAND

Third time waking up to this sight. How lucky? I wondered as I glanced around. Surprisingly my eyes weren't lonely anymore since the place was occupied with lot of sights to take in. Colourful sights indeed. The beach was packed with lovers of the sun, offering their bodies while enjoying the heat and kids digging the life out of sand, building all sorts of things they could other than sand castles. They say third time's a charm.

If anyone had spotted me they might have most likely come to a conclusion that a weird, homeless looking teenager is having a deep slumber rather a sunbath with clothes on-unusual much. Regardless, never have I ever been so happier to see people.

I walked towards a small girl who was busy building a sandcastle and I had second thoughts on interrupting her.

"Hello," I greeted her with a small smile.

"Hi!" she greeted back, her blue eyes gleaming with excitement. At-least someone's delighted seeing me.

"Do you know what this place is?" I asked gesturing to the crowd filled beach.

"It's the beach, you silly." The laughter she burst out into followed by a snort made me feel like I was being called a fool in many different ways. It's a matter of fact that I should learn to be precise with everything since I can't let people jump into another assumption that I'm some crack head. I heaved a sigh of relief at the idea of approaching a kid instead an adult.

"How stupid of me to ask a question like that, yeah?" I smacked my forehead lightly before continuing. "What I intended to ask was where this beach exactly is?"

Oh there it is-the judgemental look an adult would give when hearing their child say their talents could get them to better places. I was getting that right now and I chose to ignore it. She doesn't have to know about me but its fair for her to give that reaction because I was acting like an air head which in reality I am. I have no memory of anything so I am air headed.

"So?" I drawled with the need of getting a response out of her.

"This is England." My jaw dropped at the mention of the country. Is this my birthplace? No this can't be. My accent was far from that of a British inheritor. Also the girl I talked to had a South Australian accent which only means one thing-a foreigner. I assume she's here for summer vacations. That dinged alarms in my head. What year is it even?

"Are you lost or something?" She asked again giving her undivided attention on me now. I can see she's almost done with her sandcastle.

I took this as an opportunity to get half of my questions answered. Chuckling I shook my head ready to show off my drama skills although there's no need of remembering if I had any because it comes naturally to anyone who's desperate and right now I am.

"You have to forgive me for asking such a stupid question. It's just that when I'm in a deep slumber and wake up suddenly, I tend to forget everything around me until a few minutes tick by."
I made a 'pathetic me' face, hoping she would buy the story so I can keep selling until I get my answers.

"Oh! That can happen," she quipped.

"Right? I hope you don't find me weird."

"You're not, it's just that you seem lost," she answered genuinely. If you are looking for an honest answer to an ugly question kids are the solutions. They are considered as God's children where they flow with honesty. Sometimes their honesty is brutal it can hurt.

"So you are on vacation?" In my mind I was ready with palms brushing each other in action.

Something about the question made her bounce on the place she was seated at blissfully. "Yeah, for every summer vacation my parents let me choose a country and this time its England." Money is all I could imagine from her statement. Nevertheless I caught hold onto something intently that would be an answer to one of my questions. It's summer so it's probably around the month of June, July or August.

I rather do this the easy way, I thought.

Bidding my goodbyes to the nice little girl I was talking to I scanned the sun umbrella filled view to spot anyone with a mobile phone. It wasn't really a hard task since half of whom I laid my eyes on had their eyes plastered to their devices. Why can't people simply enjoy the sun without their hands being equipped with anything else. I skimmed and scanned with hawk like eyes for an appropriate person. There, I found an old lady whose face was occupied by a novel but lying boringly next to her was a phone. I'm guessing someone should make use of it. No I wasn't going to steal and make a run for it. Carefully, I walked towards her rehearsing the lines I was going to spit out, mentally.

Sensing my presence she looked up at me with soft brown eyes. Her eyes reminded me of my mother's -comforting. Smiling I greeted,"Hello there."

"Hello to you too, young lass. Is there anything you want?" Was it that obvious? My face flushed with embarrassment and I regretted the idea of going for an adult instead of sticking to the small girl.

"I actually left my phone at home and was hoping if I could borrow yours to call one of my friends. Would that be okay with you?"

The lady's brows lifted with realisation as she dismissed my worries with a flick of her wrist along with the line "Oh! By all means," before offering me her phone.

Just when the screen brightened to life, I gasped. Its the twenty eighth of the month June in the year 2017. How old am I then? I know for one that I'm not any younger to be making sandcastles but wasn't older as well to be reading books while basking underneath the sun like the old lady.

"You know what, I changed my mind. Thank you for helping me though," I returned her warm smile before turning around to leave the beach-this time with the hope of never returning.