Acumen: Riddling Life

(48)Smiles & friendships

I don't feel like an adult.

At what point in life, does a person transform into an adult?

It seems I'm dragging and pulling the last days of my responsibility-free teenage life. And I'll be living in the forcefully extended period of it till the end of this trip.

Maybe that's causing all the problems.

Or perhaps I'm depressed and need help.

I look at the twinkling water; the sun is moving towards the horizon. In an hour, it'll be dark.

I gulp the fresh salty air and put aside my iPad. I stand and gaze at the wide range of the sea.

In the previous hours, my attempt at reading to divert my attention from my parents' phone call was useless. Futile by utter means. I had to reread each line over three times to understand it. My mind kept wandering off, resulting in going through four pages in five hours.

I couldn't stop their words from replaying in my head. Nor could I quit reliving every other discussion we've had in the past twenty years about me disappointing them. Eventually, my brain got tired and stopped, leaving my skull as vacant as the part of Mars that doesn't face the Sun.

I enjoy the minutes of peace, offered by everyone else deciding they're done swimming in this horrifying water, and are downstairs taking a shower before dinner.

How can anyone swim in oceans and seas! There are billions of weird, terrifying creatures lurking in these waters and none of them are human friendly. Not to mention you can't see them coming, and when you do, it's too late.

I scoot away from the edge, I might be obsessed with death but I'm not planning on dying painfully. I hate pain. Although it's funny coming from someone who's life is a literal pain.

Pushing myself to my feet and wrapping my arms around myself, I stare at the rippling sea and let my mind run wild for a while.

"Hey," Adrien's voice startles me, snapping me back to reality.

With an amused expression, he watches me as I glance at him.

A wet lock of dark golden hair fallen on his forehead, his blue-green eyes catch the sunlight making them spark. The pendant of his necklace resting on his chest is a silver anchor and a helm on top, with the words, 'Lost in the sea' engraved on it.

As if I need reminding that we're in the middle of nowhere and might as well be lost. I glare at it for a second too long and he notices it and smirks. I huff before continuing to staring at the water.

"What were you thinking?" he asks, a ghost of the smile on his face.

"Nothing," I mumble. From the corner of my eye, I catch him smiling.

"I'd still like to know." He pushes his hands into his pockets.

I sigh. He already knows I can't swim, and no one's around. While chewing my bottom lip, I decide to tell him.

"Seas and oceans are scary."

He chuckles, "That's because you don't know how to swim."

I roll my eyes. "Because we're not designed for it."

He draws his eyebrows together, looks at me as if I've said the Earth is flat. "We're not designed for it?" he repeats me quizzically.

I nod. "We are for dry places, hence our lungs are air-friendly. In there," I incline to the water, "we have no control. Stay a second too long under the surface and you die in one of the most painful ways. The creatures in there are also not compatible with us, not to mention they are the most dangerous ones with no form of escaping them. Unless you go by the rule and stay out of their way. That's why we should stick to what we're initially suitable for. Solid, dry ground." I finish and glance at him.