Two weeks. That was the deal.

Sunny closed her eyes as she breathed in deeply, her hair getting swept by the light winds as the sound of seagulls echoed from a distance; the scent of saltwater filling her nostrils. The ship floated in the middle of the sea and Sunny felt the gentle rocking of waves against her feet. She squinted as she raised her eyes to the sky; up in the balcony, she was away from most of the tourist below deck, providing her the peace she craved. The sun was high up, surrounded by fluffy cumulus clouds promising fine weather. But Sunny—although her name suggested it—felt anything but.

Her mother had asked her to visit Sunset Island, a tiny archipelago somewhere in the Atlantic to live with her dad whom she only ever met a handful of times. And most of those times were way before she could do her homework all by herself.

The last time she saw him was on her 8th birthday, which was nine years ago. Her parents were very much civil after the divorce, however, (Sunny heard them on the phone several times when her mother thought she was being extra quiet in her room) which made her wonder why they separated in the first place when they seemed to get along well. (The phone calls happened more often than what usually divorced couples had).

It was partly the reason why she had agreed to stay with her dad for the remaining weeks of the summer. And if everything goes well, her mother suggested she should stay for a year on the island and spend her junior year at the local high school.

With a father she barely knew.

Wonderful.

Sunny sighed again then looked down at the water, which sparkled against the early afternoon light. The captain had announced that they would be porting in a matter of minutes, the island already visible from a distance, but she couldn’t seem to go down just yet...wanting to enjoy the view for just a bit more.

She had always been a fan of beaches. She liked to be out in the sun, loved the feeling of her feet buried in the sand and the cool seawater tickling her skin. She vaguely remembered having visited the beach often with her parents; blurry images of three people hand in hand with the biggest smiles on their lips as they ran towards the waves slapping on the shoreline.

But that was what all they were...memories. Probably from way before they separated.

Sunny leaned against the railing as the boat’s horn sounded, signaling their approach. She knew it was time to go down. Pushing herself from the ledge, she began to turn away but stopped mid-step when something caught her eye in the water.

Against the shimmering waves she saw something... crimson.

Blood? Panic bubbled in her chest at the thought but the crimson color looked more solid than liquid. In fact, it almost looked like...

The water rippled and there was a shimmer in the water, obscuring her view even more.

Is that a body? She thought as she squinted, head tilting slightly. But before she could make out the oddity in the water, the ship’s horn sounded again followed by a booming voice of a man asking the passengers to head down and prepare to disembark.

She glanced behind her briefly and when she returned her gaze to the sea, the red color vanished like a dream, leaving only crystal blue waves.

~~~o~~~

It was easy to spot him. He was just as she remembered him.

Sunny’s father, Jun, was a middle-aged man with dark hair and square-framed glasses over dark gray eyes similar to her own. He wore khaki shorts and those loose polos he liked to wear so much. Sunny would know, because the pictures her mother had of him often showed him in those.

There was also the fact that he waved and called out to her the moment she stepped