Disclaimer: Do I own them? Nope.
New York Beach
The Sun blazed brightly on July 15, 1988, lighting up the whole city. This particular day was the most beautiful it had been all summer.
An 80's blue Chevrolet van cut the horizon as it rolled along the open area, dividing the blue sky from land. New York Beach was less than a mile away, setting in all kinds of feelings of excitement and anxiety. The density of anticipation filled the van and meddled with the air as they got closer, revealing a larger view of the beach. The refreshing breeze they received that morning had died down and all that was left was the warmth of the sun. It was hot enough to bake your skin and there was no cloud visible up in the sky. The degree of excitement was so high that three heads poked out of the moving van, keen to see the beach. Soon the hotel came into view; it didn't seem like a 5-star hotel but that didn't shut the excitement down.
Suddenly the wind picked up again and at that moment the hat Monica was wearing soared off into the wind before she could even grasp it. Completely bummed out, Rachel promised she would get her another one, Monica just mumbled something incoherent.
Standing adjacent to a red convertible was a tall, black-haired rough looking guy, smoking a cigarette. The guy took one long drag before flicking the cigarette and stepping on it, approaching a vehicle.
"Ross! Chan-my-man! You made it!' the guy told them, "And you brought visitors." he added after Rachel and Monica jumped out. The guy, Tom, pulled out another cigarette from his pack and lit it before starting.
"The party doesn't officially start until evening, when everyone gets drunk, Dan brought tons of beer," This to which Ross gave a nervous chuckle. "And get this," he continued, "I hear someone's been hiding liquor all over the place, the hotel won't allow it, especially if your under age, keep whatever you find." Chandler laughed at the irony of it.
"I'll let you guys get settled in." Tom told them. And with a wave, he was gone.
After grabbing their things and locking the van they headed towards the hotel, an exciting, yet unpredictable, day ahead of them.
The heavy breeze ruffled his sandy hair. It seemed like every day that went by, it grew more. He walked along the shoreline, hands in pocket and feet shuffling a little through the white sand, he barely acknowledged Kip walking with him, chattering away like a monkey. The change in the temperature, ever since they arrived, seemed fickle. One minute it was as hot as the Sahara Desert the next-winder. It was irregular yet no one paid too much attention to the matter. He decided to head back to his and Ross's room and, excusing himself from Kip, he headed for Room 43.
Room 43 was empty and he wondered if they were in Monica and Rachel's Room. He entered Room 44, and sure enough, they were all there playing cards. Chandler turned on the TV, It turned out the only free channel was the New York Minute Watch. Suddenly a red strip flashed at the bottom and a message read: WARNING just as the weather lady appeared holding a document. Ross, Rachel, and Monica looked up as she started to speak.
'Good evening New Yorkers, I'm Jessica Walker, bringing you up to date news in New York.' She began. 'We have reasons to believe that an unsuspected hurricane will hit New York tonight. Weather Experts have tracked down where and when it will hit. But we need everyone to stay calm because we are not 100 sure. For your safety, we advise everyone to stay indoors and save electricity. Wind directions have been raising speculations; the last hurricane to hit the coastline was Hurricane Gloria just three years previous. Although there are a lot of doubts we advise to take necessary precaution, and stay safe. And now for today's news... Flights have been cancelled due to weather warnings, tourists are directed to-'
The pounding noise outside, against the window, muted the volume. The rain had come without warning and pounded against the window, coming hard and fast. Everyone went to go look out the window. Few people who were enjoying the sun were now scrambling to get away from the rain; it became windy, as the sight of newspaper, pop cans, and other littered objects were flying everywhere. The rain, it seemed, set a gloomily mood on everyone. Not only did it bore them but the beach party they were going to have didn't happen, and now they were stuck with nothing to do. Soon enough everyone was getting on everyone's nerve.
"Did it stop raining yet?" Rachel asked for the third time.
"Does it sound like it?" Chandler snapped irritably.
"You know what, just because it's raining doesn't mean we should just sit around like a bunch of slugs." And with that Monica left. There wasn't much enthusiasm or interest to follow her.
The force of wind picked up, making a huge howling noise, the rain did not subside and a draft came in through the window. After huddling in blankets, soon Ross, Rachel, and Chandler fell asleep, the darkness engulfing them.
...11:00 pm...
A deafening crash erupted somewhere below. Chandler jumped immediately, he wasn't much of a deep sleeper and the noise was loud enough to wake the dead. He sprung up and was fully alert just as Ross and Rachel stirred.
All of a sudden, everything went Black.
Making a grab for a flashlight, Chandler went into the hall; he had to find out what was going on.
His flashlight swung madly around in front of him, providing light a couple of metres ahead. He got to the stairs when he's flashlight went off. Shit! He silently cursed. Just as he got into the hall below he collided with a solid form and they fell. A strong hand reached over and pulled Chandler up. The silhouette figure muttered sorry, his voice low and no doubt a male.
"Hold on one sec" the guy told him, tapping something and soon enough a beam of light hit Chandler's face.
"Hey! Don't point it directly at me!"
"Sorry. Where are you heading in the dark anyway?"
"I'm looking for someone. Have you seen her? She's dark-haired and petite."
"Yeah baby!" He gave Chandler a lopsided grin.
"Excuse me? I'm looking for my friend, she's missing somewhere in the dark, what's going on around here?"
"I've heard on the news about a hurricane- yeah...right! Anyway, the powers short but it'll be fixed in no time. I'm an electrician." He stated proudly.
"And I'm Chandler, nice to meet you."
"Joey." They exchanged brief handshakes before turning around and heading towards the lobby.
"Everyone's too scared to come out of their rooms." Joey told him, shaking his head.
"Except Monica, she left a while ago, and have you heard that noise?"
"Yeah it was pretty loud-"
They stopped dead in their tracks.
One of the trees that were planted in the lobby for décor purposes had now fallen and landed on the main doors, both entrance doors were hanging loosely open and glass was littered everywhere. The waves outside roared. And with every crash the waves grew larger and larger, almost reaching the hotel. The wind was so strong it hit them full force.
"J-Joe- Joey we should probably... get to safety." Chandler said, backing away.
"Joey!" He hissed tucking at his sleeve. They both ran back upstairs, where they bumped into Ross and Rachel. Quick intros and handshakes were made.
"I need to get back down to the basement. I'm an electrician you know. It's my job to restore the lights." Joey said.
"I don't know man; you really wanna take that risk?" Chandler asked, sounding panicked.
"I know a safer root to get there." Joey reassured him.
After he left, Chandler turned to Ross and Rachel.
"Guys, Monica's gone. We gotta find her. It's not exactly pleasant outside." With their flashlights they went roaming around the hotel in search for her. People started coming out of their rooms, realising how bad it was getting. The shatter of glass was heard in all directions.
Amongst all the uproar, the wind and water constantly slammed against the building.
Panic filled the air. Outside was dark as well.
The weather was getting worse.
And Monica was nowhere to be seen.
Somehow a relaxing beach vacation turned into a bitter one.
Storage Room, a door was labelled. But it was locked. So much misfortune in one night frustrated Chandler. Ross and Rachel took the lower part of the hotel, while Chandler- the upper. Suddenly a guy in uniform bellied for everyone to get out of the building.
It was the hotel manager.
He ran past Chandler yelling and pounding his fists at every door. "WE NEED TO EVACUTE THE BUILDING, QUICKLY AND CALMLY."
People left and right filled the hallways and started shoving and scrambling their way to the exit.
When Chandler got back into the lobby, the scene had gotten worse. He decided to run out and see how bad it had gotten.
Outside the waves bellied and erupted, and as soon as he got out the wave crashed into him, making him stumble.
A pang of uneasiness settled in. The reality of it finally hit, this could not have been his mind- playing tricks on him.
Bravely, He rushed forward, not aware of his surroundings, not aware of the waves, not aware of a stinging sensation that shot up through his foot.
He was not aware of a warm liquid feeling.
All he had was the adrenaline coursing through his body and his clammy feet that lurched forward.
His mind buzzing and his eyes never peeling off nor blinking from the small dark figure, it was a matter of time; the outline would stop fighting for air, stop struggling to stay at the surface.
A scream overfilled the noise.
Tick, Tick, Tick, a matter of time, if only it could be stopped.
...11:50 pm...
The rain- seemingly showered him, pounding him down.
The rain- droplets the size of ping-pong balls beat down, harshly, at his silhouette, he fought against the waves, against the rain that made his vision blur.
But he wobbled forward and reached the dying figure, somehow more hunched and tall.
Chandler suddenly became dizzy and with his weakened state, let go of Monica, who tried to cling on to him. He felt his world darken, nothing but a blur, feeling he had lost the last shred of hope, he collapsed.
….11: 59 pm……………..
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