The Sea in our Veins

Virgil lounged on the beach, laying on the sand as far as he could get away from the water and let his skin soak up the rays of the sun.

“Are you coming?” Michael asked.

“I’m not coming in the water,” Virgil said, “This is as far as I’ll go.”

“You are barely on the beach,” Michael said.

“And I said that I wasn’t going to go near the water,” Virgil said, “So, you shouldn’t be surprised.”

“The water isn’t even that cold,” Michael replied.

“It’s literally the middle of May,” Virgil replied, “No thank you.”

“Your loss.” Michael said as he disappeared into the ocean again.

Virgil closed his eyes and lay back, trying to relax. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a thud beside him. He slowly opened his eyes to find a guy that looked a couple of years older than him plunk down a lawn chair right next to him, even though the beach was completely empty except for Virgil and a couple of shady homeless guys. The new guy settled into the lawn chair and sighed contently, ignoring Virgil who looked at him indignantly. The guy leaned back and stared at the beach with his eyes covered in sunglasses, seeming content to soak up the sun next to Virgil.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked, annoyed that the stranger was right beside him. The stranger ignored him. Virgil finally got off of his blanket and stood right in front of the guy, “This is my spot. Find another place to park yourself.”

“Does this beach belong to you?” the guy asked with a strange accent.

“No, but this spot is mine. Find your own.”

“I did find my own,” the man replied.

Virgil let out an annoyed sigh. He grabbed his blanket and moved farther down the beach away from the strange guy. The man did nothing, but after a bit, Virgil could hear quiet snoring coming from him. Soon, Virgil could feel his limbs grow heavy and he let sleep claim him.

Virgil awoke to water dripping on his face. He looked up only to find Michael standing over him, soaking wet.

“We should probably head in soon,” Michael said, “Dinner is in an hour, and I want to have a shower before dinner.”

“You go ahead,” Virgil said, “I’ll come in soon.”

“Okay,” Michael said. To Virgil’s annoyance, Michael was dripping water all over his blanket. “Don’t forget to put sunscreen on,” Michael said.

“What are you, my mother?” Virgil asked. Michael looked like he was trying hard not to laugh,

“You’re just looking a bit like an overcooked lobster.” Virgil glanced at his arms and saw that they were bright red. He quickly grabbed for the sunscreen, slathering it on thickly.

“See you at dinner,” Michael said as he walked back towards the beach house where he and Virgil were staying. Virgil finished slathering himself with sunscreen and lay back down, trying to relax again.

“Where would one get food around here?” the strange guy was back. Virgil opened his eyes to find strange guy standing over him, his chair abandoned. He was standing in the same spot where Michael had just been standing.

“What?” Virgil asked, confused.

“I asked where one would get food around here,” the guy said. Virgil looked behind strange guy where Bob’s burger’s brightly illuminated sign stood at the front of his restaurant with a pizzeria right beside it, also with a large sign. Virgil pointed them out to strange guy,

“Both of those places have decent food except don’t order hot dogs from Bob’s burgers. Rumor has it that his hotdogs are fake.”

“What is hot dog?” Strange guy asked. It took Virgil a minute to realize that his mouth was hanging open. He quickly closed it. Something was definitely wrong with this guy.

“Never mind,” Virgil said, gathering his things before starting to walk back towards the house. He glanced back once to find strange guy walking confidently towards Bob’s burgers, leaving his abandoned chair alone on the beach. Virgil sighed at the guy’s weirdness but he didn’t really care to do anything more than shake his head in disbelief.