"I can't believe I let you persuade me, this is such a dumb idea." 

I groaned at Esther as we made our way out of the train station.  It was near end of January, the weather was still brutal and I never expected myself to be anywhere near the beach.  According to Esther, there would be less people occupying the sand and the amusement park rides, plus I needed a break from work and home.  Actually, all of that meant privacy for Esther to talk about her boy drama.  Yeah. 

"You would be rotting in that house if I didn't drag you out. Look how beautiful it is to be outside! You need to enjoy the fresh air and the birds over our heads."

Sometimes, I could not differentiate her enthusiasm from sarcasm.  

"Maybe there will be cute guys, who knows?"

See what I mean.

Passing by Nathan's Famous, Esther dragged me in line for her cheese fries.  Apparently, there were people as crazy as Esther to visit the beach during winter.  While I waited next to her, a little girl bumped into me and fell backward.  Immediately, I knelt down and helped her up.  From my guess, the little girl was most likely around the age of five, with her silky, straight brown hair and innocent hazel eyes, I couldn't stop myself from smiling at her.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked quietly.  She nodded and replied with a shy apology, her large eyes staring into mine.  Soon, her mother appeared and they left just like that.

"Now that's what I call a cute baby." Esther's voice grabbed my attention and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Stop being a e."

We walked along the platform before Esther decided to get our feet on the sand.  On the other hand, I was absolutely against the insane idea and was about a hundred percent done with her.  Except I found myself mumbling curse words behind Esther five minutes later, barefoot and grumpy on the same damn sand she was so eager to stroll on.  The sand was not warm.  

The wind blew lightly against us, I let my eyes wander around and observed families and couples that obviously enjoyed their times more than I did here.  The least I could do was allow my complaints to be heard.

"It's cold."

"It's windy and I am hungry."

"Seriously, who would go swimming in this weather?"

"Can we sit-"

"Okay, stop. You're getting annoying now." Esther stuck her palm in front of my face, the other hand rubbed her temple.

"Only now? Oh honey, I can do better than that."  Smirking at her, I mentally gave myself a thumbs up for getting back at Esther.  The girl really needed to get a taste of her own medicine occasionally.  Just when I was about to bombard her, my side vision caught a familiar figure in the water.  The moment my mind finally registered what was going on, I had already sprinted urgently toward the figure's direction.  

As soon as the bone chilling water hit my skin and harshly engulfed me, a cruel realization struck me like an unforecasted li