Status: updates are kind of slow. sorry.
Hard Water
vii
Like always on a cold, early September day, Adam left his son at home in front of the out-dated TV, telling him he'd be back in a few hours. Milo was only five years old but Adam had already taught him how to look after himself. He was a smart kid anyhow: he didn't need to be told much. When Adam left, Milo was sat on the sofa engrossed in a book written for beyond his years. Adam would spend a couple of hours in the evening with him before he put him to bed, teaching him whatever he felt would be important to him in later life. He didn't consider exams or qualifications or any of that bullshit relevant, even if Milo was technically supposed to attend the tiny Sunhaven School along with the other twenty pupils. In this place, people tended not to pry into others' business. It was as if everyone was so close, yet so far apart.
After he and Seth had finished work on the boat early, Adam decided to take a walk down to the beach where he had once spent so long with Elly. The whole summer was theirs, and they'd spend it all together. One pleasant evening, almost six years ago, she'd convinced him to venture into the cold, dark sea and he had felt oddly self-conscious about being naked in front of her. In several years of friendship nothing had ever become this intimate before that moment, and that was when he took the opportunity to wind his arms round her waist and kiss her. They were alone and naked with no-one but the endless still of the ocean as their witness. Teenage lovemaking was always going to be awkward, but no-one said it had to be perfect, and Adam certainly didn't have a problem with it as they collapsed on to the sand with giggles and sighs of contentment.
"Shit," Adam had groaned, slapping a hand to his face as he realised night had long fallen, "it's so late. Your old man is gonna kill me."
"Adam?"
"Yeah?"
"I think..." Elly had started, then fell silent for a few moments. Adam waited anxiously for her to speak, and concluded she must have fallen asleep. It was too dark to tell, after all. He had almost let himself drift off as well when her voice sounded again.
"I think I love you." she murmured.
Now, at twenty-four years old and standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the weather-worn rocks below, he realised that a quick kiss probably wasn't the response that she wanted, but it was the only one he could give. He hadn't known what to say, or even think, after all - he was an eighteen-year-old boy with his first girlfriend, for Christ's sake. Up until that evening, he had thought she believed in no sex before marriage.
Adam almost rolled his eyes at himself. Why did it matter now, anyway? The last time he had seen Elly was two weeks ago at the pub, and even then she hadn't spoken to him. It made the loss of her even more difficult to look at her and realised she hadn't changed at all - she still wore her red hair down to her slim waist, skin pale as ever, her dead mother's gold necklace hung proudly round her neck like a medallion. She had grown even thinner, he noted with a tinge of sadness. He hadn't meant to stare, but it just sort of happened. Getting over the only girl he had ever loved was proving to be more difficult than he imagined, even for a cold, emotionless brute, as Seth affectionately called him.
He stood for a little longer, relishing the fresh sea air, the feeling of warm ground beneath his feet. The endless sea in front of him, with promises of faraway lands and places unknown to him, waiting to be discovered one day, or so he hoped. The comforting sound of thousands of birds which made their home in the nooks and crannies of the cliffs every summer. The season was almost over, Adam realised almost sadly - they'd be gone soon, flying to some place warmer.
He wished he could just take off. Every single day more he spent on the island contributed to the suffocating feeling of his life closing in on him. Even now, the steep drop from the top of the cliff where he stood and the sharp rocks at the bottom seemed tantalising; he curled his hands into fists and squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the temptation to just end it now while he was still young and foolish. Milo needed him. At least he knew that much-
Adam was jolted out of his self-deprecating reverie by a sickening shriek that seemed to echo all around him, and made his blood run cold. What? What the fuck? It had definitely come from somewhere near. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him along the grassy brink of the cliff, pale eyes scanning the rocks below, fearing the worst. He prayed he would not see the body of some other poor soul who had decided it was all too much. He prayed. He prayed-
-he stopped, then promptly threw up all over his trainers. A mess of red hair and tangled white limbs lay motionless in a pool of blood beneath him.
He didn't need to see her face.
After he and Seth had finished work on the boat early, Adam decided to take a walk down to the beach where he had once spent so long with Elly. The whole summer was theirs, and they'd spend it all together. One pleasant evening, almost six years ago, she'd convinced him to venture into the cold, dark sea and he had felt oddly self-conscious about being naked in front of her. In several years of friendship nothing had ever become this intimate before that moment, and that was when he took the opportunity to wind his arms round her waist and kiss her. They were alone and naked with no-one but the endless still of the ocean as their witness. Teenage lovemaking was always going to be awkward, but no-one said it had to be perfect, and Adam certainly didn't have a problem with it as they collapsed on to the sand with giggles and sighs of contentment.
"Shit," Adam had groaned, slapping a hand to his face as he realised night had long fallen, "it's so late. Your old man is gonna kill me."
"Adam?"
"Yeah?"
"I think..." Elly had started, then fell silent for a few moments. Adam waited anxiously for her to speak, and concluded she must have fallen asleep. It was too dark to tell, after all. He had almost let himself drift off as well when her voice sounded again.
"I think I love you." she murmured.
Now, at twenty-four years old and standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the weather-worn rocks below, he realised that a quick kiss probably wasn't the response that she wanted, but it was the only one he could give. He hadn't known what to say, or even think, after all - he was an eighteen-year-old boy with his first girlfriend, for Christ's sake. Up until that evening, he had thought she believed in no sex before marriage.
Adam almost rolled his eyes at himself. Why did it matter now, anyway? The last time he had seen Elly was two weeks ago at the pub, and even then she hadn't spoken to him. It made the loss of her even more difficult to look at her and realised she hadn't changed at all - she still wore her red hair down to her slim waist, skin pale as ever, her dead mother's gold necklace hung proudly round her neck like a medallion. She had grown even thinner, he noted with a tinge of sadness. He hadn't meant to stare, but it just sort of happened. Getting over the only girl he had ever loved was proving to be more difficult than he imagined, even for a cold, emotionless brute, as Seth affectionately called him.
He stood for a little longer, relishing the fresh sea air, the feeling of warm ground beneath his feet. The endless sea in front of him, with promises of faraway lands and places unknown to him, waiting to be discovered one day, or so he hoped. The comforting sound of thousands of birds which made their home in the nooks and crannies of the cliffs every summer. The season was almost over, Adam realised almost sadly - they'd be gone soon, flying to some place warmer.
He wished he could just take off. Every single day more he spent on the island contributed to the suffocating feeling of his life closing in on him. Even now, the steep drop from the top of the cliff where he stood and the sharp rocks at the bottom seemed tantalising; he curled his hands into fists and squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the temptation to just end it now while he was still young and foolish. Milo needed him. At least he knew that much-
Adam was jolted out of his self-deprecating reverie by a sickening shriek that seemed to echo all around him, and made his blood run cold. What? What the fuck? It had definitely come from somewhere near. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him along the grassy brink of the cliff, pale eyes scanning the rocks below, fearing the worst. He prayed he would not see the body of some other poor soul who had decided it was all too much. He prayed. He prayed-
-he stopped, then promptly threw up all over his trainers. A mess of red hair and tangled white limbs lay motionless in a pool of blood beneath him.
He didn't need to see her face.