OBX: An Outer Banks Story | Season 1

Episode 6

"Are you okay?" I hear Rafe, but something in me has just shut down. "Parker?"

I just look straight forward. I don't feel the need to say words. I don't even think I could say the words if I could think of any to say.

"Where would you like to go? Home?" He looks to me, I don't move an inch. "The Club? The library? The school? The back seat?" That makes me laugh a little. "Ah! He's alive in there!" I can see him smiling out of the corner of my eye. "I have a place we could go... if you don't mind a surprise that is?"

He looks at me and I turn my head to look back. I just smile and he smiles back.

"I'll take that as two thumbs up."

We arrive a little later at what seems to be a beach, but it's too dark to really see anything. Rafe gets out of the car and to the trunk where he grabs a lantern. He walks around and opens the passenger door.

"You coming?"

I step out and close the door behind me. I follow him until' he stops. He just turns back and looks at me.

"You'll probably want to take your shoes off." He just smiles as he bends over and slides his shoes and socks off, leaving them to the side.

I follow his lead. He steps down off a short ledge and onto the beach. He holds out his hand and I grab it, letting him help me down. The sand is cold. But it's comforting. I feel it go between my toes like a soothing massage.

"I found this spot last summer." Rafe walks on my side, holding the lantern in front. "I was having... a really bad summer. I did things I regretted. I needed to be someplace alone. Someplace no one would bother me." We walk up to the water and begin walking beside it. "Oh shit." The cold water runs up onto our feet and he runs like a little kid up the beach. "Isn't it cold?" He shouts from a distance.

I just smile and laugh a little.

"You're crazy." He laughs as he runs up, standing on the other side of me now. "Look. Isn't it just amazing?" He looks out to the ocean. "How it just goes on forever. That there are things out there no one will ever understand."

I look at the water. The way the full moon is lighting up a part of the water, letting me see the large waves crashing at a distance. It seems so dark, yet alive. It seems wild but beautiful. Something in the ocean just makes me want to walk in and never return.

"Here." He turns to the woods, getting excited. He looks to me. "What? Trust me." He starts walking and I follow him.

We walk a few minutes into the woods until he stops at a very large and thick tree.

"You first." He guides the lantern to a ladder dangling from something too high up to see in the dark.

I look to him with a certain look that says everything.

"Oh just climb." Luckily, or not so much, I've sobered up after my walk.

I grab the ladder and start climbing. It's shaky and I feel my heart starting to speed up. But then I look down and see Rafe climbing behind me, a smile on his face.

"I'm not looking at anything... too much."

I reach the top. A large wooden floor with short walls on three sides. I crawl up, my knees scraping a little on the natural wood. Rafe comes up behind me and hands me the lantern. I pull it up and quickly begin to notice the writing and etches all over the contraption. Rafe stumbles up, nearly falling to the edge.

"Shit!" Rafe sits up and looks at me. "Welcome to my humble abode." We slide to the back wall and sit up against it.

I immediately look forward and notice the view. Straight ahead is the ocean. It can be seen for miles. The boats in the distance look small. Their little lights flash like little fireflies in the distance. To the left is more ocean along with the small homes that live far from the town. To the right, I can see the center of town. The lights on Main Street are beautiful. But something in the look of the town just feels small. It feels minuscule. If the town is so small, then what am I?