The buzzing was incessant. I knew what it meant but didn't want to wake up.
I reluctantly looked at the clock positioned on the nightstand beside my bed and read the glowing red numbers. 'Oh shit,' I murmured as the numbers registered in my half asleep brain.
It was 8.32am, not 7.32am as I had originally thought and that meant I was monumentally late for work. I was going to be in trouble, big trouble as it was my third time late this month.
I had been sleeping in an unusual amount the last month.
I went through the motions of getting ready quickly and grabbed my uniform, hoping that maybe someone had been able to cover for me for the last half an hour.
I ran down the stairs and saw my brother, Padraig (Paw-rick) sitting at the kitchen table with a freshly buttered slice of toast perched on his plate. 'Yoink' I shouted as I ran out the sliding doors and through the garden, slice of toast in my mouth.
I heard something along the lines of asshole shouted after me as I jumped the fence onto the beach.
The beach was buzzing for an early morning and I spotted one of my friends looking over the banister of the lifeguard hut, waiting for me.
'You are in deep shit' he mouthed down to me as I arrived at the foot of the hut. I took off my runners and shorts and dumped them under the stairs, looking up just in time to grab the bottle of water he threw down to me.
I poured the bottle over my hair and body and grabbed the closest body board to me before I made my way up the stairs.
'I don't know what you're talking about Alec, I went for an early morning swim' I said as I looked at him innocently.
Our boss, Jon, was waiting for me in the hut. 'Nice of you to join us, Samradh (s-ow-ra). How's the water?' Alec looked at me incredulously, wondering how I always got away with it.
The day went by quickly, nothing unexpected happened, even if there was an unusual amount of people on the beach for a Tuesday. I would have nearly said it was boring.
I sat in the tower for most of the day, taking a few short breaks to swim. The swimming breaks were the only thing that kept me sane half the time. The feeling of breaking through the surface from underneath was my favourite, especially on the chilly mornings.
My hair was a rats nest today and I didn't need a mirror to see it. I tried to run a hand through it with no luck.
Everyone thought I was blessed with my curly hair but the reality was, it could break a brush if I tried to fix it, especially when I was getting in and out of the salty water all day. Over the past few months, the golden had turned nearly white blonde in the sun and it was getting too long, a mental reminder to book in to get it cut.
By 7pm, I was ready to combust with boredom. Alec came up the stairs of the hut, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 'Fancy a drink tonight?' he said cajolingly.
I thought about it for a minute, I really should go home and get some rest. I hadn't been getting too many good nights of sleep the last couple of weeks.
I felt for my necklace, hoping that touching it might give me some semblance of calm. Since I had gotten the necklace, I hadn't been able to take it off without getting nervous.
It was only small, a gift from a friend. A tiny silver shell on a silver chain. It was plain and simple but one of the most precious things I owned.
A sense of calm washed over me. 'Mmmm... okay, but you're buying!' I said as I laughed.
We closed up the hut and took down the flags, leaving after making sure we had packed away the last of our gear. Alec followed me across the beach and through the back gate of my garden, where we both were showering and getting ready.
Padraig was in the living room, waiting for me it seemed. 'You owe me a slice of toast' he muttered as I walked past.
'Would a drink make up for it?' I asked, hoping he would say yes. 'We're going to Pimms in an hour if you want to join, we just have to get changed.' I inclined my head behind me just as Alec followed me into the room.
An hour later, we were ready to go. I had put on a short, white dress with heels to match and Alec was looking very dapper in a crisp white shirt and chinos. We looked quite the pair if I do say so.
'People are going to start thinking we're a couple if we keep dressing the same', I said. 'I don't think any of the men I'll be talking to later will be under any illusion of us being a couple, darling.' His green eyes sparkled with laughter.
A fair point. My brother came down the stairs ten minutes later and we started walking. Pimms was only five minutes away but in my heels, it felt like an age.
'Well, these are one pair of shoes I won't be wearing again' I huffed as we arrived.
Pimms had a strict dress code, everyone had to be smart dress, no exceptions, so the heels were a necessary evil.
Alec and Padraig went to find a table, while I went and got the drink I owed my brother and one for myself and Alec. As I landed back to the table with our drinks, I snidely commented to Alec about how HE was supposed to be the one buying the drinks tonight.
The bar was busy, really busy and we had been lucky to get a table, especially one with such a good view of the park. Where we lived was beautiful, between the beach and the fabulous park that this bar was across the street from, we were spoilt.
The crowd were spilling out onto the street, filling the air with smoke and laughter. 'Everyone is in a great mood today, what is going on?' I said curiously. Everything about today had been weird, from the busy beach to the packed bar - so unusual.
Alec leaned back in his chair, 'Why don't you just enjoy the atmosphere and drink up!'
I supposed he was right, maybe I was thinking too much into the fairly normal day. I was overreacting as usual. I rolled my eyes at him and went off to get another drink, the first gone in a few mouthfuls.
The night went on like any other, dancing punctuated by getting drinks and then back to dancing again. A blur of faces went by me on the dance floor, some I recognised and some I didn't. I even managed to forget that me and Alec both had work at 11 tomorrow - that wasn't going to be fun.
After all that dancing, I was burning hot. The air inside Pimms felt dense and heavy with sweat, I needed a break. A moment to catch my breath. I stumbled toward the front door, cursing my shoes again for knocking my equilibrium off.
The street was still bustling with people, coming from Pimms and other bars across the strip.
There was a cool breeze coming from the direction of the park, carrying the smell of leaves and cedar wood and I drifted towards it, hoping to catch another drop of that delightful smell.
The smell was coming from inside the park and seemed to call to me, knocking all my internal senses off. Ones that might have been wary about the fact that the park gate was open well past sundown.
It was a beautiful park, there was no denying that and I had never seen the wonders of it in the night. My curiosity led me to wonder how the lake and bandstand would look at night.
My heels clicked off the tarmac as I wandered further into the park, towards where I knew the bandstand was.
I had seen it only the other day, draped in white flowers growing from vines that seemed to appear and grow from nowhere. It was magical.
As I got closer to the bandstand, I noticed a figure leaning against the railing looking out over the water with his back to me. I guessed it was another lonely wanderer like me, escaping the hustle and bustle of the busy strip behind us.
I don't know what it was but I felt reckless and asked the figure as I approached, 'Trying to escape the melee behind us too?'
He turned to look at me, his sharp features glinting in the moonlight.
He was one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen, he was unworldly.
I couldn't find it in myself to be scared of someone so beautiful. His hood was up, hiding his hair but I could see a corner of it peeking out from underneath, brown and long and slightly curled.
His almond shaped eyes were light, lighter than I had ever seen before. They almost looked silver in the moonlight. No doubt my own eyes playing tricks on me.
His strange eyes moved from my face down to my chest and down the length of my legs. I felt exposed, as if I was wearing nothing.
I wanted to go back to Pimms but I couldn't will my legs to move. I felt like I had suddenly become the prey in this situation and it unnerved me.
He finally spoke, his voice like liquid honey. 'Samradh, how good to finally meet you. I have been looking for you for months.'
At the sound of my name on his lips, my blood ran cold. 'H..How do you know my name?' My voice came out as a traitorous wobble.
The hooded stranger smiled, showing a row of straight, perfect white teeth. 'You're of great interest to us, very useful we hope. You can come with me now or I can take you, it's completely up to you.'
The way he worded it didn't make it sound like a choice, even if one was offered. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, everything I had been told to keep look out for was here right in front of me and my mind was screaming run, run, run.
'I need to get back to my friends, they're probably looking for me now.' My legs felt like jelly and I put all my willpower into moving back one step.
'Come now, Samradh. Please don't make this difficult for me, I've already gone to such an effort to make sure nobody would notice you missing until tomorrow, the strip is too crowded, they won't even notice you gone' he said as he stepped forward again, closing the gap that I had just made with my step back.
My nerves were jangling around in my chest as I tried to work out what I could do, and quickly. There was no way I could outrun him in these heels. I was so enthralled by the smell that I hadn't realised I was way over half way into the park, the sound of the strip a dull throbbing in the background.
Shit, shit, shit.
'What a pretty necklace' he said, his voice like a lover's kiss, soft and sweet.
I was distracted by his tone and glanced down towards my necklace in case he had done something to it, then back up towards him, confused.
But that was what he wanted.
As I looked back into his face, his palm was raised, facing the sky, to just underneath his mouth. A purple powder glistened in his hand, like stars twinkling in the night sky above us.
He blew the powder into my face. Shocked, I gasped.
'Good night, Samradh. See you in Prythian.'
I didn't have time to contemplate the strange place name before I succumbed to the darkness.
