BENEATH THE WAVES , (tag: open!)

It was the beach from his childhood. His Lamborghini looked rather out of place amongst the two or three other cars in the small parking lot but Joshua was more focused on the vacancy of the beach rather than how obvious his vehicle was. When he had last been here around a decade ago, his then two year old sister had been running up ahead, his parents beside him as he contemplated the dark waters lapping the shore with immense distaste. Now he was alone, and this fact was made even more prevalant by the fact that there was almost no one else around. He spotted an older woman walking her dog along the shore, a woman lying on a towel with her eyes shut, and a pair of teenage girls sitting at one of the battered wooden picnic tables, but in comparison to how popular it had been when he'd last set foot in the hot sand it was really quite a difference.

He was not surprised, however. He knew why the tiny beach had been forgotten. A couple of years ago the city had announced the development of a new beach on the opposite shore. They'd cleared away the trees and other natural debris along the other side of the lake almost entirely so that it was open to the public, constructed a road lined with little shops and boutiques, decorated the place and then announced the completion. He had seen that beach a little while ago, only journeying to it out of curiosity. The ocean (or in this case, the very large lake) had never interested him much. It was probably the fact that he could not swim and thus actually feared the dark depths of the centre that the place made him feel out of place. The other beach was certainly nice and a lot larger, but there was something about this one that attracted him that little bit more. Maybe it was the childhood reminiscence that called to him.

Joshua's lips twitched slightly as he spotted the ice cream parlour complete with a couple of tables, their umbrellas flapping in a slight fall breeze. He could recall only too well how he had sat at one such table in a sullen mood as his parents walked the shore together and his sister played at the waters edge. It had been a fight that had dragged him to that family outing, he recalled. He hadn't wanted to go to the beach because it bored him but his parents had wanted to take Belle so off they had went, ignoring his muttered protests in the back of the car. Either to appease him or just to get him out of the way--likely the latter--Donovan had pointed out the parlour to his son and Joshua had spent most of the time licking ice cream as he wondered what his family saw in the water that he could not. Then Annabel had seen someone making a sandcastle and tried to copy them to disastrous results, being that she was very young and didn't really understand what she was doing. He'd taken pity on her and gone to help, discarding the last small bit of the cone in the trash can that still stood, though looking distinctly more weathered, in the centre of the clustered tables.

Knowing that the larger beach would have much more things to do and a lot more people to share the experience with, Joshua was actually glad that this place was so empty today. He'd needed a place to think and had been driving aimlessly when he'd spotted the turn-off that led toward it. It was certainly the ideal place to get away from the rest of the world. It was picturesque for being so small and abandoned--miniature enough that if one stood in the centre they could still see where the surroundings faded into forest on either side. I wonder what this place looked like before the Hollow was here. This whole place... He glanced behind him as if he could see the city opening behind him--in reality he just saw the parking load, a bit of the road and some trees blocking the view beyond. It had probably been all wild back then.

"Hello," he said pleasantly to the man that was running the parlour. He had aged around ten years and his hairline was receding further. It didn't surprise Josh that the man wouldn't recognise him as the bitter nine year old who'd visited all these years ago--he'd shot up in height and changed in demeanour since then. Nevertheless, he accepted a dripping dark chocolate ice cream and sat down at one of the tables, vaguely wondering if many people even knew about this place any more. Well, obviously, as there were a few people here right now, but did anyone he knew? I'll have to ask them, he mused, allowing his thoughts to wander as he considered the shoreline nearby.