It was a Saturday morning at Laguna Beach, my eyes swollen and face blank upon watching people walk by, laughing and yelling. The little teenagers taking the same annoying pictures with their friends, random people occupying every bench, giving people dirty looks--which just so happened to be their face. I'm not fond of people. Constantly pulling out my phone, tilting my wrist to see if I have a notification, a text message, or just anything to distract me for a few minutes. The one day I make plans with people I can deal with is when I'm dragged along with someone who loves to take up all of the time in the world. Even if I were to die at any second, this guy would still force you to be places so you could "get out more". Being the introvert I am, I stood quietly with my arms crossed as I knew that the pleasant and clear shiny ocean would do something to tick me off. Staring from the side of the ocean view, my hyung and his friend struggled to read the parking meter which read, "5 hours remaining".

 

"Great," Chanyeol says confidently "We can stay longer". My sarcastic cheer drifted into the breeze, the ocean is just not amusing on a Saturday. It just really isn't. Our manager isn't even fond of us going to the beach; he gets overly cautious and like me, can tell whether or not something is bound to happen. Me being the quiet person I am, trailed behind the two guys as I took note of my surroundings. It wasn't as irritating as before, but it resembled one of those nuclear weapon sites like in the movies. The cardboard cut-out families, mimicking the "perfect suburban home" during the 1950's, it just felt sketchy and comfortable. I know my guy feeling very well and something was just fixing to happen. Originally, we were going to go on a hike, but instead we ended up going on a long walk along the beach.

 

Chanyeol is a rather adventurous but naive guy, always wanting to do new things and just thinking that he could possibly help me "broaden the horizons" by going out more often. The ocean was singing for me and I just wanted to punch it in its face. Gravity was also getting on my nerves, my face sinking into despair. I can feel that salty ocean wisps on my face, and the seagulls were just squawking away. I just wished the birds were extinct at this point. The murky tide engulfed my ankles as I looked back, watching how far we walked--which wasn't much. Time would pass and I could feel myself teetering back and forth as we strode along the shore, my hand occasionally smacking into my phone that shot back and forth in my pocket. It hurt a little bit, but what really agitated me was the tentacle-looking seaweed that was rotting and getting covered in flies everywhere we went. The bunch resembled a decomposing body and the ocean tasted like a sewer. It looked clean, but I could feel the presence of waste just marinating in the body of water. By now, we were half-way across the shore; the tides resembled bipolar disorder--from a passive happy cookie baking grandmother to a raging woman on her monthly "adventure". The shore was slanted as my right foot was lower than my left, as the expensive buildings and houses on my left remained in their well-constructed state. The beige and marble colored buildings added a finishing to the buildings, admiring the design was able to distract me from our walk and I noticed that less and less people entered my peripheral vision. The angle of the sun now hit the water, turning the ocean into a giant pool of glitter, as if the galaxy puked right on us. As we walked even further, we began to see more orange, seal-looking people who were probably locals. By the looks of it, we reached a region of the beach where most people never visit; it seemed a little too peaceful. In the same area, we slowly approached a large arc, which had a palatial house on it. Beyond the arch lay a large area that was mostly covered in jagged mussels. We were waiting for the water blocking the entrance the recede so we could continue onward where we saw two sketchy people leave which just reminded me of how I wasn't fond of the ocean today. Many people admired the blow hold, an underwater arch with a hole where people can jump into and emerge from the other end, and the view of the calm waters of the ocean. After a few minutes, I waited as Chanyeol and Lay took pictures at the site. I decided to wait for a reply from any of my text messages, hoping that someone wanted to be my friend for a few minutes.

 

Before I could think, the silence broke as I heard a giant wave crash against the sharp rocks, followed by a scream of desperation. I looked back to see Chanyeol dangling from our eyes, in that split second the returning water him into the blow hole. The idiot can't swim! My adrenaline rushed, I darted toward the ocean as the knife-like mussels stab me with every step. I stumbled upon one of the elevated steps while trying to witness what had happened, my shin bleeding from the rocks and his head not bobbing up until moments later on the other side. I quickly grabbed m phone to call 911, no reception was available. I couldn't even jump into the ocean because of my position, and I would've crashed into the shallow reef. One of the random sight-seers had jumped into the ocean. An elder man around 50, in his shoes and clothing, his wife and Lay were able to get a hold of lifeguards who were very uncooperative. The man almost reached Chanyeol but a large wave had separated them, but a large and younger man had appeared. The man wore swimming shorts that had looked worn out due to the faded red color, his rugged jaw and brown curly hair complimented his tall, athletic stature. From the bronze color of his skin, he seemed like a local and his surprisingly calm aura stood out despite the hectic situation. He threw me his credit card before he jumped into the water, and before I knew it, the man got Chanyeol to the nearest rock as the titanic waves crashed with immense pressure over their backs and onto the drenched mussels. Chanyeol began to regurgitate because of the water that had forced its way down his throat. After he gained some control from his panic, the man got them to shore and I was now on the phone with the sassy lifeguard that kept asking me questions. Ignoring the call, relaxed, I made my way out of the area to the shore where the ambulance did some very casual tests. Everyone involved in that accident had seem like dead fish. The first man who jumped into the water had left, and everyone was very silent for a long period of time. I phoned out manager and normally told them about what happened and he reacted very thoroughly and was on his way to pick us up. The lifeguards had done breathing tests on Chanyeol and gave me a napkin to clean my blood, it was very uncared for, but they left and it was left with us three again climbing the nearest giant flight of stairs to wait for our manager to reach the location. Before leaving, a man told us about the guy who saved Chanyeol. The man happened to be a pro-surfer. Eventually while contemplating how to contact the man, our manager arrived and drove us to the emergency room. On our awkward trip there, I thought about how if anyone had listened to me about avoiding the beach today, the deadly situation wouldn't have taken up our time.

 

The E.R. was very mellow. Chanyeol just had lots of water in his system according to the doctor and it wasn't until an hour later when our manager realized that I had a large bleeding gash on my leg. One of the nurses cleaned it up for me and after some time, the tests were done and we were able to go home safe and sound with a big irritating limp. There went my plans, but I knew for sure that out of many of those gut feeling moments, these would be one of those which would assure me that my gut and caution is a big advocate for me. Plus, taking me out of an introverted state will result in a very harsh consequence. It's been a year since the incident, but it reminds me of what could have been avoided if someone had listened to me. The ocean is very unpredictable.