Cold of the Sea

Chapter One: Hopelessness

The day was warm, the humidity in the air only making it worse. Fortunately, a cool breeze continuously ran through the streets of the small ocean side town. Naturally, the breeze carried a sea-salty scent.

In the garage of a medium sized house sat Keith, working away on a half built motorcycle. The teen wiped away the sweat from his forehead with the already nasty cloth he had resting around his neck. With a tired sigh, he leaned back and looked at his work.

He was, nonetheless, disappointed at the slowed progress. It was unfortunate, he no longer had the proper drive to do much in his life. The town he resided in lived a slow, placid life. Nothing changed, nothing was new. Everyone knew everyone, and to be honest, Keith hated it.

And with hating the town he lived in he'd learned to hate the ocean. It tempted him wth a much more adventurous life, but yet he was human and could not live in the depths he envied. He rarely visited the beach anymore, it only served to make him feel worse.

He wished that something would happen. Anything, at all. He really didn't care as long as it provided a break from his daily struggles and turmoil. With a frown he decided he was done for the day. He just couldn't stand to sit here and have to do something that he knew would only be a failure.

"Keith!" Came a call from inside the house.

"Yeah? What is it, Shiro?" Keith answered as he began to clean up his work area.

"Dinner's ready and Allura's over!" His older brother responded.

Keith rolled his eyes, despite how he enjoyed Allura's presence and thought she was cool, he wished she wouldn't be here so often. She should either move in or chill with her visiting. She was taking away his time with his brother, and thus weakening their bond. He hated how he hated her being around. He really did want to be happy with her there.

He knew his brother was beyond happy with her, and he really did want to be happy for him. Despite that he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but negative feelings for the situation.

When he was done cleaning up, he made his way to the dining room. Allura was there, setting up the table, and he assumed Shiro was still in the kitchen.

"Keith! How've you been?" Allura smiled politely as he entered, angling her head to make eye contact.

"Fine," Keith immediately avoided looking at her, not wanting to show his discomfort.

"Shiro, love, Keith's here!" Allura exclaimed happily.

"I'm coming!" Shiro entered, holding multiple containers of food, not a minute after replying.

"Hey Keith, how's the bike going?" The older male offered his parental smile with his caring question.

"It's going fine." Keith tried his hardest to hide his internal conflict, but it came out a little too forcefully.

Allura and Shiro exchanged worried looks, they had noticed how Keith had been off more recently. More off than normal. Nevertheless, all three sat down at the table and began to serve themselves.

Dinner was tense and awkward, only occasional words being exchanged, and mostly between Shiro and Allura. Any attempts at conversing with Keith failed quickly, and so there were no longer attempts made.

Immediately after Keith was finished he got up, cleaned his plate, and then walked to his room. Flopping on his bed, he sighed. He no longer had any idea what he was doing with his life. He could remember his faraway dreams of grandeur from when he was a kid. To work for NASA. To become a world famous artist. He no longer felt the same excitement for those things. Only an empty space. A sense of ennui, almost.

"Keith! Allura and I are going to her's for the night! Make sure to lock up if you go out and don't stay up or out too late!" Shiro called up the stairs to his little brother.

"Okay!" Keith yelled back, knowing full well he probably wouldn't follow anything Shiro asked of him.

"Alright, see you tomorrow!" Was the ending statement to the sort-of conversation before there was an obvious opening and closing of the door.

If someone was to break in, then so be it. He couldn't care less for it. Nothing in this house was very valuable and his life even less so; besides, who in this godforsaken town would want to rob them?

                                   ---

After a few hours, by the time it was past midnight, Keith was fed up staying in his dark, cramped, and messy room. Huffing, he pushed himself up from his position on his bed and walked to his door.

When he grabbed the cold metal handle he couldn't help but glance at his body length mirror which was situated to the right of him. He despised what saw. Even though the only light in the room was the night sky rolling in from the window, he could still make out the painful looking dark circles under his eyes. His hair was messily falling out of its ponytail; his face was set in an eternal scowl, eyes blank and dark. He offhandedly noticed that he had lost weight, and a lot of it.

His clothes hung baggily on him and his skin was unusually pale. To prevent any further self loathing, his head snapped away from his reflection and he all but ran from his room. Downstairs, he pulled on his shoes and left the house with a slam of the front door. He hadn't even brought his phone, never mind his keys.

He strolled down the sidewalk languidly, he wasn't positive where his feet wanted to take him but he knew he was heading in the direction of the beach. He lost his ability to care that he would only feel terrible, well, more terrible than currently, if he saw the open water.

It didn't take him very long to make it to the sandy shoreline. His eyes roamed the abandoned scenery, watching the waves crash on the ground. Within moments Keith's shoes, shirt, and jeans were off and he was running uncontrollably to the water. He didn't care where his clothes landed, he just wanted to feel the familiar encompassing cold of the sea.

He imagined the feeling of the ocean would be as close as he could get to the zero gravity of space. He swam with a vigor he didn't feel, far out into the dark unknown expanse in front of him. When he got far enough out to the point where the waves no longer bothered him, he floated on his back. He didn't care if he would float too far out. In fact, some part of him wanted it to happen.

Keith's eyes glared up at the moon and stars, jealous of their ability to stay up in space. Ignoring the slight feeling of being watched and the almost wariness of being so exposed, he closed his eyes. A slight, freezing breeze fell across the surprisingly tranquil waters. To Keith, the atmosphere around him was now serene and calm; he could feel himself almost fall asleep.

His consciousness slipped from him, the feeling in his body left, and he was no longer aware of his surroundings.