Random Days (Part 2)

So this is the second part to a story I'm having to write for a uni assignment. This is also the final part of the story, I'll have to cut down the words for the assignment, so figured I'd share the original full version on here cause it was a nice random story I had to write up. I might continue writing this, or make a series with this character, not for uni, but just for fun, please let me know if you'd like to see more simple stories like this with this character or a continuation of this one in particular, cause I have enjoyed doing this, just random little snippets, no need for detailed plots, and plot twists, sometimes it's nice to do something simple. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this (You'll find the first part on my page) and have a great day/night!

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A couple minutes passed and the rain seemed to start easing up, though it was still quite heavy. It was then that she noticed more people were coming into view. Oh god, are people seriously out in the ra-oh.

Wait never mind, they were running back towards the car park.

She started to chuckle as she watched them scurry back to the safety of their vehicles, sense finally coming back to them. What, did they seriously think with this downpour that it wasn’t that serious and that they’d be fine?

Seriously, people were so weird.

Her car started to shake a little bit, which drew Crystal’s attention to the sound of rushing wind that had suddenly picked up outside. Her hands started to shake as her breath quickened. Eyes darting everywhere, Crystal began squeezing her hands as they instinctively started to reach out into the air inside of her car, trying to mentally find a stable spot and latch on to it.

Remember your breathing exercises. Breathe in. Breathe out. The wind isn’t that strong, you’re car is gonna be fine. You’re gonna be fine.

Yeah…yeah, it was…right?

That’s it. Breathe in…breathe out…

She repeated this for a few more minutes until she felt her body relax. It probably would be a good idea to resume therapy now that she had moved to her new place, but…did she really wanna try? It was hard enough talking to-

Is…is he taking a jog?!?

That’s what it seriously looked like. A man was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt, no umbrella or coverage in sight and was going at the pace of someone who was simply out for a jog.

She was about to roll down her window to call out to him when she realised that the rain had calmed down a lot more, and that the sun was out, the wind had calmed down a little, but was still a little strong. Realizing that quite a bit more time had passed then she thought while she had been calming herself down, Crystal decided she might as well go out for a walk. Everyone else was despite the weather, must be…normal here? Who knows, but might as well fit in.

And rain was always oddly calming anyway.

So go out she did. As the rain had mostly let up, Crystal was able to actually see what was around her at the beach. There were quite a few trees along the sand line, separating the road from the beach, along with a fence that had the occasional wooden pool. People were starting to come out more now, this time around, they were back with their animals.

That seemed to be a favourite thing to do at the beach – bring the animals. But that would be because the beach was the symbol of relaxation, a place to get away, either from vacation, or from a long day. It was beach culture to bring your pet(s).

As she walked along, she noted flowers tied to some of the wooden posts, more and more appearing as she went. No note, just flowers still in that wrapping you see them in at the shops, and all tied to the fence posts.

Hmmm, interesting.

Crystal continued along until she found a concrete staircase leading down onto the beach itself, and decided to head down there. The cliff rockface that ran along the beach ended up sheltering her from a lot of the wind, so it felt a little better, though the sand was soaking wet and the waves were looking pretty rough, probably still an aftereffect from the earlier downpour and wind.

People walking along the shore were more rugged up than up along those running along the footpath up there when it was raining. Crystal shook her head. People here in Adelaide seem more weird. The rain had surprisingly come to a stop, though there were some pretty dark clouds still looming around. Animals were running around, couples were out holding hands, people starting to chit chat to each other. It seemed an unspoken rule that everyone was friendly at the beach, it was the one place to count on people being nice, actually.

Dark clouds seemed to be coming closer, so Crystal sped up her walking a little bit. She noted some lights on some big vehicles flashing up ahead, they looked important. Finding a big wooden ramp leading back up onto the sidewalk, she took that up, sprinting to avoid the clouds as she was starting to hear thunder, but also to check out why there were lights flashing. Reaching the side walk, Crystal found herself just across the road from a big hotel that had a restaurant on the ground floor. Looking to her right, she saw that the vehicles were construction vehicles and they were doing some work along the side of the hotel and restaurant and the lights were to slow down and divert traffic. But the crew weren’t actually working, they were currently rushing about trying to pack everything away cause of the weather.

Having satisfied that aspect of her curiosity, Crystal looked around at the deck like area the ramp had led her to and saw that there were more flowers tied to the posts, but this time a whole bunch of them in just one spot.

Wanting to know what was up with these flowers, she looked closer and spotted a sign sitting in the middle of the flowers. Cause of all the flowers, she could only make out the first few words ‘In Loving Memory Of’.

Ohhhh.

Someone…someone must have died here at the beach. Or loved the beach, this beach in particular, and they put this up in memory of them.

Damn.

That was so sad. I wonder who they were? I hope their family is alright.

Before Crystal could think about it any further, there was a clap of thunder as the wind picked up again, along with some lightning.

Alright, visit’s over, let’s get back to the car and get home.