When Bummie was a kid, there was one situation that determined his future.
This situation was why he was a lifeguard today. It was also the reason why he decided to live in this town. Today, he was going to share that reason with Jae.
They were sat on the couch as always. Leaning against each other, they talked quietly. The fireplace was lit and it was warm. They had a thin blanket that they shared. The duo chatted in hushed voices as they shared stories.
Starting with Bummie's beginning.
Bummie's house was his aunt's house. Bummie's parents had passed away when he was a teen so they had taken him in. His uncle had passed and his aunt was currently traveling the world.
All that was left was him and this house.
When he had first moved in with his aunt and uncle, he was pretty sad. Still grieving and reserved for the most part. Bummie wasn't a talkative person, but he had gone silent after his parents passed.
His aunt had the great idea of taking him out to the beach. The beach was a popular place- it was the heart of the town. Summer had just started so she got him up and outside. It was right outside which proved convenient. His aunt wrote books so she worked at home.
Every day, she got Bummie up early in the morning and took him to the beach. She always made the excuse that it felt better to write in the sun, but it was just to get him outside. He never complained, it was fun and he started getting social with others.
Bummie would always help the lifeguards and store clerks. He would give directions to tourists and even help set up umbrellas. Through this, he communicated with a lot of people and learned a lot of different things.
Bummie had begun to like his life. When you meet tons of different people, you experience tons of different things. You hear a thousand different stories and make a thousand different friends.
They had started calling Bummie water boy.
As in the boy who gave football players their water. It was a joke to say that he was always helping everyone. Bummie took the nickname with pride.
Helping people was nice ad it made Bummie feel good.
Being at the beach every day meant Bummie had to learn how to swim. Luckily, he was friends with the lifeguards. Bummie got private swimming lessons from the experts.
After that Bummie fell in love with not just the beach, but the ocean as well.
You could always find Bummie in the water or on the beach. He had eve started coming without his aunt. Which was nice for her.
In reality, she couldn't see anything when she was typing her book on the beach.
Bummie had made a lot of friends of all ages, but he did like sticking with his age group. Jin was one of the first friends he made. Jin was his friend before Bummie had even moved there. They hung out before when Bummie used to visit his aunt. They got to see each other much more often.
Bummie had also made friends with a girl Mariah called and a boy called Gee.
The three had been spending a large amount of time together. Their favorite thing to do was go swimming together. Jin just watched from the beach most of the time.
This day it had been no different. The three had been in the deeper area of the water. Mariah had said that she was getting tired but still wanted to swim. Gee had suggested that he and Bummie could get her floats. Mariah had agreed and the boys were off to get the floats.
The only floats that were available at the time needed to be blown up. Gee had stayed to start blowing them up while Bumie went to get Mariah for some help. Bummie had met a frightening scene.
People were gasping and shouting. Bummie looked around confused and then his ears caught the sound of splashing. It clicked when he looked forward. Mariah, his best friend, was drowning.
Bummie's first reaction was to go out to save her. Watching the lifeguards all the time proved to be useful. Bummie swam quickly to Mariah and carried her to land on his back.
The situation cooled as Mariah took deep breaths after spitting up water.
That day Bummie decided to be a lifeguard. He never felt such terror before and didn't want anyone else to feel the same. He knew what it felt like to lose someone and wanted to prevent that from happening to anyone else.
The girl, Mariah, had decided to be a lifeguard too. She had told Bummie that drowning was a horrible experience and she couldn't let anyone die like that. Mariah was ironically a pretty good swimmer, but she had gotten a leg cramp at the time and sunk.
It caught her by surprise and life seemed so short at the moment.
Both teens had a hectic day that they didn't want anyone else to experience. They decided to save as many lives as they could and started lifeguard training. A role that they both liked quite a bit.
Jae listened quickly as Bummie finished off his story.
"Woah, I could ever imagine not being able to breathe." Jae had gills and could breathe through his nose.
That was never a problem for him.
"Yeah, humans are very fragile." Bummie nodded.
The two agreed and carried on with their conversation.
This time it was Jae's turn to tell a story.
Surprisingly, Jae didn't remember a lot of his childhood. When every day is the same, they just start to blend. What he did know, was that he once had a mother.
He couldn't picture her face anymore, but he knew she had to be real. She was the one who taught him how to hunt for food. One day, she went out for food and never came back.
Jae's first meal that he caught all on his own was shrimp.
Jae has lived in a cave all his life. It had a small area that was attached to a mountain. This is how he knew how to breathe through his nose. The cave was circular and had a pool in the middle that led to the ocean. It was his home and he wondered how it looked now.
Jae had been waiting for his mother to return, but the pain in his stomach was too strong. He knew he had to eat while he could still move. Jae figured she wouldn't be mad if he just went out for a quick bite.
It had turned out that Jae wasn't going out for a quick bite. Jae had had way too much fun exploring the ocean. He had almost forgotten about getting food.
Jae was deep in the ocean wandering around emptiness. He wasn't too far from the coral reef so he wasn't panicking. In reality, his far was over ten miles.
He didn't notice when they appeared, but these small creatures had started surrounding him. Jae giggled, then realized. Food!! These small things were easy to catch and there was a bunch of them. Jae snatched a few of them and stuffed his cheeks.
They were crunchy but pretty good!
While eating, Jae had become oblivious. His self-awareness had vanished. So when he saw a dark spot in the corner of his eye he wasn't paying attention. However, he did notice when it was right in front of him.
Jae had managed to avoid a collision when he dashed to the side.
He watched as a huge whale came by, swallowing all the shrimp. Jae guessed he wasn't the only one who liked shrimp. The whale sang some nice tunes to Jae as she swam by.
It was apparent that the majority of the ocean loved mermaids.
This encounter taught Jae not to be slow when eating because there were millions of creatures waiting to snatch a meal.
Bummie had felt bad when hearing Jae's story. The sweet sea creature was so unfortunate and had been alone all his life. Bummie could never imagine.
As if reading his mind, Jae reassured Bummie. He had made lots of friends. The ocean might have been rough and dangerous, but it was beautiful and sweet as well.
With that, the story night ended.