The sun had not yet quite risen, but Matthew was, in fact, awake. He had wanted to get up early enough for the sunrise all week, but had thus far failed each time due to sleeping through his beeping phone. He'd finally succeeded, though. He eyed his packed--though open--suitcase with a small amount of sadness as he slipped into clean shorts, a t-shirt, and tried to decide whether or not to forgo shoes. He'd packed everything but the necessities the night before, leaving him with the entire final day to do whatever he wished. But the fact was, it was the final day, and tomorrow they'd be going home. It'd gone by too fast. He shook his head, told himself to stop thinking about it, and at last decided to go barefoot. Carefully, so as not to wake his housemates, he slipped downstairs and outside and made his way down to the water. The surf was quiet, and the sand was cool, and the horizon was just turning red. He smiled--he really could spend another few weeks out here.
