Kaiju

It was Summer, 2013…

 I was going to spend my whole weekend at my grandma’s place. Of all the places I could’ve stayed at, the one place I would rather stay is at home. I don’t hate my grandmother, I just hate it when I have stay at a place with limited internet, little people to interact with, and little to do! The only thing you can do is watch TV (If there’s anything good to watch), do chores, play a piano or go to the beach. Well, I lied about being little to do and few people to interact with because my Grandma lives near the beach (or as its commonly known as a Balneario in Puerto Rico) but the thing is that everyone in Yauco isn’t exactly friendly with people who are outside the Yauco circle (I’m from San Juan, in case you’re wondering). But I don’t have much of a choice! Mom’s working overtime at the hospital, Dad’s on Service and My sister would rather eat the barrel of a gun than babysit me. Although It’s not all bad, I get a chance to get away from technology and have the opportunity to develop a self-control attitude from it, Plus Edd lives here (One of the few people I made friends with), So if I’m bored I can just call him up to see if we can go take potshots at some coke cans. But of course, this summer was going to be the one I’ll never forget.

 It started on the second day I stayed at my Grandma’s House. It was a long and hot day, Edd wasn’t at home and Grandma was just cooking up something for lunch. I was just sitting at the couch looking at the TV. There was nothing much to watch on TV, apart from Telemundo or Univision (The only few channels this house has) and I was literally bored out of my mind. That’s when Grandma Showed up and yelled “You’re still watching TV?” (Keep in mind although I live in Puerto Rico, My family is from Texas.). “Grandma, there’s nothing better to do outside!” I said to her in a rather bored monotone, “Well what about the beach? I didn’t moved near the beach because of the attractive young men outside!”  She exclaimed to me. I sighed to myself and said “I don’t have anyone to hang out with!” She then added “You don’t need anyone to go to the beach! Just go out and meet some people!” I then shook my head in silence, wishing for once that she could understand the reason why I don’t want to go. But of course, it was either that or sit on this table and do work.

 So, I did what any other bored teen would do in a situation like this: I got off my lazy butt, got my swim trunks on and then walked out of my granny’s house to the beach. The walk from my house to the beach is more like a 2 minute walk, we’re practically close to both the beach and the balneario but there’s little to no houses in here. The only houses is see is Edd’s and Angelica. I forgot to tell you about these guys so let me give you a bit of info about them: Edd is a Retired TaLOS trooper (Tactical Assault and Land Operations Service, in case you were wondering) who lives alone in a seemingly abandoned mansion. His folks weren’t rich but he bought the house because it was secluded and it was the perfect place where he could practice his aiming. You see, Edd owned a lot of guns, some of them legal and a lot of them not so legal. He actually lets me fire some of them but Grandma gets nervous whenever she sees me near his house. She doesn’t hate Edd, although she has a major problem with me holding a gun in her presence, she also hates the abandoned state of the house because it gives her an eerie sense of death inside it. Angelica is my grandma’s neighbor. She’s not my friend, nor an acquaintance, she’s a witch (I’d say the other word but, It’s just not in my power to use it). Sorry for the use of the word but its true, she doesn’t say hi and fakes her friendliness when my grandma is outside and I’m near her. When no one’s around, she treats me like an ugly animal. What a hypocrite. The balneario I was talking about is about a minute to get in and it’s always full of people and music. I don’t like the place, it just doesn’t feel safe for me to be in there.

 But anyway, back to the reality. I reach the beach to see a large crowd of people in the beach. Families, Friends and Lovers, all heading into the edge of the ocean to bathe in the water of the ocean and the rays of the warm sun. And I’m just standing like an Idiot looking at everyone and wondering why the hell didn’t I just stay at home? But then I saw something at the distance, it was the familiar Black Van of Edd over the left side of the Beach. I then decided to just walk ahead, avoiding to step on sand castle and try not to bump into the wrong guy. After a long and scorching walk, I suddenly reached the van’s location. I investigated the truck further to see if I was right which I was when I saw the TaLOS logo, which was the red image of a man dressed in Greek armor (Talos) raising his sword up high to the sky, almost like he was expecting to get powers from the gods. Suddenly, I heard a gruff voice from behind yelling “HEY! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY VAN!” I turn around to see it was my dear friend Edd. He has a certain appearance of a Disgruntled War Veteran but I wouldn’t call him violent or crazy, he’s just paranoid. He has a shaved head with a short cut beard but he likes to wear a black beanie with the TaLOS logo on it (Which you could buy at a local SpyGallery) and he has brown eyes. “Oh hey, Matt! (By the way, my name’s Matthew Sandler but please, address me as Matt) Howzit going?” He said in his normal calm voice. “It’s been boring Edd. What are you doing here?” I asked him. “Oh, just looking at crabs. I mean, isn’t that why people come to the beach all the time?” He responded, I shook my head and explained to him that people only come to the beach to mingle and to see crabs. “Oh! I didn’t know that.” He responded in a normal tone. I instantly knew he was lying, mainly because Edd’s not a great liar and secondly, he doesn’t just drive his van near the beach without it being a reason. Trust me, I know it because it happened once. “What are you really doing here, Edd?” I ask him directly, he at first made a rather distasted look in his eyes as if he didn’t wanted to answer the question without sounding stupid but when he took a look at my face, he reacted at soon as I was about to say his name. “I saw something last night.” He answered with a straight tone. “What did you see last night?” I asked him, “I dunno. At first I thought it was a whale but then it got out of the water and went inland.” He explained, when I asked him what it looked like, his only anwer was “I didn’t get a good look at it but I know that it looked a large and it could walk on land.” I then shook my head and Asked “How long has it been since you slept?” He responded with “Hey, I sleep all the time and I know what I saw was REAL!” I then asked him if he knew where he saw it, he then pointed towards the beach ahead, the one without people and with more jungle than anything. “Wanna come and join me?” He offered. Realizing the idea of going on a journey deep within to find something not exist might be annoying but I know that long walk might do me some good. I accept his offer and he then goes off to his van and he opens the back of the truck to reveal a large stock pile of firearms and Ammunition. He takes goes through one of the crates on the left side and he pulls out this big green binocular with some green lenses on the side. “Wait, you’re taking a camera? Why won’t you take an assault rifle or something?” I exclaim to him, he turns to me and says “The first rule of investigation is to reserve the use of violence unless you have been spotted.” I thought that plan was ridiculous but then I remember all those stories that Edd told me, about him doing special operations that involved spying on terrorist, cartel groups and drug dealers, he would take his time studying his targets and when the moment was right he would bring them down, right when they least expect it to be. So with that thought in mind, I discouraged the previous statement and went ahead with Edd in front.