Chapter One: First Impressions

He stood there, his eyes glinted with the softest of blues, reflecting off of the sea behind him. The sun beat down on him, hot and strong. Sea breeze wafted along the sand, playfully moving the seaweed in its path. His pace fastened as he drew nearer his destination. The old hut was a lot shabbier than he remembered, it used to be a pale cream, but now its walls had yellowed with age. At least he still remembered the location of its key, under the large pot of rosemary. Glancing around quickly, he edged the key out of its hiding place and slid it into the lock. It clicked and he slipped the key back. The door creaked heavily as he opened it. He quietly cursed under his breathe and inched his way inside. Closing the door behind him he took in the smell, just as he’d remembered, musty with age and yet the faint smell of lavender still lolled around in the air.

 

         Out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl, about his age, make her way down the stairs in a white sundress, her skin was slightly pale and her long brown hair curled down her back. But just as quickly as he saw her, she had disappeared. This wasn’t the first time it had happened to him, but it didn’t make it any less worrying. His breathe quickened and he could feel his pulse speeding up.

 

         ‘Charles,’ came a familiar voice behind him. ‘it’s about time you showed up,’

‘Aunt Eloise, it’s Charlie remember…’ he grumbled in return.

‘ah yes, that may be, but you were named after my dear Charles.” She replied somewhat dreamily.

He had heard the tale many times before but he knew what it meant to the old woman standing before him.

“back in the day Charles would be bursting to come home to me, we wouldn’t waste a second,’ Eloise sighed.

“Oh go on, I know you love telling me,” Charlie said as he followed her into the lounge.

Eloise positioned herself in the old armchair as Charlie sat across from her on the couch.

 

         ‘It was the summer of 52’ and I was just fifteen years old. My older sisters Isabelle and Clarice had dragged me off to the fairgrounds with them. Mama had made us all new dresses, and Clarice did my hair in rags the night before. We were so excited, you see there was going to be a circus there, it was the first time we were to see elephants. Mama and Papa weren’t that well off back then, but with us three girls all working, Clarice at the newspaper, Isabelle for Mama and Papa and me at the diner, well we’d saved up all our money. Joey, the boy who helped out around the farm and later became your grandfather, took us all into town.’

It was a little hard for him to think of his grand parents as young, or even his age. But he remembered seeing photos of how beautiful his gran looked back then.

‘We made our way inside the gates; the first thing you saw was the beautiful, big old Ferris-wheel. Joey rushed off to buy Isabelle some ferry floss, which she shared with us and then we all decided to go on the Ferris-wheel. Isabelle and Joey sat together and Clarice said she was, ‘awfully too afraid of that big thing,’ and refused to go on it. She didn’t want to spoil my fun though so she let me go on it by myself. It was just about to take off when a boy of about seventeen asked if he could sit next to me. I was a polite young girl, so of course I agreed. And that’s how I met Charles McDonough. For the rest of the night he spent all of his time with me, talking and getting to know one another. By the end of it I didn’t want it to end. Clarice and I found out that he had just moved here to work on the new building site, practically right across from the diner. Everyday after work he would walk me home. It was a long walk, back out to the farm but he didn’t care at all,’ Eloise’s eyes crinkled around the edges.

‘After the building was finished he was set to leave town again. I was heart broken. We wrote every week until finally when I was eighteen, I got the delightful news that he was moving back. We arranged so that Joey could pick him up from the train station, Isabelle, then pregnant with your uncle Mark, and I piled into the car excited.’

He could see it then, his grandmother pregnant wearing a floral dress and pearls, his Aunt Eloise with her long brown hair in a beehive and stunning pink dress. His grandfather driving a big green car to the station and then his aunt Eloise rushing out and into the arms of a beaming redheaded man. Quickly he shook his head and the image faded away.

‘I rushed into his arms and he proposed right there in the middle of the station. I remember screaming ‘yes’ so loud that we were getting stares from everybody.’

 

‘You really loved him didn’t you,’ came a voice from behind Charlie.

Eloise nodded, there were tears in her eyes. From the shadows stepped the girl he had seen in his vision, only her hair was up and she was wearing a pair of shorts and a summery blouse. She was beautiful and Charlie knew it, his face flushed red and he quickly looked away.

“Ahh, Charlie, this is Clarice’s only granddaughter, Amber Lynn.’ Eloise explained.

“So you’re my grandmother’s, sister’s, grand daughter?” Charlie laughed bashfully.
“Yeah,” she replied cheerfully “Aunt Eloise, I’m going for a walk down the beach, okay?”

“okay,” Eloise smiled, “as for you Charles…”

“Charlie,” he persisted
“sorry, Charlie, go upstairs and get yourself settled.”

 

         Charlie grabbed his bags from by the door and made his way upstairs.

“oh, by the way, you’re going to have to bunk with Amber Lynn for a while, the other room needs some floor boards replaced.” Called out Eloise from below.

He plonked his bags down heavily and walked over to the window. The water was peaceful and blue. All of a sudden the feeling washed over him again, down on the beach he could see a five year old version of himself with a large beach ball. His mother was sitting down on the porch, with his baby sister Eve in her lap. His step father, Eve’s father, was making his way out towards him. Derrick was a horrid man, he couldn’t see what his mother saw in him at all. That was one of the reasons that he had jumped at the opportunity to stay at Aunt Eloise’s for the summer. As quick as the vision had come, it vanished.

 

         Charlie opened his bag and placed out his things on the untaken bed, a clean t-shirt, some books, and a necklace. It had belonged to his father, his real father. It was the one thing he treasured most. He grabbed it and examined the shark tooth carefully. Suddenly the smell of lavender was overwhelming. He had to get out of the room, it felt as though the walls were closing in on him. Deep breathes. He knew he needed to take deep breathes. As soon as he felt able he rushed down stairs and out the front door. Down the track he ran, and out into the openness of the beach. The water lapped against his toes as he threw off his shirt. Splashing into the water until it came up to his waist. It was then that he finally stopped, he lay back into the water until he was floating on his back. What was happening to him? Why did he feel that way about a girl he was related to? He let it all wash over him at once until he finally felt relaxed.

 

***

 

         Amber Lynn returned from her walk to an empty house. She made her way upstairs to her room and found a shark-tooth necklace lying on the floor. Picking it up she thought she recognised it from somewhere, but she soon dismissed her de ja vu. She lightly placed it on Charlie’s bed and then climbed out of the window and carefully onto the roof. Outside, the light was slowly fading, it was almost sunset. There it was again, the distinct smell of lavender, at first she had thought it quaint but now, well now it was becoming stronger. Carefully she sat herself down and studied the quiet beach below her. In the water she could clearly see Charlie floating soundlessly. She liked to come up to the roof to think, plus the sunset was a beautiful view, so relaxing. Charlie looked so peaceful out there, his well-tanned skin making a contrast to the water. What was that? She was feeling something she shouldn’t for him. No. That’s wrong he’s her family. Dismissing the feeling to the back of her mind, she felt her cheeks flush pink. She watched as Charlie waded out of the water and made his way back up to the hut. His footsteps were muffled on the carpet but she could still hear him.

“Aunt Eloise?” he called out to what he believed was an empty house.

“She’s not here,” Amber Lynn replied from the roof.

Charlie jumped and ran to the window to look out.
“Up here dummy,” she laughed, waving down at him.

“How did you…?” Charlie began as he edged himself up next to her, “mind if I join?”

“Well it’s a bit late for me to say yes now,” Amber Lynn sighed as he placed his still wet body next to hers.

They sat there for a while in silence.

“So, why are you here?” Charlie asked as he surveyed the landscape, it really was a breathtaking view.

“I was forced to. You?” she replied.
“Escape,” he murmured.