Deep

Deep Chapter 1:

 

The sand was burning the soles of my feet, but I didn’t mind. I liked the way the sand felt hot under my skin as the cool breeze came in off the gulf. It was the last day of summer vacation and surprisingly, I was ready to go back to school. Back to the safety and routine of the same classes everyday.

This summer had been nothing special, as I had hoped. I worked the lifeguard post at South Beach on the weekends and I watched Mrs. Page’s kids on the weekdays. I planned to keep lifeguarding during the school year, but not for any pay. After labor day most of the tourists were gone, and the locals all went to Dolphin Point. Dolphin Point was a section of beach with a little cove where the rich kids would take their boats to swim and get drunk. So there would be nobody to watch and I could relax in the seemingly infinite Florida sun.

I picked my aviators up off of the railing of the lifeguard station and slid them on to my eyes. The water was blue and it was a nice day. There were a few tourists taking pictures of their toddlers getting wrecked by the waves and a few older local ladies trying to soak up the last of the summer sun. This was the typical crowd on South Beach. Nobody my age ever went here. They never had reason to.

I climbed out of the station to stretch my legs. I went down to the waters edge and dipped my toes in. It was warm still, but usually by this time in the Gulf Shores it would begin to cool off. I saw a shadow of a person coming behind me and I spun around.

It was a little boy, maybe 7 or 8.

I bent down a little bit to talk to him. “Hi, can I help you?”

The boy looked a little frightened and took a step back. “Can you come help me?” the boy muttered.

“Of course, what is it?” I asked as I began to walk with him to a few people near the pier. He didn’t answer.

On one towel was a girl, maybe a little older than me laying sprawled out on her side, and hovering next to her was the other lifeguard from a little farther down the beach, Ryder.

“What’s going on here?” I asked as I crouched down next to the girl laying unconscious.

“Thats my sister.” the boy said.

“Can you tell me what happened to her?” I was trying to stay calm but nothing this eventful had happened under my watch.

Ryder removed her shell necklace to take her pulse on her neck. After waiting for a response that didn’t come I bent down to help Ryder.

“I think she’s unconscious.” Ryder finally said. Ryder was not very smart, but very handsome. He had dark features and tanned skin and a tattoo of something in Italian on his back. He was an avid swimmer too, and was on the school swim and surf teams.

I turned again to the little boy, “Can you tell us what happened to your sister so we can help her?” I put my hand on the boys’ arm. He turned over and handed me a Nalgene bottle. I opened it and sniffed it. Yep, definitely alcohol.

I handed the bottle to Ryder and after he smelled it he picked the girl up and started to carry her back to his station.

“What is your sisters’ name?” I asked the boy after he told me his name was Lucas.

“Caroline.”

I took the boy to Ryders’ station while Ryder called the ambulance and I called the parents.

The man, who I assumed to be the father, was quite stern and said that someone named “Kyle” would pick up Lucas.

Nearly 30 minutes later, a white Range Rover pulled up. The young man stepped out of the car and onto the boardwalk and waved in our direction. Lucas spotted him from the station took off toward the car. The shadowed figure of a tall boy on the boardwalk cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to me, “Thank you.”

Ryder and I sat in his station for a while and talking.

“That was pretty exciting, huh.” Ryder said, nudging me with his shoulder.

“I guess. Nothing ever happens here. I hope that girl’s okay though.” I replied.

Ryder nodded and smiled. “You gonna lifeguard during the school year?”

I nodded back.

“Yeah I don’t know if I will,” Ryder said, “my class work is going to be hard. I’m trying to get into Alabama State.”

“That’s cool. What classes are you taking?”

Ryder turned to face me. He counted the classes on his hand. “Shakespeare, Trigonometry, World History, Chemistry, and Woodshop.”

“No way! I’m taking Shakespeare, Chem, and Trig, too!”

Ryder’s eyes locked with mine for a second before he stood up and said “Cool, well I’ll see ya around. My shift is done.” He tossed me the keys to lock up and jogged off down the beach.

As he swiftly jogged away his face replayed in my mind. He was gorgeous. He had green eyes and a perfectly defined jawline.

I watched Ryder jog up onto the boardwalk and over to a girl. Jasmine. I had heard they had been hooking up all summer from my best friend Skylar, but I wasn’t the kind of person to care. He snuck up behind her and picked her up by the waist- spinning her around.

I tried not to stare, but their public display of affection was captivating. Jasmines’ giggle echoed across the beach as Ryder tossed her over his shoulder and carried her away.

I turned away and took off my sunglasses because by this time the sun was setting . I locked the station and got into my volvo just as the orange yellow sun sank below the horizon.