The rosy morning sun bursts through a gap in my curtains, nearly blinding me. I squeeze my eyes shut and roll reluctantly out of bed, wrenching the curtains shut. Duvet still wrapped around my shoulders, I traipse out of my bedroom and down the corridor to the kitchen.
My uncle Sam is at the stove frying eggs, presumably for my ten year old cousin Cassie who is sitting at the kitchen table. "Good morning sunshine!" says Sam brightly. I raise my eyebrows at his frilly blue apron, but he just grins. "Eggs?"
"Sure, thanks," I reply, my throat creaking dryly. I take a sip of orange juice from a glass conveniantly standing on the table, to an annoyed "Hey!" from Cassie. Outside the window the sea glows a bright azure blue and the sun sparkles on the crests of waves. It's beautiful, but I turn away.
"Morning!" My aunt Tina breezes into the kitchen, looking more awake than anyone had a right to be at 7 in the morning. "Chloe, don't drag your duvet around, you'll get it all dusty."
"Yes, ma'am!" I say, saluting.
Tina smiles. "Ah good, obedience. I don't suppose I can wangle you into helping me out today?" Cassie snorts into her orange juice; she's at that age where words like 'wangle' are hilarious. "One of the chambermaids called in sick and it's turnover day." Sam and Tina own and run the White Sands Hotel where we live.
"Ah, give the girl a break Tina," Sam says, doling out fried eggs as the four of us sit round the table to eat. "You've had Chloe working in the hotel all summer. This is supposed to be her vacation!" He turns to me. "Don't you want to go see your friends?"
My friends: Darren, Kyle, Sophie, Jayme and Louise. They all live within a fifteen minute walk of White Sands, and therefore within a fifteen minute walk of the beach. That's where they want to spend all their time in the summer. But I can't go back there.
"No, I don't mind helping out," I insist, wolfing down my breakfast. "Besides, I think everyone's busy. Kyle's got family stuff, and Louise has a job in McDonald's..." I trail off, and Sam looks at me meaningfully. I look away.
"That's the spirit!" says Tina. "Now if only we could get Cassie to help too..."
"No way!" says Cassie. "I have way better things to do. Tamsin's older brother is taking us out on his jetski."
"Good luck with that," I say. I know that Tamsin's brother Tom wouldn't even be awake at this hour. I finish my breakfast and stand up. "Thanks Sam," I say, putting my plate by the sink. "When do you want me Tina?"
"I'll give you time to get dressed and put your face on," Tina says, as I anxiously examine my reflection in the microwave. "How about half nine? Actually, make that ten. I've got a new guy, a summer temp working in reception, and I need to go over a few things with him."
"Ten hundred hours, ma'am!" I say, standing to attention. Then I shuffle off. Back in my room, I switch on the pink and purple lamp on my desk rather than open the curtains. I know I have a view of Sandkey Bay to kill for, but I can't even stand to look at the sea any more. Not since...
I dress quickly; cut off jeans, t-shirt with a band logo on the front, flip flops. I brush back my long sun-bleached hair and tie it up in a high ponytail. Then I sit down on my bed, my back to the window. My phone sits on my bedside table, blinking to show I have new messages. But my eyes are drawn to something else, the photo in the plain wooden frame.
It shows a family; mother, father, two boys and a girl. They are standing outside a house smiling broadly, the bright sun shining on their skin. It's always sunny in Australia. They've just moved to Sandkey from England, as you can tell by their pasty skin and dark hair. A new house, a new country a new start...
Until the storm. The day when the sea and the sky were at war. The wind howled and whipped the waves into a frenzy, the ocean crashed viciously against the shore and tossed and turned like a sleeper in a nightmare. And it started so quickly; it was a calm sunny day one moment, perfect for a day at the beach for the young family, and a maelstrom the next.
A hundred people had gone to the beach that day. No-one came back. A little girl lost her mother, her father, her brothers, her whole world. Chloe Walker.
I can still remember the moment I found out. I was eleven at the time, and I was staying around a friend's house. When her mum drove me home that evening, my house was dark, and the car wasn't in the driveway. We knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, until my neighbour came out and looked at me as if I were a ghost.
"Haven't you heard?" he said, showing us the evening paper. "Your name's not in there, but I assumed you were with them." I looked down at the page, and at the bottom of a long list I found the names of my parents and brothers. The top of the page said 'Missing, presumed dead.'
The paper slipped from my fingers and I let it fall. I watched it tumbling and twirling through the air, seemingly in slow motion. I knew just how it felt.
***
I rather enjoy making beds. It's a thoughtless, mechanical process that nonetheless requires your full attention, leaving you no time to dwell on things. I finish the double bed in the Coral Suite as Natalie, the other chambermaid, hoovers, then I rearrange the cushions on the sofa and line up the toiletries in the bathroom. I check the time on the clock on the wall: 10:58. Check in's at 11. Perfect timing.
I bump into Tina on my way to reception, where already a couple are standing laden with bags. "Hey Chloe, did you finish the rooms?" I nod. "Brilliant, you're a star. Can you do me another massive favour?" She nods in the direction of the front desk, where a slightly nervous-looking youth smiles at the advancing couple. "Can you keep an eye on Murray, the new guy? It's his first time on the front line. I'd do it myself but I have to go to the bank and call the caterers and make sure Cassie doesn't fall off a jetski-"
"Don't worry, it's not a problem," I reply, much to Tina's obvious relief.
"Make sure it's subtle, I don't want him to think you're babysitting him."
"Oh please, subtlety is my specialty. Now, about my fee," I begin, but she's already dashed off. I shrug and mooch casually across the entrance hallway. While pretending to inspect one of the paintings of Sandkey Bay that adorn the walls, I observe Murray through a potted plant. He seems to be doing well; taps their details into the computer, hands them their room key and wishes them a pleasant stay. His face is obscured by a leaf but I guess he's smiling politely too. When the couple head for the stairs, I approach Murray.
I smile brightly. "Hi, I'm Chloe, Tina's niece."
"Murray," says Murray. "Did Tina send you to check up on me?"
"No, I'm just, y'know, hanging around..." I say. How very subtle.
"Uhuh. So you were watching me because you're a trainee birdwatcher who needs the practice?" Damn, he had me there.
"Okay, yes, I'm watching you." He raises an eyebrow. "But not in a birdwatchery way. Just making sure you're alright."
"Well, thank you for your concern. I'm doing just fine." His tone is slightly cocky, but in a joking way. "This is actually a piece of cake."?"
"Oh really?" I say, spotting the large family of boisterous children that have just spilled through the door. "Go on then. Impress me."
His eyes widen with fear as the family is followed by two more and businessman with a laptop case but no other luggage. I sit back and watch him frantically trying to sort out rooms for all these people while they tap their feet impatiently and the children run riot with a destructive gleam in their eyes. I smile to myself.
"A piece of cake?" I ask him in a rare lull in activity.
"Yes please," he whimpers, looking at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Try living here."
The check in shift lasts until 3 o'clock. We spend the last half an hour of this playing rummy with the worn out deck of cards that holds pride of place in the front desk drawer. I find out that Murray is 18, a student who lives in a little rural village near Sandkey Bay, and is working at a cinema and a coffee shop as well as the hotel in order to fund a trekking expedition in the outback.
"Wow, sounds busy," I say. "When do you eat and sleep and stuff?"
"Well, the cinema job is pretty good, because it only gets busy every hour or so when a new film starts. And between that we mostly sit around eating the popcorn."
"The true story from behind the scenes. Fascinating."
The cuckoo clock on the wall strikes three. "There you go, free at last," I say.
"What about that piece of cake you offered me?" he replies.
"What? You thought I was serious? Unlikely."
He looks hurt. "What, not even a single slice for a hard working young man?"
"If I see one, then I'll offer him some," I say pointedly.
Murray smiles. "Touche. But one day, Chloe, one day..." He gets up and heads for the door, but then stops and turns back. The words tumble out of his mo"Hey, it's still early. Do you want to come to the beach? Me and some mates are meeting up, we can play volleyball or fly Jake's power kites-"
I cut him off, my voice coming out more harsh than I mean it to. "No. Sorry, just no."
He looks a little taken aback by my reaction, but then he shrugs. "Whatever. See you Monday." Then he's gone.
I feel a little bad for snapping at him, but a wave of memories washes over me, and I sink to the floor, letting them carry me away like the tide.
***
"Chloooooooeeeeeeeeee......Chlooooooooeeeeeeeeeee......" I sit bolt upright, heart hammering, unaware of why I've woken up. Then I hear it again, a gentle whisper, like the sound of soft waves ebbing and flowing. "Chloooooooeeeeeeee........."
I notice my curtains are open, and a three quarter moon glows in the sky. The window is open too, and a light breeze ripples my curtains like water. Heart still pounding against my ribcage, I get up to close the curtains.
Standing at my window, I can see out across the bay, where the ocean lies as smooth as black velvet, the pale orb of the moon perfectly reflected. A breath of salty sea air gently lifts my hair, and I hear the whisper once more.
"Chlooooooeeeeeee......."
I slam the window shut and dive back into bed. But sleep will not come.