Her Hope

Chapter 11

The world seemed to stop around me, as I forced myself to look up while hoping this person is not who I think they are. Deplorably, they turned out to be exactly the only person I didn't want them to be. That person is the girl from that night at the beach when I got this sudden urge to see if someone would save me if I were to drown. However, this girl is too curious, and now, she will start asking me endless useless questions.

"Oh, it is really you. What are you doing here, and I still don't know what you were doing that night at the beach. I mean who in their right mind goes on midnight swims? Wait, that seems rude. What I mean is that no one goes swimming at midnight because it's really dangerous. Hopefully, you didn't go on anymore of these. But, what are you doing here?" She finally stopped her blabbering and looked up at me curiously just like I guessed she would.

"Well, I work here as a waitress." I answered just to get here off my back.

"Really? I didn't know that my dad hired any new waitresses."

"Yeah, Mr Smith was low on employees. Wait, what? Mr Smith is your father?" I exclaimed loudly in wonder.

"What is going on here? You're disturbing my customers. Emily, what are you still doing here? Didn't you say you will go home?" Mr Smith said angrily after suddenly coming out of nowhere.

"Yes dad, I was going home when I pumped into this girl. She's the one I told you about, the one from from that night at the beach." Mr Smith's daughter, also known as the girl who spilled her coffee on me and also known as the girl from the beach, said.

Mr Smith instantly paled before turning around and storming into the back room which I hadn't been in before.

So, without waiting for Emily's reaction, I turned around to get the mop and clean the floor. I would have to continue the day with my sticky shirt since I don't have another spare one on me. After mopping the spilled coffee up, I returned back to my original job which is waitressing. Just like always, I smile at the customers, ask them what they want, and you know the rest. I wouldn't say that my job is boring, it's just a cycle that's continuously on repeat.

A few hours later, I decided to take my daily half an hour break to eat half my meal and store the rest for dinner. I always sit on the chair that's in the alley behind the restaurant since Mr Smith got it specifically for us. However, instead of it being empty just like everyday, I could see the silhouette of someone sitting on the it. After getting a glimpse of who the person was as I walked closer to the chair, I got really frustrated. Doesn't this girl get bored?

"What are you doing here Emily? Don't you have somewhere to be at?" I asked impatiently.

"Do you know why I was really stressed that night? And, do you know why my father suddenly paled when I told him you're the girl from the beach?"

She didn't wait for me to answer her rhetorical questions before she continued.

"A few summers ago, my father, mother and I were on a vacation at our beach house. There's this river beside the house that was marked off as too deep, so no one was supposed to ever swim there. However, my mother was always stubborn, and she always insisted that she's a really good swimmer that a little deep water can't affect her, but it did. One day, my father and I were bantering as we always did while my mother was swimming in the river. The water level kept rising because it turns out that there was heavy rainfall at the starting source of the river, yet no one informed us. My father and I were playfully arguing too loudly that we didn't hear her calls of help nor did we notice when she stopped asking for the help we failed to give her. And, then she was gone at the drop of the hat. So, from that day on, I promised to keep away from the water generally, but that night I just longed to walk along the beach when I saw a hand moving in the water making me instantly know that the hand's owner was struggling not to drown. I quickly pulled you out of the water, but you didn't even say thank you. When I told my father what happened, he got emotional over it, and now that he had seen the girl I kept talking about in real life, the whole situation hit him close to home."

By the time she said these last words, she was trying to wipe away the tears that streamed from her eyes freely without stopping though she still continued talking before I could.

"You know, my father was never cold, and his personality wasn't always so harsh. He just changed after we lost mum, for he blames himself for what happened even after I tried to convince him that it's not his fault at all. You didn't need to know all that so just forget all about it. I have to go."

Emily hurriedly stood up and started walking quickly out of the alley, but I couldn't just let her walk away after telling me such a deep tragedy that occurred to her.

"Emily, wait." I called out after her making her stop in her place without turning her back to me.

"I am so sorry for what I did that night, I was just in a bad place and I wanted to see if someone would save me if I were to drown, and you did which gave me a great amount of hope. You'll never know how thankful I am until I tell you my whole story. But, it won't be today, maybe some other day."

"Okay." She turned around slightly to give me a small smile before turning around and walking into the restaurant.

Even though I was no longer hungry after the story Emily told me, I knew I had to get something into my system if I didn't want to get sick. So, I ate my food in a really small amount of time. Then, I turned around and entered the restaurant to continue my shift as if nothing happened.

Today, I was told a lot of new information regarding Mr Smith's family; however, I will not under any circumstances stick my nose into other's business.