Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 17 - Night Surf

A/N: Thank you so much for 10K reads on this book! It's incredible and it means so much to me so thank you to anyone who came across it and decided to give it a go (especially those of you who voted or commented - thank you!!! 😊)

To celebrate 10K, here's a slightly longer and (hopefully) very interesting chapter...😏

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You use the evening to wear yourself out. There's no way you'll sleep tonight if you don't; adrenaline is pumping through you as you reach the coast path. You need to run.

You wait a few seconds as you watch Ari and Poppy converse, although you can't for the life of you work out what they're saying. Looks like they're going out for a surf, and you'd join them, if it wasn't for what just happened between you and Ari. And the fact that you just said you were going home and it might look a bit odd if you randomly return.

So instead, you begin running along the path; the sun is setting, bathing the cliffs in gold, but that just makes you quicken your steps even more. You hate when it gets too dark on the cliffs, when you can still hear the waves pounding down but see absolutely nothing. You're so glad Marlon and Ari weren't stupid enough to surf Stairway at night last year, otherwise they might never have found Ari. And that's something you can't even imagine.

The dark finally starts to set in when you get back home, and you're glad for the warmth of your own home after being in Jackson Bay for so long.

You're about to head upstairs, but you pause, hearing Marlon and your mum talking in the kitchen.

"I'm not saying that she shouldn't surf in Subtropix. I'm just saying, do you really want a repeat of what happened the other year? Or what happened to Ari?" Marlon says.

"Of course I don't, but I don't even understand what you're asking me, Marlon!" you hear your mum reply, obviously getting frustrated.

"I'm asking you to just talk to her about Shorehaven and Anchor Cove!"

"Marlon, we both know this isn't about Y/n anymore. I know that you don't get along that well with Manu, but Shorehaven is our home! Your club! I just really think-"

"What are you talking about?!" You barge in; you just have a feeling that whatever they're talking about isn't good news for Marlon or you.

Your mum sighs. "Y/n, Marlon has been talking to me about possibly...joining Anchor Cove."

"I came in here ready to apologise to you and you do that?" you say, shoving Marlon backwards. "And you've been using me to convince mum to let you change clubs?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" your mum says, coming between you and your brother. "Look, I said to Marlon that we'll put the idea to bed for now. If you're still unhappy at Shorehaven after a few weeks, then we'll talk about it."

"If you wanna change clubs i'm not going with you." you mutter.

"Well that's fine they wouldn't take you anyway." Marlon retorts, earning him another shove.

"That's enough! Both of you." Your mum raises her voice. "Now go to bed! You're over-tired." she says, ushering you both up the stairs.

But you have no intention of going to sleep anymore.

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You thought climbing out your window would be the hard part, but now, feet on solid ground, you realise you can't see two steps in front of you.

It's not that you don't have any source of light; your phone (which is running dangerously low on battery) gives off a little glow from the screen, but you don't want to turn on the torch in fear of depleting the battery completely.