6th ♬

"Hi, Sam. Why the early call?" I yawned. The sun was barely up there, and I got this early phone call out of nowhere. Turning to my side, I caught a glimpse of my alarm clock. The digits read as six o'clock.

"Just telling you to come early. The new caretaker wanted to see you as soon as possible. He said that he had some doubts about your lifeguard skills, and that he needed to have a thorough talk with you first. But no worries, I believe in you, you know that," Sam said to me.

I tried to process what Sam was telling me. I let out another lazy yawn, as I stretched out my arms. It must have been the accident yesterday. With Jace 'drowning' himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who reported it.

Sam worked at the beach all his life. He kind of got old together with it, continuously taking care of that place without falter. It was his passion to make sure that everyone was safe. He was someone who genuinely loved his job. And all his efforts were paid off, as the beach became one of the safest places in town. Trust me, even criminals feared him. So him acting worried was nothing big, but should definitely be taken notice of.

"So who's the new guy?" I asked him, a little too expectant. Somehow, I wished to be fired today, honestly. I was desperate about it. I wanted a new job, one that was solitary and far away from the mob.

"You know this guy. I forgot the name. He's the..." Sam trailed off. I heard him snapping his fingers and a chair being pushed back. I heard a distant, "What's the name again, son?" I was waiting for some kind of reaction from the new caretaker, but I wasn't able to grasp the name. After several seconds, Sam was on the phone again. With a rough voice, he said to me, "He told me that you should just come over to find out. I know he's also from here. I completely forgot the name."

"Admit it, Sam, you're getting old," I teased, kicking my blanket away and finding my way down the kitchen. I was surprised to see that no one else was around, so I went back upstairs.

"Yeah, don't mind this old man. Get here this instant. He wants to talk to you about things," Sam said.

"I'm on it," I said to him, about to hang up the phone. Making my way back to bed, I yawned once more. "Be there in a minute."

"Oh, wait. I forgot the reason why I called. It's about what he told me. He said that he saw you dozing off yesterday. That's not true, right?" Sam worriedly asked.

I nervously coughed, and it took me a moment to calm down. It was partially true, but I was still awake at that time with eyes closing on their own every other five seconds. Surely, I wasn't sleeping at all. So when I caught my voice, I hurriedly answered, "A little... but not that much."

"Stay awake. Get some decent sleep every night," Sam reminded me. "Lives are at stake, okay?"

"Got it. I promise," I answered right away.

Sam said goodbye and I did the same. Putting the phone to my bed, I stared at the empty ceiling. Bummer. The only thing I could look forward to was getting fired this morning.

After a quick shower, I put on the clean pair of denim shorts and a shirt. Ready to jumpstart the day, I went down the stairs and was about to head out of the door. I was running a little too fast and realized it a bit late, so I ended up bumping to Dad. He was still in pajamas and heading toward the kitchen counter. I greeted, soothing my head that lightly slammed into his shoulder, "Morning, Dad."

He turned his gaze to me, his crooked glasses barely balancing itself in between his high nose. Nodding just a bit, he managed to mutter, "Good morning. You okay? Going out to work?"

"Yup," I happily echoed. "Just fine and about to go."

"Enjoy your day," he said, stretching out his arms as he pushed aside the curtains and welcomed the morning sunshine toward the kitchen.

"O... kay. I will," I said, hesitating a little as I caught a glimpse of that place again. If Jace was on his sickbed, I would definitely have a good day ahead. But since that was not the case, I might as well put my thoughts into survival instead.

As I walked out of our house, there was no sign of the surging war just yet. The Hamilton residence was still peaceful, with a few people cleaning the place. Chad's black car passed by, honking along in greeting. I waved back, like some good old neighbors.

The atmosphere was still the same. People were still nice and friendly to me, so that was a relief. Another good thing was, I arrived at the beach in one piece—intact and no broken bones. I was about to convince myself that today could be a good day, but the thought was sadly taken off my mind as soon as I opened the door of Sam's room.

"Sam, are you..." I said, turning the knob of the wooden door. But instead of some old man greeting me, I saw that face again. My ever-present smile suddenly turned to a disappointed frown. The dramatic turn of events also pulled my shoulders down. And to make the scene even more intense, my jaw submitted to my surprise and found its way to suspend in midair.

"What are you doing here?" I croaked. Seriously, this guy could be everywhere. It was as if wherever I turned, he was there. Like some haunting spirit following me around. But instead of replying like some normal person, he just shrugged off his shoulders in response. I didn't wait for a word or two from him, and just said, "Oops. Got the wrong room."

Walking away, I was imagining another room beside this one. It must be my intense wishful thinking that made me believe that there was a room beside the only room of this beach house. But ending up in front of the storage closet a little later, I realized that surely, I didn't get it wrong. It was, in fact, Sam's room after all.

So maybe I was hallucinating a while ago. You know, sometimes, when you were thinking about a person so much, you would eventually see him everywhere, when in reality, he wasn't even there at all. Like right now, my bemused mind had done me no good.

I held the metal knob again, making sure to read the sign in front of me, which indicated that I got the right door. So who was it a while ago? I cleared my thoughts, and pulled my smile again. Taking a deep breath, the door creaked open. At first, I tried peeking inside, but to no avail, I realized that I still needed to fully open the door for me to see who the new caretaker really was.

"Can you hurry up? The noise you're making is bothersome," I heard that voice once more, the sound was almost heavenly, like someone making tunes with just nothing but blunt words.

Oh, sheesh.

I fully opened the door, greeted by his hideous and pompous smile. I tried blinking, hoping that by doing so, he would suddenly disappear. And yet, he was still there, so I tried blinking some more. After a while of useless blinking efforts, I saw the scenario happening in front of me.

He was sitting in that chair—Sam's chair, to be exact. And that could only mean one thing, unless the new caretaker was bored and suddenly took a hike up the mountains and let this guy have the spot for today. But logically speaking, despite my efforts to believe that he wasn't who I supposed he was, I was wrong.

He opened the drawer to his right and fished out something. Throwing it to me, the whistle landed perfectly on my hands. "Zone 2, don't forget to whistle."

I stared at the silver piece in my hands. I looked for it first thing since I got here. But it wasn't placed on that wall hook where it was supposed to be. He did find the effort to take a hold of my whistle, so he could make me feel like I was in his grasp. Like a broken record, echoing that everything was just starting.

Fine.

I closed my eyes, forcing myself to be steady and calm. "You're not the new..."

"I am," he answered, cutting me off. "Why do you think I'm here for?"

"But," I faltered, as I tried searching for the right words, "you... you can't be here."

"And why is that?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

I wondered for some earthshaking reason why he shouldn't be here at all. Well, there was some reason, like he and I were never meant to be in close proximity at all. "You can't be the new 'Sam'."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I could and I already am," he informed me, very much pleased with my reaction. I closed the door behind me to have a little bit of privacy. I saw that Lavy, one of the other lifeguards, had arrived. She was an acquaintance, and sadly, a fan of this guy. I had to make sure that the fandom would not hear a word about our private matters to settle.

"Tell me again why you're here," I demanded for some enlightenment.

"To take care of the beach in place of Sam."

"That's the obvious. Tell me what you're planning aside from taking care of this place," I said back, leaning against the door and folding my arms.

"The midsummer concert. I'm also looking forward to that," Jace said, tilting his head to the other side and watching me intently.

"And aside from that?"

"Should there be any other reason, Reese?" Jace replied instead. The sound of my name coming from his mouth sounded a bit odd. But I felt something which made my heart skip one beat. Just one. I couldn't remember the last time he did that—saying my name. And hearing it again, I was surprised that it could still create some kind of effect on my part.

"I don't know what you're planning to do. I couldn't care less even if you were going to do that revenge that was due a long time ago. But could you please, I'm begging you, not to make this summer one living hell for me, okay?" I said. The words came out. The thoughts that were kept inside my mind for who knew how long. The pathetic pleading.

Brilliant comeback, Reese.

I waited for his reaction, regretting what I'd said. For about fifteen dull seconds, we were just staring at each other. It was awkward and clunky, but even I had no idea what I should actually do. I saw him let out a perplexed sigh. "Since we're getting forward around here, let me ask you something instead."

"What?" I held my breath.

"Why did you do that? Just what did I do wrong for you to do that to me... to us." There was a hint of weariness in his voice. He didn't seem like he was kidding or throwing one cosmic joke. In return, I wanted to gag.

Why did I do that?

That was the most absurd thing that he could ever ask. I was almost teary-eyed, as I swallowed the forming lump in my throat. The years that had passed never let me forget that day. Images flashed in my head, one covered up another. But the end point of everything was depressing. And in fact, it was very much humiliating.

'What's with the stupid dance?' I heard that voice again. Then it was followed by, 'Man, that's some way to embarrass yourself. Take it from the pro.'

Despite the burning sensation in my chest and the tears that were almost out of my eyes, I asked him instead, "You really have no idea? For you to do something like that, you now tell me that you don't remember any of it. What do you think of me, Jace, a fool?"

He was taken back for a while, before he slowly got up from his seat. His expression was serene and a little bit apologetic. Maybe now he remembered. Thank God for the rest of his conscience. I was hurt by his prank. If he still didn't know that, the tears that were tracing my cheeks could attest to it. I couldn't believe I was crying in front of him.

Jace trod his way toward me. "Reese, I'm so sorry..."

"Just stop saying anything." I held one hand up and wiped the tears with the other. I felt so stupid for showing my tears to him. Clutching the whistle in my hands, I added, "And don't you dare come near me."

"Reese... I..." he paused, taking a step back.

"Don't ever think that I will back down for whatever you're planning to do. If we're still not done, then go on. I'm not scared of you, Jace Hamilton," I declared, before opening the door again and stomping my way out. I let him hear every hefty sound of my footsteps, for him know that I was made of a tougher material, something that he could never easily break.