A/N: This is my entry for my Early Summer Prompt down in the Village Square Forum.
He listens closely as the roar of the waves echoes over the ocean. White crests tumble all over the water's surface, their movements fluid and strong, creating foam that slides over the large, liquid body in a bubbly orchestra. From the window of his little white shack, Kai Perkins could smell summer on the breeze. The light, toasty warmth of the sun lingered in the air, just the way he liked it. There wasn't a cloud in the sky as far as the eye could see, making it the perfect day for anyone in Mineral Town to go to the beach, soak up some rays, and maybe get a tan. Well, maybe that last part was a bit of a stretch. His skin was naturally copper, and it always gleamed in the sunlight whenever he was outside. Plus, having the beach be quiet, without a single person in sight, did have its perks.
For one, no crowds. No chaotic chatter filling the air and overwhelming him when he wanted some peace and quiet. Good thing Mineral Town was such a small little hamlet, with a very sparse population, so there was no chance of wild parties happening daily. He had the ocean, the waves, the white sands, and the squawking seagulls all to himself. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and nobody was around to order him about and tell him what to do like he was little more than hired help. Here, he was his own boss. But his eyes lost focus as they gazed upon the beach laying out before him with its regal splendor. In the bright sunlight, flashes danced across his eyes. Green, fuzzy, flickering, more so when he comes inside after spending time outside.
This was the life, for sure. He wished he could just move here and stay here forever. With a sigh, he rested his elbows on a table, lamenting the fact that he could only stay during the summer. After summer's winds dissipate and autumn paints over green leaves, he would always find himself dragged back to that awful city, with its tall, oppressive skyscrapers, their shiny walls reflecting sunlight in every direction, blinding his vision. Clouds of grey and black smoke billowing into the air, continuing to rise higher and higher. Crowded streets overflowing with people, leaving him little room to have peace with his thoughts. Trash lining the sidewalks. Candy wrappers. Cigarette butts. Plastic soda cans. Newspapers wet from puddles. Tenements and apartments squished together into one big cluster, so close that everyone lived above or below each other, only a few feet apart, allowing anyone to hear whole conversations without meaning to.
Kai sighed to himself as he opened a letter in his hands, hastily tearing it up despite his best efforts to open it without damage. He had only the summer breeze and the melody of the crashing waves for company as he opened the letter inside. He already knew the letter's contents before so much as glancing at it, but he figured he might as well get it over with. Immediately, he recognized his father's blocky, always capitalized penmanship.
Dear Kai,
We hope you're doing well. But your mother and I are admittedly very concerned. It's been a year since you graduated from high school, and you haven't applied to any colleges yet. We implore that you please put in an application to the medical universities we recommended. Having a career as a doctor would do you a world of good.
"World of good my ass," Kai hissed the words like they were poison, rolling his eyes at the statement. What did his father know of what would be good for him? Without reading the rest of the letter, he knew its contents. They had been drilled into him ever since he was young. His father had always droned on and on about how Kai should be a doctor so he can have a promising career, that it made good money, that anything else wouldn't put a roof over his head, that Kai shouldn't let himself be tempted by drugs, gangs, and alcohol, the whole song and dance.
Kai folded the letter and shoved it back into the envelope with such force that he tore through the corners of said envelope. "Tch. I'm not even surprised anymore," Kai grunted to himself.
He never wanted to be a doctor. He didn't want a fancy job in a big building that required following strict, rigid rules that never allowed him any breathing room for him, or to be himself. Working fast-paced jobs was too much to keep up with, as evidenced back when he tried to work at a packing plant and got fired after three months. One time, when Kai told his parents he got a job at an ice cream stand near a university, they were absolutely livid, acting as though he had murdered someone in cold blood. They had admonished him fiercely, telling him all the reasons why such a job was bad: It was beneath him. A Perkins child didn't disgrace himself by applying to such a low level job. The neighborhood was supposedly filled with gangs and murderers (Kai had gone there plenty of times, and nothing bad had ever happened. The worst he saw were some kids hitting each other with balloon weapons). Such places didn't have good work ethics, and Kai was not to set a bad example for the family name.
So constantly being verbally attacked for any choice he made, good or not, didn't exactly endear Kai to the idea of conforming to their ideas for his future.
"And they wonder why I don't listen to them," Kai mused to himself, laying his face flat on the table. He was done with them. He could get along just fine without being a doctor. Here he was, working at a little food shack with all the time in the world in a nice, sleepy little town with good people here who liked him. Well, except Rick and Duke, but Kai didn't mind. Sure, his life and career choices weren't all sunshine and rainbows, but who gave someone the right to decide who and what he should be? Nobody, as far as he was concerned.
"Next time," Kai said to himself as he sat back up, "When I'm done with what I need to do at home, I'm moving here and staying here. Nobody's gonna stop me."
He didn't know how he was going to go about putting this plan in motion, but he was sure he'd go crazy if he had to spend one more minute back at his hometown. He didn't want to put up with his dismissive parents telling him how to live his life and forcing him to meet their exacting standards. As far as he was concerned, this was paradise.
Even more so when he caught a glimpse of cotton candy pink hair just outside. A small figure standing on the sand, watching the waves ripple across the ocean. Far lovelier than anything else he had seen. He'd stay here if he could, for the peace. For the ocean, the sunshine, for her.
Nobody could take the beauty of the light and the sea and the pink haired girl away from him. Coming here was well worth it.