there's something in the air
that makes it difficult to live
the way we did

The cool breeze that carried the spray of the ocean felt good agaisnt his face as he leaned on his arms on the boardwalk wall, overlooking the surprisingly empty beach. It wasn't that surprising that it was deserted being that it was three o'clock in the morning and he seemed to be the only one up at this hour, but it was still strange to see it so bare. Strange but serene. In all honesty, he really had no idea why he was up this early while everyone else slept soundly in their beds. He supposed that he was out here to sight see, to see what it was like when everything was empty and not full of people. Perhaps actions like these played a part in his disliking in large crowds; spending so much time by himself most of the time, it alost seemed normal to him.

Tilting his head up he caught site of the moon, remebering that the sun in Australia doesn't rise until around six-thirty, he was three and a half hours off. Undoing the interlaced patterns his fingers had amdewith eachother, Zachary gave a small tug on his right earlobe before bringing his hand to his cheek and scratching his jaw line. A deep sigh exhaled from his parted lips before he erected his hunched over posture and continued his sight seeing stroll down the boardwalk, his fingers dragging on the waist high wall as he did so. His eyelids felt a little droppy but his mind and body were wide awake, carrying him to an unknown destination that he kind of wished would be his apartment.

It wasn't until now that thoughts of his mother flooded into his head like the low tide waves splashing against the shore. Following close behind were the little marine creatures heading towards the beach; his job and soon preceded his friends. Ugh, his job. The whole point of this vacation was to forget about his job but he just couldn't. Zachary shook his head and stopped, lifting his hands to his face nad pressing the bottoms of his palms into his eyes. Sliding his hands down his face, he rubbed his stinging eyes with his fingertips before replacing his hands at his side and leaning his body against the boardwalk wall once again. Zachary slightly loosened the black tie that was knotted underneath the collar of his white button down that was covered by a black sweater vest. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cellphone. The sudden urge to talk to someone quickly left him as his mind became to cloudy to do the math to tell the time it was in the US. Tilting his head upwards towards the dark sky and letting out a frustrated grunt, he mummbled something that sounded like "damn time zones" before pressing his fingers tips of his left hand against his forehead.

Zachary replaced his cellphone into his pocket and mentally reminded himself to freshen up on his time zone hour differences once he got back to the apartment. He turned his body aroudn so he was once again facing the dark ocean and sky and interlocked his fingers before leaning himself back onto his arms on the boardwalk wall, exhaling another sigh as he did.

Lifting his downward facing head and adjusting to the sudden change in vision from the sandy gray wall to the clear beach, he suddenly noticed a girl. Only being able to see her back as she was sitting in the sand, he couldn't help but wonder if she had been there all along, or if she really was there at all. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly before opening up again to be greeted with once again the sight of the back of the girl. Coming to believe himself that yes she was real and that yes she most likely had already been there, his head tilted slightly to the side in almost a gaze at the girl. He shook his head and blinked his eyes, realizing he was staring and turned his head to the right, averting his eyes around down the boardwalk and the ground. He lifted a hand and scratched behind his ear with an index finger before running his hands through his shaggy hair. It felt good, considering he had been slicking and styling his hair recently, so it was good to just wear it at it's normal shaggy length. Inhaling the cold air through his nose, the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand up and his mind kicked into gear.

Zachary's eyes were caught by the girl on the beach once again. He watched her as she stood up from the sand and headed over toward the boardwalk, obviously not noticing him. Or just ignoring his presence. He averted his eyes once again off the girl and interlaced his fingers together again on the wall. Zachary became a bit nervous as he noticed out of his peripherals the girl walking in the direction of where he was standing. Maybe she was just walking by. She probably just was. Zachary exhaled a sigh and reached a hand up to the back of his neck, massaging it before replacing his hand back on the wall.

After successfully convincing himself that the girl was just coincidentally traveling in his direction, Zachary was a bit surprised when she spoke to him. Snapping his neck up at the sound of her voice, he looked over at her before turning his attention back out at the darkness. Sighing once more, he gave a small nod. "Yeah. It's strange how darkness is still the same on the other side of the world." Zachary gave the smallest of chuckles and a looking down at his hands, taking a quick glance at the girl as he did so.