7 Chapter 7: Demise at the Beach • A

ELVERY WARREN

Her POV

At the middle of the celebration, when chatters and laughter fill the beachfront, my eyes suddenly catches a man who seems to be looking at our direction from afar. I'm not sure though; it's dimmer in his area under a palm tree compared to our place. I've been staring at him for a while and the moment our eyes met, I can see that he's bothered. I draw my eyebrows together, curious as to what his eyes are saying.

"Hey, are you with us?" Lila asks, waving her hand in front of my face, causing me to bring my sight to her. She stands and pulls me up by the arm. "C'mon Elvs, let's buy some drinks." She flashes her pleading smile at me as she says "please."

"Ahh... Uhm..." I glance back to the palm tree but the man isn't there anymore. "Okay, let's go," I mutter.

We head to the mini-supermarket inside the resort. Lila enters the store while I go to the restroom first—just next door. Masculine and feminine voices ring to my ears from outside the restroom.

"What the hell are you thinking, Drake?" a woman shouts.

"I need to tell them what I saw," a man firmly responds.

I frown, confused. Well, I'm not a gossiper but it's not that I can switch my ears off, right?

"You're putting yourself in d-danger!" the woman growls, probably holding her tears based on its tone.

"B-but my conscience is bothering me, Stacy," his voice begins to crack but his tone is still firm, "I've been hiding the truth for the whole month and it's... slowly killing me."

"No, no. Please, Drake. Don't tell them," her voice pleading and I could assume that they are both in tears right now. "Please... please, just... just stay silent, ok?"

I can hear their ragged breaths and sobs from outside the cubicle.

"Please?" the woman softly repeats, cutting the long silence.

The man lets out a deep sigh before he murmurs, "Okay... okay."

I hear their footsteps going away. But still, I stand shocked and confused. I can't fully comprehend their conversation.

What was that? What do they mean by danger? What truth is he hiding?

My thoughts snap when I hear a knock from the door.

"Elvie," Lila calls, "are you there?"

"Ah-yes, yes," I say as I am brought back to reality. I flush the toilet and open the restroom door.

"I'm calling your phone. You're not answering," she says with a pout.

I jokingly roll my eyes at her, "Stop that." She chuckles. She always do stuff like that—pouting and flashing her puppy eyes. Er. Can't blame her though. They just suit her. If I'll do such things, I bet I'll look ridiculous.

"I forgot my phone at the beach," I add as we walk back to the beachfront, carrying the drinks she bought.

As we place the cold drinks on the mat, Aunt Lex holds Lila's wrist. "Lila, y-your d-dad."

We raise our eyebrows in question. Why do they look scared?

"What about dad?" Lila asks.

"H-he's..."

"W-we heard it..." Alisa interrupts, "a-a deep growl sound b-but we don't know where it came from."

"Yeah. It repeated three times," Mon says, "it's so creepy!"

Even a tough-looking Mon? Hahaha. I can't believe it.

"We think it's Mr. Smith's ghost," Kuya Carlo says-Wait, even the 47-year-old driver? All of them gives me a we-really-heard-it-and-we-are-scared look... well, except Troy who has this bored look. I scowl.

He notices that I am staring at him with suspicion so he finally speaks. "Guys, there's no ghost, okay?" he says, "I know where the sound came from but I won't tell you."

They all sigh upon the confirmation that there is no ghost in the area. Troy must have pulled a prank at them.

The party continues for an hour more until we decide to go inside the hotel and take a rest. We, females will stay in one room and the men in the next room.

Indeed, it was a tiring day. But it's also fun. I bring out my pocket notebook and pen from the bag, flip to my summer bucket list, and shade the circle beside the item Go to the Beach. The smile on my face fades and I mentally roll my eyes when I remember Troy. Ugh, he's really a stranger! I put my notebook and pen back inside the bag and lay down on the soft comfy bed.

I am about to sleep when I realize I forgot my phone on the beach! I put my palm on my forehead as I rise from the bed. Everytime I stay on the beach, it has been a habit for me to bury my pouch with my phone inside under the sand. You know, to avoid being stolen. I just forgot to get it when we go back to our rooms.

I glance at my roommates who are knocked down asleep. They're probably tired. I sigh and decided to go alone to the beachfront where we stayed a while ago. Along the way, I see Troy walking towards me, holding something.

"You forgot this," he says, handing me the pouch.

I pause a little before muttering my thanks. How did he got this?

"I saw you digging sand and burying that earlier," he says. Ahh, I should be more stealthy next time.

"Hey, why did you pull a prank on them?" I scold him. I'm referring to the ghost thing. Gosh, he should be sensitive enough about the bereaved's feelings!

"I didn't," he claims. "That thing produced the sound earlier." He points to my pouch. "It's buried to the ground so the sound came out as a deep growl they thought as uncle's ghost." He laughs. "Ahhh, their too old to believe in ghosts."

I unzip the pouch and open my phone. 3 missed calls from Lila. Oh, I got it. Remember when Lila said she was calling me through phone but I said I left it at the beach? Maybe that's when they hear the scary sound. I chuckle upon the realization and put back the phone inside the pouch.

But wait, this stranger guy really acts normal, huh.

I look at him seriously. "Where's your birthmark, Khael?" I even put my hand on my hip and raise an eyebrow.

He must be surprised with the confrontation so he quickly avoids my gaze. "I'm not Khael," he coldly says.

Go, keep denying, folk. "I told you, I'm good at recognizing voices—no, I'm great."

"No, I'm not bragging," I add, mimicking his line back in the construction site, "Just stating facts."

"And no, I can't read your mind," I go again while flashing a teasing smile. "You know," I continue, "even if you put disguise on your face I'll be certain that you are Kha-"

He puts his finger on my lips, mutters a shhh and gives me a just-keep-quiet look. What a package! He removes his finger from my lips.

"I'm not Khael right now, okay?" he says in a low voice, nearly a whisper.

He's not Khael right now, what?

I have no time to respond because a young woman suddenly runs towards us gasping for air and shouting. "Help! Help!" she cries, "I need your help, please."

We run, following her towards the shore from bit afar. And to our surprise, we saw a man lying unconscious on the ground.