Blake's POV

"But dad!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "I want the red board."

"Now Blake you have to learn how to share." Dad grinned as he knelt in front of me and placed a glob of sunscreen on my face. Even though I was angry, it managed to get me to smile. I pushed him away and started spreading the sunscreen throughout my exposed body.

"What if there's a shark?" Shawn asked trying to balance the surf board under his arm even if it was significantly bigger than him. "Dad!" He shouted suddenly, "What if it's Jaws dad?! Isn't that like some radioactive shark! No no no, no way dad! I'm not going in there! What if it bites me?" He thought about it for a second, "Oh my god! What if it does bite me? I could be Shark Man!"

Dad laughed and ruffled Shawn's hair, "I'll be Octo-man then."

Shawn frowned, "Why would you want to be a stop sign?"

I smirked, "At least he knows his shapes."

"Now don't be mean Blake." Mom laid down on her towel beside Cole. "Are you going in the water honey?" She directed to Cole.

He was laying down in the sun with his shades on trying to tan I assumed. "Nope," he said, "I just put the sunscreen on. Doctors say I should wait fifteen minutes before going in the water or else the waves wash it off."

Dad chuckled, "Where do you get all these factoids?"

Shawn laughed, "Factoids sounds like Fat Toys." He continued laughing and buckled over, his hands on his knees as he dropped the surf board, "Fat Toys! Yes Cole, where do you get those Fat Toys?"

I shook my head, "Are you coming or not?" I picked up the blue surf board and placed in under my arm. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up at my dad. He was smiling looking between Cole, Shawn, and mom. I couldn't help but notice how much Cole looks like dad. Even his figure looks like dad. But mostly the facial structure. The only difference was the nose.

Shawn shook his head, "I'm going to do the Shark dance."

"Shark dance?" Dad asked.

"So it'll come," Shawn commenced in his shark dance. He moved in a circle with his hand on his back as a dorsal fin. He chanted gibberish and continued to dance as he 'summoned' the shark.

Dad laughed before turning me towards the sea. "Come on Blake, race you to the buoy."

I scanned the horizon until I saw the red buoy that was floating on the water. It looked so far away that I felt a small pang of fear. "All the way over there?" I asked.

"Yeah." Dad grinned, "Come on. I'll be right there beside you the whole time."

"But why so far?"

"Because I want to show you the sand bar." Dad grabbed the pair of goggles we had and handed me one. "I'll help you through it, come on."

I sighed as we walked into the salt water. It was refreshing against the hot summer sun. But also help raspy and tasted saltier than usual. "Are we even going to make it with the waves?" I asked as we paddled through the water.

I heard dad laugh behind me, "Just dive if you see a wave."

Whenever a wave came by, I'd do as dad told me and dive underneath it, feeling it tumble above me. The goggles kept some of the water out of my eyes but I ended up slinging them around my neck when they fogged up. Now I had to strain a bit when I kept my eyes open underneath the water because it'd sting more. "Dad we're really far away." I stated as I looked back. The water had gotten colder and by now I couldn't even pin point where the bottom of the ocean was. "Dad..." I said with fear hidden behind my voice.

He paddled in right beside me and gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we can stop here if you don't want to keep going." He grinned, "Besides, if the lifeguards see us at the buoy we'll get in trouble. The sand bar is only a couple feet away, we can make it." He grabbed my hand and pushed it through the water jolting us forward. "We're almost there."

The water became warmer and clearer as we pushed on. It was as if the sand took a dip and then rose again, like the bottom of land in between two hills. Dad got off his board and touched down on the sand bar. The water only reached around his stomach. Oddly, it was very calm and relaxing. I had missed coming to the beach to surf, swim, or even eat ice cream at the local parlor. Even though we come often, whenever I head home it's like something is missing. Being landlocked sucks.

I sat up on my surf board, slightly pointing it up. Dad kept diving underwater, getting hand fulls of sand to see if their were any seashells that were still in tact. "Hey dad," I said as he surfaced for air. He placed the globs of sand on his board and started looking through it. "How'd you meet mom?"

He smiled and took his goggles off, placing them on his head. I rocked against the small waves of the ocean as he stared off towards shore with a small smile. "Now I doubt you want to hear that story." He grinned.

I nodded, "I want to know."

He chuckled, "Remember Auntie Sam?" I nodded again. Aunt Sam is dad's twin sister, dad was born first though and always takes it to his advantage that he's almost three minutes older. "Well Aunt Sam invited me to this dance at her college, she had this huge crush on my roommate and was hoping to double date."

I laughed, "Double dating sounds awful. Because one couple is always going to be more active then the other."

"Exactly!" Dad laughed, "I was set up for this blind date. Well...turns out it became a triple date. Aunt Sam with my roommate, me with this girl, and the guy with your mom."

"So mom wasn't your blind date?"

"Nope." Dad grinned, "What happened was, when I saw your mother I noticed how beautiful she was. She wasn't trying to be pretty or-how do I put this in your kid slang," Dad gave a half laugh before snapping his fingers like he got it, "Hot. She wasn't trying to be pretty or hot, she was...elegant."

I smiled and waited for him to continue the story. "What happened next?"

"Well...I didn't like the guy she went on a date with. He just seemed like jerk, you know? So in the middle of the slow dance I just finally had it with his overall face and barged in."

I laughed, "His face?"

"Yes his face!" Dad argued fiercely. "He looked like a constipated toad!"

I almost fell off my board I was laughing so much. "Was he a good guy or no?"

Dad shook his head, "Not even close. He was trying to score big time which is what made me mad." He pushed some water off the surf board to get the sand grains off. "Anyways, I went in and said something on the lines of, 'Excuse me miss, I can't help but wonder why you're dancing with this man when you could be dancing with me instead. I mean I don't know how to chimichanga or anything but I can at least stop stepping on your toes.'"

I smiled, "Did she dance with you?"

Dad looked down at his board with a smile. "Yeah...she did."

"Then you dated, got married, and had the best son in the world." I puffed my chest out. "Me."

Dad laughed and hoisted himself on his board. "I had the three best sons in the world. After all, I expected more than one because of the Parris Curse."

I rolled my eyes, "There's no such thing."

We started paddling back to shore as dad explained the curse to me for the hundredth time. "It is true," He started before going into a mystical voice. "Ever since your great-great-great-great grandfather, there has been a Parris Curse."

I faked a gasp. "You don't say?"

Dad splashed me with water, "Hush now I'm telling the story. Now where was I...oh yeah! Your four times great grandfather was a little kid when he was cursed by some crazy lady. The lady told him that as long as the Parris bloodline continues, the oldest will always have more than one child, only one time. At first, our grandfather thought it was stupid but as the years went on, and the story was passed down, we really do believe there is a curse."

"There's no curse." I said again. "There's no such thing. This isn't a fairy tale dad."

He smirked, "I wish it was. I'd be some royal king and you and your brothers would be the princes. You'd find the perfect princesses and fall madly in love only to live a happily ever after."

"That's not how it works."

He rolled his eyes, "Anyways, I believe in the curse. Aunt Sam and I are twins, our father--your grandfather--was a identical twin and was born first. And me? I was born two minutes and fifty-three seconds before your aunt. Making me the oldest-"

"And you had triplets. Blah blah blah," I waved my hand as if trying to get a pesky fly to move away. "All because of some crazy lady."

"A witch if you will."

"Ha! Now I really don't believe that."

Dad chuckled, "Come on. Let's go ask your mother if we can get ice cream."

Shawn was in the process of digging a hole to China as dad and I reached back shore. Shawn kept digging with the yellow plastic sand shovel as he said he wanted to see the dragons. He implied that our Grandpa James told him that all dragons came from China.

Cole and mom were talking about school as they laid against their towels trying to catch the rays of the sun. "Did you find anything interesting?" Mom asked.

Dad nodded and handed her a shell before kissing her lips quickly. "Brings back memories huh?" He stated with a smile. Mom looked down at the shell, her smiling widening as she nodded. Dad turned to Cole, "We're getting ice cream, you want to come?"

Cole thought about it for a second, "Can I get some tonight when we go to Sherry's? I really just want to sleep."

Dad shook his head with a face that showed fake disappointment, "Spent all night reading again huh?"

Dad chuckled and then turned to where Shawn was digging. He yelled over, "Shawn! We're getting scoops of the magically cold delicious substance! You coming or what?"

"They have scoops of the magically cold delicious substance in China too dad!" He shouted back. "I need to get to China!"

"Well how do you know that?" Dad shouted again.

Shawn stopped digging for a moment and turned to face us as he yelled, "Everything is made in China!"

"He's so weird." I stated shaking my head.

"Well it's your guys' fault." Dad said pointing at Cole and I.

"What?" Cole asked, "What did we do?"

"When your mom was pregnant with you three," Dad lent forward and picked up his T-shirt, "You two probably ate all the food in the womb. And I bet you bullied him and kicked him the head. Shame on you two."

Mom laughed, "Jacob stop guilt tripping the boys. Here," She handed dad some spare money. "Could you get me a grape flavored popsicle?"

"I'll take mango if you're bringing something back." Cole stated with a sudden change in thought.

Dad turned to look at me after placing the bill into his pocket. "Race you to the parlor."

"You're on." I started sprinting away from mom and Cole, dad close behind. I laughed and screamed when we reached the sand that was boiling hot from the sun. I ran faster just to get away from it and finally touched down on the wood bridge that connected the beach to the outlet. There wasn't much in the outlet, just a drug store stocked high with supplies needed at the beach in case someone forgets something, there's a small clothing store, and then just restaurants or cafes.

I was panting hard as I placed my hands on my knees waiting for dad. He trudged on until finally reaching where I was resting. "Wow I need to shape up," He stated placing his hand on his chest.

"You ok?" I asked as I noticed his pale face that was tinted in red as if he had just run a marathon.

"Yeah," He breathed hard. "Just need to catch my breath. Probably dehydrated from the saltwater." He pushed a smile and stood up placing his hand on my shoulder. "Come on."

The door jingled as I opened it into the ice cream parlor. The air conditioning hit me with a cold blast along with the sweet smell of vanilla. It was crowded with people from the beach and every time I walked by someone I could smell the combination of saltwater and sun screen, I probably smelled no different. The line spiraled around a table and looked very unorganized. Some of the taken tables looked annoyed and uncomfortable with the crowding people.

We stood in line for about fifteen minutes before we reached the man behind the cash register. In those fifteen minutes, the air conditioning cooled me down to the bone. I was shivering and really wished I had worn a shirt and shoes. Or took the time to dry my hair for a couple minutes. "What can I get you?" The man asked.

"I'll have a double scoop cookies and cream ice cream in a cone." I ordered before adding in, "With gummy worm toppings." I looked up at dad, "Is that ok?"

Dad looked zoned out. His face was still pale and he stared down at one spot like he was trying hard not to throw up. "What?" He asked when he realized I was talking to him. "Yeah, that's perfect Blake." He turned to the cashier, "I'll have the same as him as well as a mango and grape popsicle."

"That'll be eight fourteen." The man said as his partner when to get the popsicles. Dad stood still and blinked hard. "Sir..."

I pulled on dad's hand. "Dad...are you ok?"

"Can you add a water please?" Dad said pulling the ten out.

"Sure." The man behind the cash register looked slightly worried. I felt the same. Dad had completely blanked out and kept blinking his eyes as if he were seeing something. His face was completely drained and all I couldn't understand why considering we were just having fun a minute ago.

We exited the parlor after we got out ice cream. Dad handed me his ice cream for a moment to chug down the water bottle. "Daddy are you ok?" I asked as he wiped the edge of his mouth with the back of his hand.

He looked down at me and smiled, "Yeah. I think I'm just low on sugar." He took his ice cream and started licking it slowly as if every lick made him sick. He chewed on a gummy worm but slowed down at the end.

We were on the bridge that linked us back to the beach when he dropped his ice cream and gripped the railing. "Blake," he said with a shaky voice as if he were out of breath. "Could you do me a small favor?"

Fear was starting to make its way in me again. Only this time was different then when we were trying to head for the buoy, this time I didn't have dad to encourage me or push down the fear. "Dad?" I asked when he didn't tell me what the favor was. I stepped closer, "Dad!"

His breathing became harder and he lightly swayed from side to side. His eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. At first I didn't know what to do, I was too in shock as to how dad just fainted that I didn't know whether to run or stay. When I came to my senses I dropped everything in my hands and started backing up towards the beach. "Mom!" I yelled my eyes never leaving my dad. "Mommy!" I cried louder.

The paramedics said it was heat stroke. They told mom to meet us at the hospital and not to worry that it was probably heat stroke. So watching dad being loaded in the back of the ambulance hadn't seemed bad because I really did believe it was heat stroke.

"Is dad going to be ok?" Shawn asked from the backseat as we drove to the hospital.

Mom nodded, "Yeah he just had too much time in the sun."

When we first arrived to the hospital, I finally wished we were home. Not the secluded apartment we owned by the beach, but home. The house I've lived in all my life with the same front yard and the great backyard. Where dad and Shawn were currently trying to build a tree house on one of the old trees we had in the back. I wished we were there, not here, not on this nightmare we considered vacation.

It had felt like forever when we arrived to the hospital. Cole and Shawn didn't seem to be panicking as much as I was but I had never seen dad collapse like that. I thought doctors were suppose to make patients feel better, get better, but when we arrived, dad was hooked up to a bed and machine.

Mom pushed us through the door and we sat around our father as he laid unconscious. The doctor had turned to mom, "Mrs. Parris would you mind me speaking to you for a moment?" He gave the three of us a short glance, "Privately."

Mom looked so confused, she was probably expecting something small. Heat stroke. Dehydration. Something that the doctor didn't want to say in front of kids to avoid scaring us. I watched as he and mom walked out of the room and into the hallway. Cole and Shawn followed my gaze and we looked at each other. It seemed like one look automatically had us telepathically communicate with each other because the three of us moved towards the door trying to listen in.

We held our breaths, trying to fade out the beeping sound of the heart monitor as we listened in. "...We're not sure what caused it." I heard the doctor say. "It wasn't heat stroke. And he seemed well hydrated."

"What if he was just tired?" Mom asked. "Or maybe it was just...something."

"We don't know. We're going to have to run a few tests." The doctor seemed to sigh. "We took a blood sample...we haven't analyzed it yet but..."

There was a pause. "But what?" Mom asked.

"I can't hear!" Shawn whisper shouted. I quickly hushed him and pushed him away from the door to listen in closer. Cole crossed his arms and gave up trying to listen because I was hogging the small crack in the door.

"Do you know if anyone in your husbands family has ever been prone to cancer?" It was like a bomb was just dropped. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, and my stomach sank to my toes, my toes felt like they were being absorbed by the ground. Everything around me went stale. Legs feeling like lead, heart beating like a drum in my chest, hands starting to sweat.

"N-not that I know of." Mom stuttered. "A-are you su-"

"Like I said, we'll need to wait for the results. We're just trying to cover all possibilities right now."

Mom started explaining our situation. How we were here for vacation and we'd be heading back home in a day or two. The doctor agreed to send results to our state and as he and mom continued talking, I could hear dad stirring in his bed.

"Boys," His voice croaked. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, "What happened?"

"You fainted on the beach." Shawn said walking towards dad and jumping on the bed to sit next to him. "Like a damsel in distress."