Bryan stopped his monotone routine of stone throwing. He turned towards Alicia and Matthew. "Who’s guilty? Who’s odd?" Bryan shouted. "Was it me? Or was it our sick ugly brother!" And he threw a stone towards Alicia and Matthew.

The stone didn’t hit anyone. It landed harmlessly on the sand.

"Stop it! Bryan!" Alicia protested. "Or I’m going to tell Mom."

"Mom - is - dead." Bryan said coldly.

"I’ll tell Dad." Alicia said.

"And so is Dad." Bryan pointed at the two dead bodies floating on the water. "Look, Mom and Dad were killed because of our sick ugly brother! It’s all his bloody fault!"

Alicia burst into tears.

The two dead bodies were flowing leisurely on the tranquil water, ignoring the turmoil on the beach. The diluted blood encircled the bodies with a small ring of pink, like the petals of a lotus. The bodies were mostly dismembered. But Matthew could still see the right hand of his dad was tightly clutched to his mom’s left arm, just like the heart shape figure on a Valentine greeting card. The wind continued to blow, and the putrid smell pressed into his nostrils slowly. Matthew closed his eyes and inhaled the smell deeper and deeper, to the very bottom of his lung. Oddly, he started to enjoy it. He almost felt like he was sitting next to an open bottle of perfume.

Chapter 3 - The Shark

Matthew opened his eyes again. This time was the same peaceful beach but a little bit darker.

He still smelt the aroma of the perfume. It was probably from his mom who was sitting beside him. She was very much indulged in her world of knitting, only peeking at him smilingly from time to time.

Everything was still quite normal. Preparing for the coming of a seemingly beautiful morning, the sun lingered in the sea and cleaned itself carefully, like a priest did before he sacrificed his lamp. Gently, it cast a mild warmness of light on the camping tent as if to send a final blessing to a dying patient. The placidity of this early morning was only disrespectfully spoiled by a monstrous roar coming from the tent. It was the noise of Matthew’s father – he was just snoring heavily. But it didn’t seem to bother Alicia and Bryan who were sleeping as peacefully as two dead fish.