Though the Monsters

Chapter 1

Monsters

            It's interesting, one's mind. No one can truly understand what happens within it. People often joke about a devil and an angel on each shoulder but, what if there is some truth to the statement. Though not as literal as an angel and a devil, the darkness in one's head can sometimes seem more prominent than the light. Or, for the purpose of Jethro and Hadlee, the monsters in their heads. People say to fight them, people say not to listen to them but, perhaps it is not as easy as that.

For Hadlee, a battle of wills, health, and love rages on within her. The will to seize and breathe. The will to wake up and live the next day. To control her own fears and anxieties. Her health seemed to be linked to a monster that may not ever be defeated and again the battle for her life is in nobody's hands. And love, a battle for the love that she fears she will not be able to keep. The love that she ran from in fear that it may not be as good or pure as it may have seemed.

For Jethro, a battle of love, emotion, and trust. A battle for the love that ran from him in fear. A fear that he set into motion with his words. Every morning seemed to be a battle of emotions, would he be depressed and lay in bed? Would he be simply okay and get up to slump through the day? Or would he feel better and face the day? Finally, trust. Since that day he had been battling his own ability and judgement in trust. He knew he could trust his friends but he found his mind fighting against him. The image of the plane flying away plaguing his thoughts during the day and his dreams at night.

Both seemed to forget to not listen to the monsters in their heads.

~~~~~~~

The rain hammered hard against the windows of the tower, though it did little to faze Jethro, who sat slouched in one of the chairs, mindlessly watching as the water ran down the glass. The rain hadn't let up for nearly a week, leaving the majority of Sidney under water and Bondi Beach utterly deserted. Deano, Mouse, Nicola, Jesse, and Glick sat around the tower looking just about as glum as Jethro, though their moods were mostly tied to the weather. Nicola thought thoroughly about the past two months as she watched the young man in the chair across for her, not once could she recall him smiling or laughing since the day Hadlee had left. Harrison had taken it pretty hard as well though he bounced back a bit after his parents had called to let him know how Hadlee was doing. Hadlee had yet to call herself. Nicola had received a few sparse texts, one simply saying that she was fine, another to say Happy Birthday. She was surprised when she had gotten a Christmas present in the mail and a letter along with it. She didn't bring it up to anybody else though, for fear that they hadn't gotten anything. Jules had asked her quietly one day as she had also received a small gift.

It was hard to watch her friends suffer so much. The other lifeguards had pretty much taken it in stride, but Jethro was still battling his inner demons. For the first couple of weeks both Nicola and Jesse had had to pull the poor lad out of bed every morning so that he wouldn't spend the day moping under his comforter. Soon, he had started to become a bit more self-sufficient, though he did it with lack of enthusiasm and a look in his eyes that Nicola could only describe as broken. Harrison had flown home to New Zealand a week ago and had been trying to work on getting Hadlee to come back to Bondi, but she had heard little on his progress (if there had been any at all). She had gotten one picture the day he had gotten there of Hadlee's bedroom (to describe it as messy would have been a severeunderstatement) and Hadlee wrapped up in her blankets. Nicola knew, Hadlee was just as bad as Jethro, if not worse.

"What are we going to do with you?" Nicola mumbled as she continued to watch Jethro sit sullenly in his chair.

~~~~~~~

Harrison sat on the floor of his childhood bedroom with his back against his bed and his legs spread out straight in front of him. He'd been home for almost a week and still he had made no progress in trying to get Hadlee to go back to Sidney with him. Nicola and Jesse had made a fair amount of progress with Jethro but Hadlee was unmovable. He'd tried everything he could think of, short of simply picking her up and dragging her back to Sidney. He could see her deteriorating slowly. Their parents had made it their mission to avoid going into Hadlee's bedroom and it took every ounce of self-control that Harrison had not to mouth off. Hadlee was their daughter after all, and it shouldn't only be his responsibility to help her through things. Harrison didn't understand why she decided to leave Sidney in the first place. She had so many happy memories there, a job, a boyfriend, a family.

The day she left; he had felt like a part of him had fallen away. Having her in Sidney was so normal. Maggie had taken it a bit harder than Harrison had expected her to but she had become more of a rock to him than anybody else. In fact, she was the one that had told him to go to New Zealand and try to get Hadlee to come back. Maggie agreed that being in Sidney was too good for Hadlee to let her simply walk away from it. Harrison knew that this would have to be at Hadlee's pace but it was hard.

Harrison groaned and ran his hands over his face.

"What am I supposed to do?" He mumbled into his hands.