Beach House

There it was, the beach house of my dreams.
As a last attempt to make everything right, me, Cherry and the kids decided to go on a family trip to this beach house. We had a couple of rich friends that lived the good life, that is how we got the great chance of experiencing a beach house. Those bastards, not only do they not have a care in the world but they also get a nice relaxing place right in front of the beach where they can relax even more. My mind had become a chaos of unnecessary thoughts, suddenly it seemed as though every insignificant problem had become greater and for some reason I came to a point in which it had become unbearable. It started simple; one day I didn’t have enough money to buy myself a snack, next thing I knew I didn’t have enough money to pay for our groceries. Then the day came in which I couldn’t even pay for the rent, then my loans and then everything became a living hell.
Cherry thought it would be a good idea to leave the house to get away from our problems. We had to take the kids with us since they could also use a little time off. And that’s how we ended up in a fancy-ass beach house. We must have driven at least two hours into the east to find the house. It was a long trip for me and the kids but it all became worth it once we got the first sight of that beauty behind the trees. As I slowly got out of the car I got a good glance of what was going to become our new house for the next week. It was made of wood and painted white, old enough that you cold see the white paint coming off of the wooden walls. The children rushed past me as I entered the house after several attempts to open it with the key Cherry’s friend had given us. It looked a bit dirty from the outside but once we stepped in it because a whole different picture. There was fancy furniture and fancy things all over the house. It felt strange walking around something so clean and so new. There were silk drapes adorning every window and I wondered how much they must have cost; I’m no tailor but even I know silk is one hell of an expensive fabric. Then, as me and Cherry walked to what was going to become our rooms we noticed a huge kitchen that seemed ready to be used. The kids came across a huge fridge and one of them quickly opened the door hoping there was food but there wasn’t any. And if there had been any, I’m pretty sure it would have been rotten by now; god knows, it seemed as though this house had been unoccupied for a quite a while now. We moved on to our rooms and man was that a sight! There were only two rooms, one for us and one for the kids. Our room was enormous, silk drapes and everything. In the middle there stood a king sized bed so tidy that it made me wonder if anyone had ever even slept in it. The kids screamed as soon as they entered their room. There was a pair of twin beds, one for each. The kids launched themselves into their respective beds, they had always shared one bed and the opportunity of finally sleeping alone made their hearts explode. Clair, the youngest girl took the bad in the right while Max, her older brother took the one in the left.
Cherry sat on the bed, carefully trying not to mess it up as if someone was going to come check on it later. I just walked to the biggest window I could find only to come across a balcony that led to the beach. This is just like in the movies, I thought to myself as I let the breeze wash over me like a wave, I took a deep breath and for a couple of seconds I felt as though everything was going to be alright.
The following days felt like the dream we’ve always deserved. Our days were filled with joy and we didn’t have a care in the world. Me and Cherry would sit in the balcony as we watched our kids play in the beach during the day and by night, we would all come inside and Cherry would make one of her famous quick dinners. I tried to enjoy myself as much as I possibly could but I still carried the worries on my head. They were like spirits that kept my mind from resting, I hated it but there was nothing I could do. I didn’t want to ruin anybody’s fun not even my own, but it was difficult. In the times in which I would finally get rid of my worries my mind would eventually go back to them, it was as though I couldn’t run away from them.
One night, as Cherry cooked dinner, me and the kids sat together in the table and they told me about all the wonderful adventures they had at the beach. Max did most of the talking while Clair only nodded and agreed with her brother’s stories.
“-and we saw a huge crab! The biggest crab I had ever seen!” screamed the older boy as he spread his arms signaling the size of said crab.
“Yes, daddy! It attacked me as soon as it saw me! It was an evil crab! It wanted to kill me,” added my girl and I laughed. It was the cutest thing I had ever heard.
“Really?” I said in disbelief.
“Yes!” they said in unison.
“Dad doesn’t know! I bet he has never even seen a REAL crab before!” said Max. “I bet he’s never even gone to the beach before us”
“Are we really that poor?” asked the younger one. I felt concern in her voice.
“Of course not, sweetheart! You’re brother is just being stupid!” I said trying to cheer her up. I tried not to think too much about it myself, perhaps it was true. Maybe we were that poor.
“Dad, did you ever go to the beach when you were little?”, the youngest of the two asked me. For a while there I thought that was one silly question, the kind only kids ask.
“Why, yes I have, sweetie,” I responded.
“Did you find any giant crabs like we did?”
“No, honey. I didn’t,”
Because of that insignificant comment I remembered my first trip to the beach. It was one day of summer when my parents decided to take me and my brothers to the beach near by. I was so excited that day, I was only 7 years old and had never gone to the beach before since my parents had never found the time or the money to take us. They were just as poor as me and Cherry are but they saved enough money and found a free day to take us for a nice trip. The most significant memory of that day was that of the beach side when I encountered for the first time. It seemed magical. There was so much water my little kid mind couldn’t comprehend it. It scared me at the time, a possibility that the world might be drowning crossed through my mind but I didn’t tell my brothers because I knew they would mock me for it. Instead I told my father and he only laughed. “come on boy! That’s just the sea” , he told me. He might have said that but I still saw that place as unbelievable, there was just so many new things around me at the time I felt as though I was in an alien planet. Even the air was strange, with every breath I could taste the salt of the sea. The sand and the rocks in the shore were completely different from anything I had seen before. I felt happy at that place, as if nothing mattered but me at the time(of course there were a lot more people around me but I didn’t care). I began to jump around and daydream of strange new worlds. I pretended I was exploring an alien planet and I walked around the beach with great caution. Examined the dark rocks and the many creatures caught between their ridges. The shells, the clams and the anemones, they were alien species that I had only heard of in books. And then it hit me, what I was going through at the time and what was going with my kids. And suddenly all my problems seemed to had been downgraded. It didn’t matter to me the hassles I had to go through in order to pay my bills because as long as I could my children could be happy as they are today. It never occurred to me that my life was no longer my own but it was theirs as well. I lived to see their smiles and in order to protect what it is they hold dear and by god I wasn’t going down without a fight. I was such a selfish prick for not even noticing this before, but it’s all good now.
After we had dinner I took Cherry’s place and took the kids to bed. They tried their best to stay awake so that they could continue telling me stories of their adventures, but their little bodies were exhausted from all the playing they did during the day. First, I tucked Max in, he still had his favorite action figure tightly grasped in his tiny arms. I made no attempt to take it from him and covered them both with the blanket. I kissed him goodnight and then moved on to my little girl. She was just about to fall asleep, she was trying her best to keep her eyes open as to catch every glimpse of her dad. I lifted the warm blanket over her small body and kissed her forehead before she said,
“Daddy?”
“Yes sweetie?”
“We’ll come back to the beach next summer, wont we?”
“Yes we will.”
“You promise?”
“Yes I do. Now go to sleep.”
“Ok. Goodnight dad, I love you”
“Me too. Sweet dreams”
And I left with a promise of a better tomorrow.