Prologue
He slept peacefully and by the looks of it he would be sound asleep until the break of dawn. Lucien stood watching his son, peering through the small crack between the door and the frame. The young boy was tucked into his bed, open book in one hand sprawled across the bed cover. Lucien’s lips curled into an arch seeing no difference in his boy’s nightly routine of falling victim to rest while his nose is stuck in reams.
The door clicked quietly behind him and he made his way back into the kitchen.
The one story, beachfront home was just enough for him and his son. Plenty of space, decent sized rooms, and of course a gorgeous view of the ocean. When they’d moved here, he thought it had been here waiting for him, as if it was his house, his home, after all of those years of traveling and setting sail on the seas. This was it for him.
Lucien sat at the dining table under a still lantern light hanging just over the table shining down on the scattered papers that covered the surface. With his tired grey eyes he scanned one paper he held, reading the fine written letters and placing it face down in an chaotic pile of discarded letters. He titled his head back letting out a sigh of frustration and rubbing his face with his palms.
Everything was not done. Raising a child and settling in a dream home was not the ending to it all. It was just a matter of believing he could change the ending before it was set in stone.
He jolted upright at light scratching on the front door. He turned to his right, staring at the door. No one would be up this late at night, let alone scratching on a neighbor’s door. Though, they did place potted plants out on the porch. Perhaps they were blowing in the wind. Lucien turned back to his mess of documents, concluding he was just exhausted.
A thud erupted from the door then, and Lucien sprang to his feet, grabbing a lantern from a countertop and stormed to the door. There hadn’t been anyone or anything at the door. Just the quiet night and gently rolling waves bringing in the cool sea breeze. He stepped out on the porch, waving his light on both extensions of the platform. He saw nothing. He hesitated to go back inside, but quickly made the decision to catch a breeze outside.
Stepping down the whining steps and onto the soft sands, he looked to the sea, full moon just directly above him.
He knew he’d made the right choice; everyone on the island knew little about them, it was the easternmost island, thousands and thousands of miles away from their previous home, and it was hidden from the world.
The wind picked up and Lucien’s eyes began to descend into sleep. He turned to go back into the house, but stopped midway as a beast stood watching him. It bared its teeth and snarled, picking up its pace and charged at him. Lucien started in a run down the beach. He’d never seen something like it, and he surely didn’t want to turn around and catch a glimpse of it snapping at his legs. The sound of it barking and growling was enough to throw him into flight.
As he was running, the bottom of his foot was pierced by a rock in the sand and he went tumbling forward, landing on his back and screaming in pain. He shouted several curses into the night while holding his wounded foot. His lantern had rolled away, its light fizzling into the night, and he desperately crawled towards it to retrieve it.
Lantern in hand, Lucien waved the light by its handle frantically.
“Get away from me!” He shouted with clear struggle.
The beast stepped closer to him, showing its teeth that twisted up into what almost looked like a malicious grin. As it neared closer, it crouched low, its backside sticking up to the moon. It was ready to pounce. Lucien scrambled to his knees, but the beast launched forward and knocked him down again, biting at his arms, legs, and snapping at his face. Lucien, with lantern in hand, swung at the animal repeatedly until it set him free. The beast yelped and was sent hurtling into the sand at the last blow of the metal light. Lucien got up on his feet, staggering further down the beach and turned into the thick jungle.
His eyes darted around, searching for any bit of light, but to no avail, he couldn’t see a thing. He began to panic when he couldn’t catch sight of his feet or even his hand when he held it in front of his face.
He jumped at every twig that snapped under his feet, every leaf that crunched below his toes, and every rustling tree that swayed in the wind. A late night rain began to fall and Lucien began to slow in his tracks. His eyes dropped as low as the shrubs that scattered the forest floor in the day. His legs ached with pain and his arms lifted to no extent. Exhaustion got the best of him and he fell forward crashing into the dirt.
He tried to lift himself up again and continue, he could make it home, where he’d be safe and know that his son would be too, but with the sudden realization, he couldn’t remember if he locked the door or at least closed the door behind him when he first left out and was chased away by whatever it was that was after him. What was it? The question remained in his head, but it faded with the urge to sleep. If he continued to lay here, he’d get mauled to death. Either by what was chasing him or some other creature residing within the jungle.
He pushed his palms against the dirt hoping to gain strength to lift himself up, but his muscles worked all they could and the several bite marks and wounds didn’t contribute to his longing success. He imagined he was laying there, all cut up and bleeding, wet, and aching. His ears caught sound of distant barking and howling, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on getting up.
The barking was louder now, practically directly in his ears now, audibly permanent. It heard it from all angles around him, there had to be more than one of them, but he struggled continuously trying to get back on his feet. He shouted and shrieked at the pain and the several beasts around him howled with him, before they took jabs at him.
The pain pierced his skin from all angles, coming at him with relentless speed. It was all at once they attacked. He couldn’t see them, not even himself. Though he heard everything and felt everything, his skin oblivious to the intense healing it’ll have to endure afterwards or perhaps if he didn’t get out of the situation, it won’t ever have to endure the process ever again.
He lay there, taking every shot as if it was medicine. He was cold, hurting, wet, and damaged; he just didn’t have the strength to get back up. Besides all of the pain that he had become numb to, he seemed to have lost all sense of feel, but regained that energy in his head.
All that was left for him to call safe was in his head, where he couldn’t be harmed, where the lights of the night shone bright, but even there it wasn’t enough to mask the darkness that quickly spread and enveloped everything, but as believers like to claim, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, but he’d like to interpret that, the sun will always come up again.
Dawn was still a few hours away, but the hot ball of gas in the sky wasn’t quite what his metaphor referred to.
The sun will always come up again, Javi. He said to his son. New Moon, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, or Crescent, the sun will always come back after the dark. And truthfully, the sun is always there at all times, but the sun is like a friend. It’s there for you at all times, but can’t offer themselves every minute you need them.
You’re there every minute, what would you call yourself? A super friend?
I’m there every second because I’m a father of a handsome little prince that’ll explore this entire world, one foot at a time, and because I love you, hijo. I’ll be here to protect you until the end of every new beginning, mi luz del sol.
Lucien tried once again. Planting his hands against the slippery ground and feet digging into the earth, he lifted up to his knees groaning and grunting. He tried to stand, but his wounded foot jolted with pain as soon as it hit the earth and Lucien screamed in agony. Instead, he crawled. Dragging his body along with the remaining strength of his arms and his one good foot, he reached the edge of the jungle, out into the night and on the beach again.
He was a newborn turtle, struggling to make it to the safety of the sea before the predators spotted him and snatched him up, but even if he made it home, would he be safe? The following morning, what would Javi say about how he looked and what happened to him, and would he even tell his son about what truly happened?
Lucien, with home in sight, crawled his way down the beach, grunting and wailing over rocks. Home was only ten feet away, his son, safely tucked in bed unharmed, in hopes, was only ten feet away.
As he grabbed hold of the front porch railings and began to pull himself up, his vision tilted and blurred and his head thronged with every movement. The dark crowded him, past the starlight and the lantern that was alight on the porch. Even the full moon shone bright that night, but it wasn’t enough to mask the darkness that quickly consumed him.
“Magic isn’t an ‘in the moment’ thing. Magic here, is used for a greater purpose.”
