The Lost Ones

The boardwalk

It took a while for dad and Becky to go through the things they wanted to keep and get rid of, but finally, it was done.

I could see the two hit it off quite well. Dad gave me his car keys and told me I could drive to the boardwalk as him wanted to "help" the men with moving the unwanted items from our house. I think that was just a reason to talk to Becky more.

Not that I minded much. It would be weird to go around with my dad as a sixteen year old man... well, close enough to a man.

I couldn't help but be in awe of the colors that radiated from the boardwalk. The rides came to life at night.

As I made my way through the parking lot, my eyes fell onto a pole. Missing posters. Who knew a place that seemed to be carefree and welcoming could have such a sinister background. It was like the lights and food were a way for the people to try to cover up what had happened here.

I walk over to it and stare at the stack of papers. All these people... yet you never seem to hear about any of this.

"Stare too long. You might end up as one."

Jumping slightly, I turn around to see a girl.

"My brother did." She tells me while reaching out to the missing posters and lifts a few to show a teen boy.

Kyle Banks. A sixteen year old boy. So young. It was so unfair for his life to be taken.

"He made the mistake of looking at them." She tells me. Turning to look at her. Her brown eyes held a pain I couldn't even imagine feeling.

"Who's them?" I ask her. Her brown eyes drift away from the missing posters to me.

"The lost boys. You wanna survive here, stay clear from them." Huh. The lost boys? What is this Peter Pan?

"I'm sorry about you uh-"

"My brother. Me too. I'm glad to see someone is finally taking notice of what is actually going on around here."

"I'm Jesse, by the way." I tell her with a weak smile.

" Elizabeth. Nice to meet you, Jesse." She says while moving her dark curls away from her face. Smiling, I look at her. Here I thought I wouldn't make any friends. Well that's if I don't mess this up.

"Well, Elizabeth, I was about to head to boardwalk. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure, as long as we stay clear of the carousel. That's where they usually are."

"When you say they you mean those boys-"

"And girls." She cuts me off. "Yes, them. I don't know much about them, but I do know they were the last ones seen with him. He never should have followed them."

"Why did he follow them?" The closer we got to the boardwalk, the lighter the air felt. Like a blanket that covers the truth. All the missing people disappear from people's mind as they run from place to place.

"The one girl. Their sister. They are like crazy about her. It's like if you even look at her, you are doomed to be six feet down by the end of the night. She's like a siren. Pulls people end to their doom without them even realizing it till its too late."

Swallowing, I look at her nervously. "Well, that's nice. Guess the sign wasn't kidding about this place being the murder capital of the world."

"Yeah. Just stay away from them and you'll be fine." Elizabeth says with a weak smile. "Bet that wasn't how you expected your first interaction with someone to be like huh." She laughs while trying to lighten the mood.

"Uh you could say that. No I kinda like it. It's nice to know whats going on. I'd rather not be in the dark about this kind of stuff. I mean I could have run into them and died tonight if you didn't warn me." I joke slightly.

"Well I think I owe you a tour around the place."

Elizabeth and I spent hours going around the boardwalk as she showed me all her favorite places. One being an abandoned comic store. Like the house it stood frozen in time. All the comics left where the owners placed them.

A cup of coffee sat on the counter that had collected dust over the years. Missing posters layed on the floor. Elizabeth said two brothers used to work here. They were supposedly obsessed with finding out what was killing in Santa Carla. Guess they planned on killing it themselves. Guess they wanted to be like the heros in the comics they used to read.

So much for fighting for justice. Guess it's just better to try to avoid getting yourself killed than trying to be a hero and stop the monsters that roam the night.

"So have you lived here all your life?" I ask her.

"No. My dad used to work on boats so we lived on the ocean for the longest time. My brother would say we were like the pirates. Jumping from team to team. Whatever boat our dad was sent to. We would follow. My brother would tell me how he would get his own boat one day to sail and find treasure..." She trails off before looking at me. "Sorry I'm kind of a talker."

"No I don't mind. Wow living on ships like pirates huh." I chuckle.

"Yeah. Like pirates." She laughs

"You must be quite the competition to the lost boys huh. Pirates vs the lost boys."

"Yeah guess I am. They haven't gotten me yet."

"So why did you guys stop traveling on the ships?" I asked her while picking a random comic up.

"Dad wanted a better life for us. Felt bad for dragging us with him." Elizabeth jumps up onto the desk while looking at me. "Why'd you move here?"

"Parents fought. Mom left. Now we're up here. For a new start." I tell her.

"That must have sucked leaving all your friends."

"Tell me about it. Now I have to start all over. I'll be lucky if i can make some friends by the end of the summer" I sigh

"Well you already have one." She tells me.

"Yeah I've got a pirate as a friend. What else could I want." I laugh and she smiles.