Hi everyone! I just wanted to say I hope you're enjoying the story so far. No Matt in this chapter yet, but as I'm sure you can tell I'm trying to follow the chain of events. Hope you like the chapter! -Scruffy
Disclaimer: I only own Caroline, and even that's debatable. ;)
Sunday morning came, two days after the attack and my night of drinks with Quint. I had gone on the second date with Robert Lancer the night before. It was okay, dinner and a walk on the beach, while I thought only about the incident the night before. By the end of the night I had hardly heard a word he said, even though there had hardly been a moment where he wasn't talking. At the end of the night when he dropped me off at home I hardly felt his lips against mine.
Even now, as I splashed in the water with the boys- the boys being Michael Brody and his little army of twelve year old friends- I happened to look up at the police chief, and saw him anxiously scanning the water.
"Guys I'm gonna sit out for a bit." I said and they groaned. "No, seriously, I'm getting tired, just let me relax I'll be back in a few." I smiled at them, and they splashed as I walked up the beach, almost getting run down by a little skinny boy with a large yellow raft. I watched with a small laugh as he dove onto the raft, gliding out onto the water.
"Caroline, you're so good with the kids." Mrs. Miller, who had paused her conversation with Mrs. Brody said.
"I want to be a teacher." I said and she smiled with a nod, before looking back at Ellen.
"He hasn't seen anything?" Martin asked as I dried myself off, then flopped down on the beach towel I had laid out. I raised my arms above my head and sighed, settling into the position I had chosen.
"Nothing." I said, and put my sunglasses on. "You would think he'd warn the town if there was a shark coming out here, wouldn't you?" I asked, and he nodded.
"You would think." he said and I sighed, knowing what he meant.
"Caroline, that's a great suit." Ellen said and I smiled looking down at my pale green two piece. I had been embarrassed to wear it, but I knew I had to, I had cut out all fatty foods and lost all the weight I had gained since the holiday season and I was happy to show it off, the bathing suit showed off all my hard work, and I was proud of myself.
"Thanks Ellen!" I smiled. "I ordered it from that catalogue you gave me."
"I thought it looked familiar." she said with a grin. "I didn't realize they did it in green though."
"Me either, but when I called the about it, they gave me a list of options and green was one of them. I thought, what the hey, right?" I smiled and she laughed lightly.
"So Caroline, are you an islander?"
"Yeah, but not on purpose. I was about a month early." I shrugged, and frowned as Frank walked over and blocked my rays, and the Chief's view of the kids in the water.
"Hey, Marty," he said. "I know you got a lot of problems downtown, but I got a few problems at the house I wish you could take care of. One, I've got some cats parking in front of the house, I can't get down to the office." he said, in the water I heard a loud feminine shriek, making me sit up quickly and chief Brody to look over the man's shoulder, both of us relaxed a little when we realized the girl's boyfriend had popped up underneath her and lifted her onto his shoulder, the girl was shrieking with glee as she tried to stay on his shoulder, and not fall back into the water, which is where she would no doubt end up anyway. I stopped listening to Frank go on about a red zone or something, but happily accepted a beer from him, but not before casting a glance at Brody.
"Okay with you chief?" I asked and he nodded. Harry White was making his way over to us, drying himself off, his head covered in a plastic swimming cap. I cracked open my beer and took a long drink, now propping myself up on my left elbow, my legs stretched out in front of me. He cast his eyes over my body, which made me chuckle slightly, a man of his age checking out a young woman. Well, not harm in looking I guess. I wrinkled my nose slightly, but sipped my beer again.
"How's the water Harry?" I asked.
"It's cold." Harry said with a small shiver. He then turned his attention to Brody. "We know all about you, chief. You don't go in the water at all, do you?" he laughed.
"That's some bad hat, Harry," Brody said, shifting in his chair. Harry huffed and walked away, making me look back at Brody. He was not having the best of days obviously.
"Chief Brody, you are uptight." Ellen shffled over behind her husband. She started to massage his shoulders. "That's good, that's it." she said and I looked back at the two.
"Want me to leave you two kids alone?" I teased and she responded by winking.
"Would you?" she asked and I laughed as I sat up and half buried the bottom of my can of beer in the sand.
"Be good you two." I teased with a laugh before I walked away; I walked into the water, only to be splashed by about four different boys. I laughed and started to splash them back as I moved out farther into the water. Harry was right, it was a little cool, but compared with how hot it was outside, it was a nice kind of cool. I was vaguely aware of a voice calling out into the water as I moved out a little further, only to be dunked underwater by Michael Brody. I came to the surface laughing, the voice called out again. This time I could make out what was being said.
"Tippit, Tippit!" a boy with a yellow polo called out to the water, I had seen him throwing sticks for a black lab before, and I started to wonder if Tippit was his dog.
I could see the Brody's younger son, Sean playing in the sand, singing to himself, and the boy, the one looking for his dog looked lost, so I decided to look for the lab, scanning my eyes over the water, I saw the stick the dog had been swimming for. I saw the boys shouting and splashing, and I saw a small wave of water coming right at me from one of the kids. I grinned as I wiped my face off, the grin instantly falling from my face when my eyes focused and I found myself staring at the boy on the yellow raft being pulled under water, blood coming from the area the boy's body had been in.
People started running out to grab their children who were moving away from the blood and I quickly started to usher them away from the beach, dragging them from the water by their arms if I had to. It was a quick moment and everyone was out of the water that I could see, but there was something gnawing at me, I started to move back to the water, when Brody grabbed my upper arm.
"Martin, he's out there." I tried to pull away and he held tight.
"No he's not Caroline." he said sternly, though his eyes looked lost, like he was trying to search the water, hoping to see any sign of the child we both knew we wouldn't see.
"Alex?" a woman's voice called and like that the boy on the raft had a name. "Alex?" she held onto her yellow hat, trying to search the water. "Alex?" the remains of the yellow raft were washing up on shore. "Alex!" she shrieked at the sight of it, I pulled away from Brody and stopped her from running straight into the water.
"Stop, Stop! I'm so sorry." I shouted as I held her shoulders, a few other islanders helped me, she let out a loud wail of despair and sank to her knees, sobbing. I looked at Brody who was holding onto his son Michael, his eyes met mine and I swallowed before walking over to the raft and picking it up. I folded the remains of it up and handed them to the chief. "Think this is enough to close the beaches?" I asked softly and he nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd guess so." he said.