Continuing along the soft sand, Alianna moved down to the waves that were gently tickling the shore. She had already kicked her sandals aside and was now slowly walking into the sea. It was a warm and crystal-clear day today. She looked down at the sand under the waves, now hitching up her skirt as she proceeded up to her knees, looking at rocks, seaweed, and seeing if she could spot any little hermit crabs or fish in the gentle swells.
“I wish I’d worn a swimsuit,” she muttered to herself, pulling her skirt up a little more to her mid-thighs. She was dressed for a summer’s day, wearing a thin shirt of delicate blue that skimmed down her collar bones and clung to her curves. Leaving a little more to the mind’s eye, her flowing white skirt would have sat just below her knees, had she not been hoisting it up to expose her tanned legs, which had gained their colour from spending so much time right here on this beach.
The breeze picked up slightly, and she found her chestnut brown hair being whipped into her face. Moving out of the water and dropping her skirt, Alianna retrieved her hair tie from her wrist and scooped her hair, which fell down just beyond her collar bones, into a loose ponytail. Securing it behind her, she looked out across the sand, where Shadow should have reappeared nearby by now – most likely digging a hole.
“Shadow!”
Where was he?
She glanced left and right, not spotting her dog anywhere.
“Damn,” she whispered, calling out loudly, “Shadow! Where are you, boy?”
As if in response, there came a barking from much further along the beach.
“Shit,” said Alianna, not realising how far down he had gone. She scooped up her sandals and proceeded to jog along the water’s edge, kicking wet sandand water up the back of her skirt as she went. In the distance, she spotted Shadow, running in circles around something on the floor and barking.
Not something – someone.
“I’m so - ” she started, beginning an apology as she approached the stranger. Alianna slowed to a halt.
She realised the man was lying face down on the sand. Her heart stopped in her chest for a moment. He was unresponsive to Shadow barking at him.
Shit.Shit, shit, shit.
“Hello?” she said quickly, scanning him. His clothes, which consisted of a tight-fitting, dark coloured pair of trousers and a slim-cut dark blue shirt of a silken material, weren’t ripped or damaged at all. Wet, but not damaged. Like he’d just fallen asleep here.
“Sir? Can you hear me?”
Alianna bent down and tried to peer at the man’s face.
She placed her hands underneath him, grunting, and rolled him over.
He was handsome – strikingly handsome, in fact - with defined features and a strong jaw line. Stubble coated the bottom half of his face, but he was well-groomed. His dark hair flopped across his forehead, damp with seawater. Sand crusted his eyebrows and his cheeks. He looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties at most.
“Sir?”
His eyes remained closed.
She grabbed her phone out of her bag, fumbling with the zip as she went. She looked at his chest. It was moving. Breathing. Good.
Alianna hammered the keys of her phone with her fingers and waited a moment until the emergency call handler was on the other end.
“I need a paramedic, now. I’m on West Beach, and there’s a man. He was just lying on the sand. He’s not conscious, but he’s breathing. My dog found him.”
The call handler asked her to stay with him and advised her that an ambulance was on its way.
“Ok. Should I do anything? Should I check to see if he has ID?”
As she asked, she was already gently feeling his pockets. She gasped and dropped her phone as his hand darted upwards, grabbing her wrist tightly.
She tried to pull back against his grip, but he was strong. Too strong for a man who was unconscious on the sand. She looked at his face.
“Sir, please – ”
She stopped as the most unique pair of blue eyes stared back at her. His face was unchanged, but he looked straight at her. A stare like one she had never experienced. She pulled her hand back against his vice-like grip, and he let go.
“Ma’am, are you there?” came a voice from her now discarded mobile phone, which lay upturned on the sand. “Is he awake? The emergency vehicle is nearly with you.”
