Being so remote, the area was also very quiet. My friends and I were the only ones to disturb the peace. One particular event that stands out in my memory is a certain Sunday in September.
The morning began dark, dreary, and dismal. The situation could only brighten. I dressed myself, packed my swimming gear into my backpack, and rode my skateboard down the steep hill to Vinnie’s beachside house. Vinnie was about a half a year younger than me, and he had wavy brown hair that came down to his neck. When I arrived I was greeted by the others.
Oliver was really tall and always walked around with Tom who was quite short and had red hair. Gabe was Vinnie’s little brother. He was only 10, and is best friends with Lachie who is the same age. Sarah and Aimee were best friends, although they were always arguing about something. Anneliese was a really thin girl, almost to the point where one would think she suffers from anorexia. To the other extremity there was Vaughn. Vaughn loved to eat, and he was very large. Not toned or trim, just large. Anneliese, Vaughn and I were all really great friends.
After saying my hellos to my peers, I turned my attention to Vaughn who was sitting down on the grass, holding an opened packet of chocolates and smiling.
“Give me some food. I’m hungry”.
“Nah man, wait till we get out to Monkey”.
“But you’re eating!”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
I kicked him hard in the foot and sat down directly below where I was standing. We waited for around five minutes for Vinnie to finish packing food into his bag. Then we all grabbed a bicycle each and started cycling towards the beach. I don’t know why Vinnie owns that many bikes, he just did and that was that.
Anneliese rode her bike up near mine and asked me; “So what’s your excuse for being so late today?” I simply replied “I need my beauty sleep”. She rolled her eyes, and then rode off towards the other girls.
After riding for roughly ten minutes, we arrived at a small wooden bridge. It was high above the water, and very narrow. We chained our bikes to one of the many short mangroves. Their gnarled roots drove through the mud in an act of survival. We continued on foot, climbing over countless boulders and fallen trees. An amazing sight along the way was the hundreds of St. Andrews Spiders, all with massive, thick, silky webs with dinner laid out for them.
Finally we arrived at our destination. The breeze blew ever so gently, and the blazing sun hung over our heads like the sword of Damocles.
Vaughn was the first to break the surface, as was usually the case. The rest of the boys including myself had a few jumps. We would strike humorous poses or shout obscenities on the way down. It was such a thrill rush. We swam around for a while, and chatted about girls.
After a while, boredom decided to take the liberty of setting into myself. I had plenty of ideas of how to create some action, but most ideas were too harsh or too fatiguing or needed too much cooperation from the other guys.
I took Anneliese’s hat, sunglasses, and shoes and put them on in an act of jest. I rushed over to the point of the cliff that was roughly ten metres above the surface. I promptly made myself known which in turn sent Anneliese running towards me exclaiming “No! Don’t!”
I hesitated for a moment, and just when I was in her arms reach, I leapt off the cliff. She looked very confused but decided coming after me was a good idea. She jumped in after me, and having the advantage of not being weighed down by shoes, it wasn’t long before I was caught. Rage seemed to get the best of her, and almost as instinct she tried drowning me.
The attack lasted a mere twenty seconds or so, but the results weren’t something to be proud of. The hat and shoes were floating on the surface of the lake, but the $80 sunglasses had sunk to the bottom. Never o be found again…