The following is a true story, it happened roughly twenty years ago.
At the time, I was only nineteen years old.
My father had surprised us all with an all-expenses paid trip to Greece. This was extended to the whole family and included me, my mother, my twelve year old brother, my sixteen year old sister and my twenty two year old cousin Angelica.
I remember being particularly excited and was anticipating plenty of time lounging about on the beach, hiding behind my aviators whilst gazing upon bikini clad women. It was all I could fantasize about. Little did I know, there would be very little time for fun and relaxation. My father had put together a very detailed itinerary for the three month holiday and it was next to impossible to get any sort of time to myself. In short, the six of us would be inseparable the whole time.
We first arrived in Athens and were greeted by one of my father's non-English speaking cousins, who seemed oddly excited to meet us for the very first time. My father was the only one who really spoke the language so all I could do was nod and smile. From there, we found ourselves in a small apartment overlooking a busy, congested city street. Sleeping bags were set up all over the living room floor and we'd all be sharing one bathroom, which, I might add, we weren't allowed to flush down toilet paper, so to me, the whole apartment reeked of excrement. To top it off, it was hot. Unbelievably so.
We found ourselves doing all the touristy things: we visited the Acropolis and saw all the ancient ruins. We went from café to café and ate and ate until we couldn't move.
Once we were done at Athens, my father declared that we'd be visiting his old village. He was keen to show off the house he grew up in. So, he hired a small Renault minivan and we found ourselves huddled, rather uncomfortably for the eight hour drive out to the middle of fucking nowhere. My father's village was remote, it was small and it was quaint. The only people that remained in the village were north of seventy and seemed to spend all day sleeping.
It was quiet, overwhelmingly so.
My father's childhood home was tiny. It was a one bedroom shack with an outhouse and although our surroundings were picturesque, the amenities were quite limited. There was only one convenience store in the village and it was only opened every other day, to top it off... it was only open for three or four hours at a time. I soon found myself going insane. There was no internet. There was no television. There was literally nothing to do. Me and my siblings struggled in this environment, where my parents really seemed to find their peace. It was wildly frustrating and infuriating. In addition, I fought constantly with my siblings and my cousin. It actually felt like I was suffocating, with no privacy, no alone time and nothing at all, remotely entertaining to do.
By the end of the third week there, my father declared that he'd actually had another surprise for us. We'd be spending following two weeks in a resort near Thessaloniki. This was actually a godsend and was what I was praying for the whole time. I really just wanted some time on a beach. To feel the sand between my toes, to gaze over bikini clad women, it was what I really longed for.
So, a six hour drive later and we found ourselves at the Santa Beach Resort.
It was well and truly paradise, situated right on the beach with everything you'd expect from a luxury five star resort. It was Grecian themed overwhelmingly palatial and pompous. As soon as we arrived in the lobby, we were greeted by staff with cold beverages. From there, we checked into our rooms. My parents got their own room. My cousin Angelica got her own room. Unfortunately, I'd be sharing a room with my brother and sister. To make matters worse, there were only two single beds in the room, which meant that one of us would be sleeping on the couch. I drew the short straw and ultimately ended up straining my neck on the first night.
It was pure agony and extremely painful to move. My brother and sister of course, were indifferent to my discomfort and left me on my own.
The pain eventually subsided after two days and by this point, I was in such an unpleasant and foul mood, beyond irritated and annoyed by my family. Because of my poor behavior, I got no sympathy from anyone and was actually scalded quite a lot by my parents.
On the second last day there, I decided to take a break from my family and told them, rather bluntly that I would be spending the day alone on the resort. I'm sure they were also quite sick of my unpleasant mood swings and thus, gave me the space I needed. So on that fateful day, for the first time in the Mediterranean, I slipped on a pair of swimming trunks and headed out to the resort pool, alone.
It was a breathtakingly beautiful backdrop. The resort pool was surrounded by deck chairs and there was an unattended bar in the very far corner of the pool area. Over the horizon, you could see the beach and the clear blue ocean. So, when I waddled out to the pool area, it was no surprise to find that it was mostly empty. Clearly, almost everyone staying in the resort had opted to enjoy the beach as opposed to a body of water riddled with chemicals.
But for me, this was all I needed.
So, I set up, finding a deckchair and decided to lounge about all alone. Before too long, I found myself drifting off.
I awoke roughly forty minutes later to chatter nearby. I looked to my left only to notice a group of young women on the far side of the pool, deep in conversation. There were four of them and were all dressed in skimpy little bikinis that left very little to the imagination. I was never good at picking up dialects, but I made the assumption that they were either German or French. Three were brunette, one was blonde. All four of them had bodies sculpted to perfection, I came to the conclusion then and there that they had to have been professional models or at the very least part of some sort of amateur light-weight body building troupe. One of them caught me staring and like a deer in headlights, I quickly turned away. I heard hushed murmurs and further chatter, clearly directed at me. A few seconds later, they'd gotten up and left.
My ears burned in embarrassment, realizing that I was ogling them and that they'd made the decision to leave based on my unwanted suggestive gaze.
Shaking it off, I decided to go for a swim. So, I got up from my deckchair and decided to head over to the diving board. With that, I dove into the pool. To say it was invigorating, would have been an extreme understatement.
As I reached the surface, I let out an audible gasp as I tried to compose myself before heading out of the water, eager to take another dive. Slowly, I emerged from the pool and as soon as my skin was exposed to the wind, I realized then and there, that I was completely naked. My trunks had slipped off me during the dive.
I anxiously covered myself, scanning my surroundings. Thankfully, I was all alone.
Frantically, I scanned the pool in search for my trunks.
In the far distance, I could hear a crowd approaching. Terrified, I jumped back into the pool, desperate to hide my nudity from whoever was coming. Thankfully, I soon spotted my swimming trunks and managed to save them from being sucked into the pump. Working quickly, I managed to put them back on, just in the nick of time as a group of elderly tourists emerged from the lobby, setting up their beach towels nearby.
Letting out a deep winded sigh of relief, I made the decision to retreat back up to my room. Suddenly, I wanted, more than anything, to fondle myself. So I emerged from the pool and headed back into the lobby.
