Lost in the Shadows

Chapter 1

Loneliness pours over you
Emptiness can pull you through
Did you go to sleep with the light on?
I can't wait for this feeling to free me....

The cool brush of air on his stubbled cheek held a creeping warmth that was unwelcome. David flicked up the collar of his woollen coat, irritated, squinting ice blue eyes up at the sky. It would be daybreak soon, if the gradually lightening dark was anything to go by. The pink of dawn was absorbed by low, misty clouds that would burn away by sunrise but, for now, clung like silk to the ocean. The Boardwalk was as silent as the grave; the usually lumbering Ferris wheel was frozen and the clattering roller-coaster was empty. The brightly painted sideshows were populated for the moment only by drunks, junkies and troubled runaways in various stages of stupor who huddled in and out of the shadows made darker by the lack of illumination. From late afternoon, until just after midnight, the Boardwalk and surrounding beach paths were decked out with twinkling fairy lights. Jewel-bright bulbs and pinpricks of white light that cast wild shadows and beautiful splotches of colour over the throng that swept through, enticing them in to the wild, night-long party. But for now it was dark. This was the best time to visit the pier, in David's opinion. Stripped of the glitz and glamour of the tourist trap, the Boardwalk lay sleepily beneath the blanket of pre-dawn like a bare face. Without the garish lights, the true, crumbling nature could be seen, like a decrepit performer cleansed of her make-up.

'Hey man, we gotta go!' The shout rang out metallically, reverberating across the well-trodden boards and cutting clear above the gentle lap of the waves. David turned from the figure he'd paused in front of, a tangle of thin limbs sheltered in the awning of a comic book store that had been plastered on the outside with 'missing' posters, some yellowed and curled with age papered over with newer, whiter pleas.

'We gotta go now, man, or we'll never make it back.' Marko's tone was slightly panicked and David chuckled lowly, seeing the younger boy's dirty-blonde curls bounce as Marko twitched nervously and twisted his fist to rev his engine to life. Without a second glance at the hunched, ambiguous figure at his feet, David strode across the boards to where his own bike waited.

'We'll make it,' he grinned with confidence as he straddled his motorcycle with an unhurried, easy grace. The engine roared as he kick-started it with a heavy black boot, louder and more insistent than Marko's.

'By the skin of our teeth. I dunno what we have to keep coming back here for, man.' Marko protested above the rumble of their bikes. Brushing off the comment, David flashed Marko a grin.

'Let's go grab a bite to eat.' His laugh was good natured, snatched from his lips and carried to Marko's ears by the speed as he tore away. The salty-sea air of Santa Carla whipped at his face as David leant forward to urge his bike on faster, leading Marko along the deserted coastal path, up into the dark hills that bordered the city.

    *****

'Hey, girl, quit it!' Tozier protested, holding his heavily tattooed hands up to shield his bald head from the moisture inflicted on him as Star shook her cocoa-brown curls in his direction, causing dew-droplets to scatter over the big man as he perched on the stool at the counter. 'You sleep outside again, Star?' Tozier asked with a note of unease as he took in her crumpled clothes and the light purple shadows under her eyes.

'I like it outside,' Star shrugged as she leant across the countertop and grabbed a slice of toast from his plate and skittered quickly out of his reach to curl up on the burgundy leather Chesterfield with a grin. She devoured the first slice and deftly caught the second that Tozier tossed to her, brushing the crumbs from her lap. As much as Tozier had heard that phrase before, he knew different.