Harbour Lights

The wind was taunting and playful, like child's laughter. It had only drizzled for no more than ten minutes, nothing too major. The short rain could be interpreted as a warning sign, for a much bigger storm was soon to come.

Marilyn hadn't lasted very long by herself. As soon as the rain had stopped, Will had already found her. She was sitting on a rock, rubbing her ankles and toes. "The beach hurt my feet," she said sheepishly as he came to stand beside her. He said nothing, only nodded. The beaches on North Shore, unlike the main beaches in Ogunquit, were rocky and uninviting; perhaps this was why North Shore was such an abandoned place.

A silence fell between them. After the short fight that they just had, it seemed as though that if they weren't yelling then they weren't saying anything at all; anything between these two extremes was too normal for them.

Marilyn turned away from the boy and looked towards the sky. The sun had completely disappeared by now, but thankfully it was still light enough to see. Dark clouds hovered ominously above them, waiting to strike again. "It's going to rain," Marilyn murmured, "but harder this time."

"Hmm," Will agreed nonchalantly. The two of them had grown up alongside the ocean, thus they were well acquainted with the signs of an oncoming storm. Currently, it was quiet and the wind was hardly a whisper. The clouds glared but said nothing; it was the calm before the storm. "We should get going," he concluded.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you."

Will rolled his eyes, "Come on. The lighthouse isn't too far from here."

"The lighthouse is closed," she replied.

"We can break in. Then at least we'll have someplace to sleep for the night."

"I'm not sleeping in the same place as you."

"Fine," Will huffed, tired of her childish stubbornness. "You can get hit by lightning, for all I care."

At that, Marilyn's eyes widened. "Lightning?" she echoed in a small voice.

She looked horrified. Will smiled, remembering her fear of thunder. He held out his hand. "Come with me."

She stared at his offered hand with a rather grim expression set on her face. Then, hesitantly, resentfully, she reached out her own hand and gingerly placed it in his.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Please?"

"No, Will. Surfing in the middle of a storm is not a good idea whatsoever."

"But the waves are going to be huge!"

"I don't think – "

"If you don't get up right now, I'm literally going to pick you up and then drag you to the beach."

"Will, if you do that I will never talk to you again. And when I saytalk to you I mean other things. So keep that in mind."

"But it will be so much fun," he whined.

Marilyn rolled her eyes but took her boyfriend's hand in hers. "Let's just stay inside."

She didn't want to explain how terrified she was of storms, in the fear that Will might think she was being stupid and carry her outside anyway. And she didn't have a good reason for this fear, either: she was just afraid of thunder; she always had, she always will be, end of story. Will probably wouldn't be able to understand that, so she just kept it to herself – despite the fact that she knew that her secret combined with Will's stubbornness would surely lead to an argument.

"That's boring," he protested.

"It's not my fault you have ADD," she responded coolly.

His eyes snapped to hers. "I do not," he said seriously, "and stop treating me like an annoying little kid."

"Then stop acting like one." The mood in the room had suddenly changed. Everything was still and tense, the calm before the storm.

"Jesus, what's your problem?" he asked impatiently. "You're being so…" She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that justdared him to finish that statement. "You know what? Never mind," he huffed and turned away from her. "I'll just go by myself."

"Fine."

"And I'll be alone."

"Great."

"Without you."

"Wonderful."

Without another word, Will took off, slamming the door loudly behind him.

And that was their first fight.

◊ ◊ ◊

The earth shuddered from thunder and shook Marilyn out of her thoughts. "Can we hurry?" she pleaded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm trying," he muttered, tugging her along. Their hands were still joined and, as another growl of thunder rolled in from the clouds, her grip tightened on his. He had to refrain from wincing. "I just, um, I can't…find it."

"You don't know where we are?" she questioned.

"Uh, no," he admitted. "Do you?"

She shook her head sheepishly. "No."

"I could swear that the lighthouse used to be – Oh. There it is," he said, and as they passed by a few sand dunes the peak of the lighthouse came into view. "Follow me," he said and led the way.

Marilyn obliged and said nothing. She was almost surprised at how easy it was to trust him.

◊ ◊ ◊

The fight didn't last more than ten minutes.

As soon as Will had shut the door he felt bad. By the time he had walked no more than ten feet he was already turning on his heel and heading back to the house.

But when he got there…Marilyn was gone.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Almost there," Will said over his shoulder, sneaking a peek at Marilyn to see how she was doing. Her forehead was creased as she gazed out at the darkening sky with worry. Lightning flashed and she jumped violently. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she mumbled and stepped closer to him.

He didn't know what else to do so, to try to comfort her, he wrapped an arm around her waist. She shuddered but leaned into him, and for a fleeting second Will could swear he saw a look of contentment pass over her features.

◊ ◊ ◊

As soon as he was out of sight she got up to follow him. He was like a magnet to her; she always felt a tugging on her insides when he wasn't around, as if she was constantly drawn to him. Instead of going the same way he did, though, she decided to take the back door to get to the beach faster. Maybe, if she hurried, she could show up before he did and surprise him.

But he was nowhere to be seen when she got there.

"Will?" she cried out. Her voice seemed to disrupt the heavens, for as soon as her words hit the air the clouds released the rain. It had gone from a light mist to a downpour in two seconds flat and it took even less than that for Marilyn to look as though someone had dumped a bucket of water over her head. Soaked to the bone, she began to shiver.

Why wasn't he here? Had he honestly gotten lost? William Banfield was nothing like Peter Pan, Marilyn thought to herself. She had gotten used to calling him this in her mind, since he was always just a boy who would never grow up (though she wouldn't dare to say that to his face; he hated Disney). But now she realized that he was a Lost Boy more than anything else. "My idiot, idiot Lost Boy," she grumbled to herself, "where did you go?"

"Marilyn?"

His voice brought a surprised smile to her face. "You found me," she said, and at the same moment he scooped her up in his arms.

◊ ◊ ◊

A clap of thunder announced the arrival of rain, as if the skies were applauding its appearance. Marilyn could see it come down in sheets; it began to fall farther out on the ocean and then it swiftly made its way towards the beach, moving as fast as a speeding train. And then it finally hit them.

"Shit," Will cursed as he was immediately soaked. Still pulling Marilyn along after him, he broke out into a run, heading towards the lighthouse. There was a lock on the doors but it didn't stand a chance against Will. He kicked it once, twice, and then it was broken. The couple burst inside, panting heavily from sprinting and still shivering from the cold. They took a moment to recover their breath.

Looking around, Will said, "There's not much for us to sleep on…" The inside of the lighthouse was barren and unfurnished; it looked as though they would be sleeping on the hardwood floor without any pillows or blankets. "It's better than nothing, I guess," he shrugged. As he turned to look at Marilyn, he saw that she was shaking her head somberly.

"I can’t," she said

"What?"

"I – I can't sleep here…with you."

"Where else are you supposed to sleep, then?" he asked impatiently. He was fed up with her foolishness. "Outside?"

"But you have Evie," she responded quietly.

"So? It's not like you and I are sleeping with each other."

"Still…" she said. "I think that it would be wrong."

"I think you're being stupid."

But she was still shaking her head. "I can find somewhere else to sleep. Somewhere dry. There might be a few beach huts not too far from here, I can try looking…"

"Are you listening to yourself right now?" he demanded. "You are being absolutely ridiculous, you do know that. If you go outside, you'll get killed." As if to prove his point, a bolt of lightning scarred the sky.

"Evie wouldn't like it if she found out – "

"Oh, screw Evie!" he said in an exasperated tone. "Who the hell cares about her?"

"You should care about her," Marilyn said, allowing some venom to seep into her voice.

"Well I don't," he said coldly.

"You have to!" she shouted angrily. "I can't care about your stupid fiancée more than you do – that's just wrong."

"Why do you care so much anyway?" he challenged. He was surprised at how fierce his voice sounded; he couldn't really believe that they were fighting again.

"Because if I'm going to give you up to her, you better love her," Marilyn answered. "She has to be worth it." Will was too astonished to think of anything to say. Realizing what exactly she just let slip out of her traitorous lips, Marilyn blushed. "I'm…I'm leaving."

"Marilyn, wait!" he shouted after her, but she had already bounded out the door. He leaned against a wall and let himself slide down to the floor. "Fuck." That was the only word that he could think of to describe this situation. He didn't dare to go after her; that would only make things worse. The only thing he could to now was succumb to his body's needs and go to sleep, for exhaustion had been weighing down his eyelids for far too long now. He lay down on the floor, trying in vain to feel comfortable on the hardwood.

It was darker than most nights, since the storm clouds blocked out any light from the moon or stars. A low rumbling could be heard over the slapping rain but Will wasn't sure if the noise came from the thunder or the raging sea. With the chaos going on outside, he felt small and insignificant. Lightning illuminated the interior of the lighthouse for a fleeting second, and in that flash Will could see just how alone he was.

Shivering, cold and alone, he realized that this was his ultimate low. But then he felt a warm pair of arms around his middle and the familiar scent of sunshine and strawberries filled his nose. His shivering had stopped.

"You came back?" he asked hoarsely. He hadn't even heard the doors open up again.

It was a moment before she replied. "…Of course I did," she murmured into his ear. "You're my Lost Boy."