I've always been so engaged by epic tales, beginning at a young age. Even as a child, I, like most kids my age, thirsted to tell tales of my own. Something as simple as toy time would become a stage for glory, an outlet for my wandering mind. My eyelids propped open, assimilating an amalgam of role playing video games, television shows, and books, the epics inspired me; ideas giving birth to more in turn, synthesizing more stories to tell.

If I can wish one thing of myself, one thing to come from my existence on the glorified spinning ball which is our planet, it is to tell a story. I may not be an envied scribe, but I yearn to entertain. While that is the barest essence of what I mean, I intend to tell a tale that matters. In the grand scheme of things, all meaning is relative; but should I tell a tale that means something to someone, the breaths I've taken will no longer be for naught. At the end of the day, if you take some minor pleasure in what you've read, then it will not be a failure, however, my deepest hope is to engage a reader, give them the sense of wonder I felt as a child, captivating them in an epic they long to live themselves, and more so, however reaching it may be, to try and help them better understand themselves and apply this thing they grow to love to their own life story, and perhaps one day tell a tale of their own. After all, that is the grand idea.

The following is my truest, best attempt at providing precisely that.

Alex squeezed his eyelids shut tightly, compacting himself into the tiniest ball he could concoct in order to conceal his self as much as possible in the dark, shrouded corner of the supply room on the ship he had been stowing away upon for what had seemed to him like weeks. It could have been longer and he would have been none the wiser to it as he had no true way of telling the time, calling this place a temporary home until he could manage an escape, at last claiming his freedom on whatever dock was awaiting his arrival in the unforeseeable future. It was a foolhardy, last minute plan that never should have worked - except by some stroke of blind luck it somehow had, at least it had so far and up until this point in time, the time when he no longer went unnoticed, the most unfortunate time of all the times this stockroom had been visited that he had happened to be across the room using what he called “the facilities,” (a mop bucket in the opposite corner of his illegally inhabited home,) when someone had stumbled upon him and while he tried to pretend he had slipped past the crew member’s radar, it was obvious to him that he was done for.

                “I said, who’s there?!” the prying man repeated with a voice that held an obvious mixture of equal parts annoyance and fear as he crept closer, closing in on Alex’s whereabouts and boxing him into an inescapable corner.

                Think, Alex, think, the stowaway urged himself in the dark, controlling his breathing, inhaling slowly through his nostrils and exhaling softly and quietly through his mouth so not to allow himself to be heard. He scratched at the sides of his head, and ran his fingers through his shaggy, shoulder length, dirty blonde hair, digging his long nails into his scalp to try and pry some witty idea from the catacombs of his mind that could save him from his impossible predicament although it seemed as though even his self acclaimed genius level intellect was failing him at this moment. Grasping at proverbial straws, little substantiality came of his inadequate attempts of sparking an epiphany. As he scratched, the silver handcuffs that bound his wrists together met his wrinkled brow, and he rested on them. These only served as an unnecessary reminder of the surely damned hand he had been dealt and the inescapable situation that was before him.

                The voice intruded his deep cranial probing, not that it was interrupting anything of much value. His lack of an answer to the troublesome entrapment he had snared himself within was causing internal dismay and sending him into deeper turmoil which did anything but assist in the situation. “Look, Phil, if it’s you down here, and you’re doing what I think you’re doing, then by all means go ahead. Just give me a sign that it’s you and I’ll leave you to your business, man. But I can’t leave here until I know everything’s good to go,” the man said. “You know it’s my turn to do the sweep.”

                How could I have been so careless? Alex scolded himself internally while gritting his teeth in frustration. I know about these stupid security checks. They never made sense to me, since what do they expect to find on a boat in the middle of the ocean that wasn’t there the day before, anyways? But then again, here I am. I should have been more calculated, I should have expected this guy to show up. Damn it, he thought, pressing the hard link between the cuffs against his forehead, creating a temporary ring-shaped indentation in his skin where its oppressor laid. He had found when it was time for him to first use the restroom after boarding this vessel that he had to pull the old “legs through arms trick” he was forced to learn long before in a somewhat similar situation to that which he was currently traversing to get his hands in the front of his body and where they needed to be for him to do his business. I’m an idiot. Yeah, get on this ship that’s going to who knows where in handcuffs to try to escape the law. Like they won’t be waiting for me on arrival wherever it is we end up. The cops may not be that intelligent, but it doesn’t take a genius to unravel this imbecilic last second pathetic excuse for a plan. This has to be my worst attempt at an escape in my history of legal trouble, and let’s face the facts here- I’ve been in quite a bit of nonsense where the law is concerned.

                “Alright buddy, I dunno who ya are, but I’m coming back there now. I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you’ve left me no choice,” the man said, and it was obvious he wasn’t bluffing as his announcement was quickly followed by slow, carefully placed footsteps.

                Alex’s mind raced as he his enemy approached. There’s a way out of this, why am I not seeing it? He thought, doing everything he could to prevent himself from panicking as he slowly shifted his body so that he was situated on his knees. Finally, the light bulb he had been searching high and low for appeared suddenly above his head, fantastic, albeit borderline foolish, idea in tow. This idiot is obviously afraid of the dark, or at least what hides in it. There’s gotta be some way I can use that to my advantage. Maybe if I play my cards right, I can make this work. He reached his hands out in front of him and stuck his long nails, which had grown a bit with the passing of the time on the ship, not to mention they weren’t in the most hygienic place before he boarded, against the cold, hard steel floor he had grown so used to sleeping on. He gritted his teeth, unhappy about what would come next, and he pulled back against the metal, digging his claws into the floor all the while. The screeching sound that erupted was quite loud and painful, especially to Alex who was so close, but he repeated this motion several times, methodically, dragging his nails long and slow to mimic the sound of some creature or animal not to be taunted by the wise.

                “Wh-what the hell? Phil, are you screwin’ with me?” the man said, but the fear in his voice was unmistakable. There was no doubt left in Alex’s mind now, this man was terrified.

                You’ve got him where you want him, Alex thought with a cocked grin, knowing he had won this battle. Now finish this coward while you have the opening! He gritted his teeth monstrously and began exhaling, heavily and slowly, like a beast whose heart took some uncommon bit of work to pump blood to. When he heard what sounded like the clattering of the frightened patrolman’s teeth, he decided it was time to add on the final touch, the icing on the cake. From deep within his throat he summoned a low growl that stretched for dozens of seconds, getting louder and more ferocious as time passed. Alex almost wished there was light, if only to see the look on the defeated man’s face. He was proud to call himself the victor over this persistent adversary.

                “Oh, hell with this,” the frightened man muttered as he backed away. “We’re gonna be at the drop off point at any second anyways, and that’s not something I wanna miss. This, whatever this is, is someone else’s problem,” he added as his heavy footsteps made their way to the door. The loud creak and the bright shine of the light proved to Alex that the man had left.

                Alex rested his head back against the wall and let out a long sigh of relief that ended in laughter. I knew I could outsmart that idiot. I can’t believe it took me so long to do it. Anyways, now that my heart rate is escalated, it’s time to see how much I’ve really got in me. That guy mentioned a “drop off point.” That means we must be docking soon and that’s my cue to get the hell off of this troublesome vessel and put this mistake in my rearview. He pushed himself up to a standing position and cracked his neck. It’s a good thing I’ve been walking around in here, otherwise it would take me some time to adjust before I’d be able to run easily, and something tells me walking off of this ship without answering any questions isn’t on the menu.

                Hurriedly approaching the door, Alex pressed his ear against it and listened as the footsteps of his recent rival faded into the distance. Here’s where that luck comes into play, he thought to himself as he bit his lip and clenched his eyes closed, wishing his way off of the ship. Empty hallway, empty hallway... he repeated within his head, and then he slowly turned the doorknob, ready to react regardless of what awaited him on the other side. He pressed his body up against the door, prepared for the worst and… nothing; and not the good kind of nothing he was hoping for in the shape of a deserted hall space, but instead he found nothing as in the door wouldn’t budge.

                “Really?” Alex said aloud, stunned by the universe’s idea of ironic karma. I was this close, and that bastard locked the door. This is how far I’ve come, the great Alexander, outsmarted by a dimwitted sailor with a fear of the dark. This is what you get, Alex, you cocky son of a bitch. To think you were so untouchable that you could escape any fate. What universe do you imagine you inhabit? He may have been able to pick the lock, but he couldn’t see, and he had nothing to use. Surely if he had, he would have used it on his handcuffs long ago. He scolded himself internally, boiling until he couldn’t contain his rage anymore, punching the door before him, the only thing forcing his freedom to remain a far away fairy tale.

                “Ah, shit,” he said to himself as his rash behavior dawned on him. “Now I’ve gone and made noise.” He soon realized the extent of this error as he heard footsteps approaching with a quickness that rivaled that of his fleeing counterpart minutes earlier. “Imbecile!” he whispered to himself quietly, looking around in a frantic panic, searching for a way to top his previous trick, but his magician’s bag was empty. He had absolutely nothing.

                “I told you there was something in there and I know you heard that!” a familiar voice said, muffled by the wood between he and Alex. It was at this point that the stowaway realized the staggered steps and that his buddy had brought back a companion. The odds did not favor his predicament, and it seemed to be tipping in the wrong direction as time passed.

                Back in his corner, Alex paced. What to do, what to do… think you damn fool! You got yourself into this mess. All it takes is one stunning move and you’ll be at port someplace. Port means there should be beaches. Beaches mean hotties. And hotties sure as hell beat the snot out of this place.

                “I told you not to eat the stew man, Gomez put something in it,” a new voice said.

                “Shut up with that shit,” a third voice, likely this Gomez character, protested. “You never know how many sets of ears are perked up on the other side of these walls. Especially if he heard somebody in there, you know? You trying to get me in some shit on a job of this caliber? I’d never work again, and that would be the least of my worries.”

                “You’d be getting yourself in shit,” the second man responded coolly, “but that’s my entire point. There’s nobody in there, he just had too heavy of a dose of your special ingredient if you know what I mean.”

                “Both of you morons, shut up!” The first man said, fed up with the repertoire. “We go in there together, and then we’ll see what’s what.”

                Alex looked up and squinted his eyes in the darkness, noticing for the first time what appeared to possibly be his savior. He jumped up and touched it- feeling what he had hoped. A steel bar hung above him, and it seemed to connect from one end of the room to the other. He jumped again, and this time he grasped it with his fingertips, gripping and gritting his teeth. He kicked his feet against the wall and walked upwards until he was in a position to wrap his legs around the metal as well. He flipped himself over so that he was on top of it and it was for the first time that he realized how tall the room was. It wasn’t breathtakingly expansive, but it was spacious enough for him to have a crawlspace above the metal plank he rested on, enabling navigation to the opposite side of the room.

                This is bold, even for me, Alex thought to himself. I’m really gonna have to hurry if I want to make this work. Not a sound, now. In a rush, he crawled across the beam, placing one palm before the next, pressing his fingerprints against the layer of dust. He was merely halfway across the room when he heard the key slide into the door. Now I hear the key, he thought, but he had no time to dwell. Hurriedly, he managed to inch his way a little farther before the door swung open and the light took the room like a relentless flood.

                This, he didn’t take into consideration. During his last encounter, Alex had been in an advantageous position behind several crates so that the light didn’t find him directly. In his current situation, his eyes took a full blast of what had become so alien to him during his time as an unwanted houseguest, starving his days out in his corner. He had been lucky to find water in one of the crates he decided to pilfer through, but it had been so long since he had sustenance in the form of food that he had near forgotten the taste of certain things. The talk of stew had sent his belly rumbling like the beast he pretended to be, but he had control over that now. What he did not have control over, were his pupils.

                He shut his eyes tight and did everything he could to contain his cries of dismay at the unwanted brightness, the forgotten glow he had gone so long without. He had a sudden migraine due to this exposure, and he laid his head down, paying no matter to the dust, remaining completely still and entirely quiet. He was no longer alone.

                “Someone, or something, is in here somewhere. Pan out.” The footsteps started to spread around the room.

                “Five dollars says nothing’s in here,” the second man wagered.

                “Quickly,” Gomez added, “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to miss anything up top. We’ll be there any second, according to Turk.”

                Damn it, Alex thought to himself. He slowly inched forward. This guy said this wasn’t his problem, why couldn’t he just leave it at that? His eyes opened to slits, allowing small amounts of light to help him adjust to the brightness as he moved. Hand before hand steadily, knee before knee. The bar he was on wasn’t extremely wide, but it could handle his small frame, and he was lucky he wasn’t clumsy enough to fall. As his surroundings came into view, he could see that the three people below him were making their way to opposite ends of the room, now past his location, putting him between them and the door. The original man was inspecting the corner Alex had lived in, whereas craning his neck revealed that Gomez was standing in front of the mop bucket.

                “Okay, maybe there’s something…” he said. Check this out.

                He must have smelled it. Shit, I’m this close… suddenly Alex noticed something he hadn’t expected. The key was still in the door. Without putting any more thought into it, he made a split decision, pushing himself over and rolling down from the board, landing on the ground, and simultaneously capturing the attention of all three men.

                “What the hell!?” the disbeliever exclaimed, but they weren’t given much time to react.

                “Looks like you’re out five bucks,” Alex shrugged as he bolted out into the hallway, grasping the door handle and slamming it shut behind him. He locked it up and heard the pounding of the three angry, outsmarted men behind him.

                “Well, there’s no going back now,” Alex said to himself, and he hurried down the hallway. If he was really lucky, which he seldom was, they would be at port and Alex could rush to the deck and get on with his life without being intercepted by anyone. He didn’t expect that to be the case, with good reason.

                After taking his first turn Alex could see the stairway to the deck before him. He remembered bounding down it when he first snuck aboard, and he had utilized one of the first stock rooms he could find. Though there was only about fifteen feet between where he stood and his exit to freedom, he could hear voices in a room to the left. The door to this room was wide open with the light shining into the hallway and he was certain that his passing by this would surely gain unwanted attention and cut his escape short.

                Of course, another roadblock, Alex thought. He glanced up to his disappointment. No more bars to shimmy across. I had a feeling that trick wasn’t going to save my ass twice. I should already count myself lucky that I made it far enough away that the inhabitants of this room can’t hear the morons  locked in that oversized storage closet I spent so much time huddled inside. How long was I in there, anyways? It doesn’t matter, not anymore… I’m almost there, almost to freedom. Wherever we are, I can become a new man, find adventure in this land and consider myself reborn. Just get past this last obstacle and the choice is yours.

                “You’re really not even a little bit nervous?” a voice questioned from inside the room. Alex decided to listen in. Perhaps the clue to his escape lied in this conversation. He didn’t have much time to dawdle, but he needed anything he could get his hands on right now.

                “What would I have to be nervous for?” a booming voice replied casually. “I’ve been training at this for, God, who knows how long? I was specially chosen for this, it’s not like I’m going in blind. The things I’ve been told, heading into that world with absolutely no knowledge of what’s in store for you? That’s the guy who should be nervous. Not me, I’m prepared. I’ve been designed for precisely this moment. If I can’t do this, then I have no reason to exist.” Shing. What sounded like a sword being drawn from its sheath rang out, much to Alex’s surprise. “I’m ready to cut down all kinds of mother fuckers.”

                “I’d still be worried, Turk. It’s like you said, the things you’ve heard,” the man continued, “but you don’t know, do you? Even just from what you’ve told us it sounds like the place is hell on Earth. Wait- is it even Earth?”

                “I don’t know man. But what I do know is that this baby is gonna rack up one hell of a body count over there. And those idiots are gonna treat me like some sort of fucked up savior. Some kind of a fucked up king or a God even. Omnipotence, they’ll say.” He paused for a moment. “It certainly suits me,” Turk said with a laugh.

                Where the hell is this psychopath taking us? Alex wondered, considering darting past the open door while the two of them were swept up in their fantastical conversation. Their whimsy may prove to aid in his flee. His plans were foiled soon enough, however, as a new party was suddenly introduced into the mix.

                The footsteps were too sudden and hurried that Alex couldn’t react in time. Before he knew it a man was bounding down the stairs before him. “I think it’s time! If everything went as planned we should be approaching the gate…” He stopped suddenly as he realized he was speaking to a ragged stowaway in place of what he had expected to be a crew member. “What the hell!?” He pointed at Alex, immediately abandoning his positive and overly-excited attitude.

                “So much for planning, and it looks like thinking is out the window,” Alex muttered with a sigh, deciding his best course of action was to simply play the rest of this likely short lived journey by ear. He rushed forward towards the new contender, glancing momentarily sideways into the open door on his left. He looked only long enough to get a fragmented view of what appeared to be a mammoth of a man wielding a rather large sword. “Pirates,” Alex muttered. “Of all the ships I could have snuck onto, I had to pick the one vessel in the world that still carried pirates.”

                “Intruder!” the approaching man yelled, but he was soon prevented from saying much more. Alex was fairly sure he couldn’t take him in a fist fight, and his odds would be even worse once the giant caught up, so he did what he thought might most assure his escape. He punched the man in the throat swiftly, an action that was unexpected by its recipient and caught him off guard. After a cheap shot like that, the follow up knee-to-balls move should have registered as no surprise to the unlucky sailor. He went down, and Alex pushed past him making his way up the stairs before the others could catch up with him.

                Okay, okay, Alex assured himself, we’re almost out of here. At the top of these stairs is the escape, and then we’re home free. Well- not exactly home, but free nonetheless and that is certainly the key word in this particular phrase. Here we go.

                As Alex pushed his way out onto the deck, light didn’t greet him as he had expected. Instead, it was dark skies that hung above him, even though it wasn’t raining. The weather would have been a comfort to him under regular circumstances. He would see this as an aid in his escape, concealing his whereabouts from the crew members as he reached the port, but what he saw completely trumped any and all of that. There was no port. In fact, they hadn’t reached a destination at all. As he looked around him, spinning in hopes of finding something that didn’t exist, he realized that he was in the middle of nowhere with nothing but water headed in all directions. Not a single speck of land littered his ocean surroundings.

                What? This doesn’t make any sense… there should be a dock… They said we had arrived, but there’s nothing around for miles… Was this all a ruse to root me out? How could I have been so rash? I didn’t think, I didn’t plan, and now… it’s over. He felt a hard blow to the back of his head and he blacked out for a second, falling forward onto the deck and gaining the eyes of everyone on board. The muttering around him was barely understandable as he blinked in an attempt to regain his composure. His vision came back to him in bits, but it was hard for him to concentrate. Alex… he thought, that first blow was almost enough to knock you out, another one will definitely do you in. Get to your feet, idiot, figure something out, devise some sort of a scheme before…

                Shing. This time Alex knew what the noise was. He had seen the weapon it belonged to, and what’s worse, he had seen the man that the weapon belonged to, and by the way he was speaking, he seemed to be a pretty bloodthirsty fellow. Alex was fairly sure the last thing his pursuer wanted with him was words. Whoosh. Alex had expected this. He was ready to act, and he did. Rolling over onto his back, he not only dodged the downswing of the massive claymore, but he managed to cause it to be lodged in the deck, which gave him a slight decrease in his humongous disadvantage.

                Looking up, he saw the scowl of the angry Turk. He wore a tight gray shirt that most people would swim in, and it was exploding with muscles. Brown eyes matched his short brown hair and shaggy beard. He was easily thrice Alex’s size and while this scared him, he had to keep his composure about himself.

                “Wow, your muscles have muscles,” he said, feigning nonchalance and scooting back as Turk tugged against the sword. He looked around nervously at the others who pointed and realized how vastly outnumbered he was. Even though there were only a few dozen men, he was completely surrounded, and several of them were brandishing firearms.

                “Don’t fire! And don’t touch him!” Turk yelled angrily. “This little fool is mine. He’ll be my last kill in this world before I breach. Tell me, runt, who sent you? Was the paycheck worth the cold steel you’re about to taste?”

                “Wow, there really was something in the stew, huh?” Alex joked, trying to keep the conversation light to mask his fear. “You seem like you’ve got enough crazy for both of us though, so why don’t you just play over there. Niiice giant…”

                Turk did little more than grunt as he repositioned his feet. He was hell bent on getting his sword loose. He really seemed to want to kill something with it tonight.

                “You know, I’d ask you how tall you are, but the measuring tape has to stop someplace, right? Is that why you’re a pirate? I’d imagine it’s pretty hard to drive a car, or you know, just fit in one at all.” He was interrupted by another loud grunt. “It’s okay, I’m not judging you. A man needs his freedom. But why don’t you try being free from that sword a while. Maybe try some words out for a change?” He pulled himself to his feet and continued to back away.

                Turk laughed his booming laugh, the sound of stampedes racing towards his prey. “You’re a fool if you think I can’t kill you with my bare hands. This,” he motioned to his sword, “this is for fun. And for practice. But mostly for fun.”

                Maybe if I make him angry he’ll get clumsy, Alex hypothesized. “Does Mommy know you brought a knife to school?” he taunted. God, I’m so dead.

                Thump. The sword finally released itself from its hold and Turk stumbled a bit as it did. “Now I’ve got places to be, and a lot more people to kill. So let’s get this over with, runt,” he boomed, towering over the stowaway.

                “Alright, alright,” Alex muttered, trying not to let his knees knock to give away the fact that he was literally shaking in his boots. “I’ll walk the plank, no need to get hostile, Blackbeard.” He continued backing away.

                “You joke because you know you’re done for,” Turk said, and he began bounding toward Alex, gripping his sword with both hands. “Time to die!” He lifted the sword high and sliced it sideways in an attempt to clear the stowaways head from his body.

                “Ow!” Alex screamed, grabbing the side of his head. “My ear!” He moved his hand to find his palm bloody, and then he saw a chunk of his right earlobe on the ground. If I hadn’t spun at the last moment, he would have had my whole head. This isn’t like dealing with cops. There are no free passes here. This psychopath is really going to cut my head off, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. He continued to step backwards, not realizing how close he had come to the edge.

                “I don’t have time for this,” Turk screamed, reeling back for another swing. “This is the last swing, and I won’t miss again! I don’t know who sent you here to stop me, but I won’t miss my entrance! I’m the chosen one!”

                Time seemed to be progressing in slow motion. The sword was barreling through the space that separated them, and Alex was sure it would catch his gourd this time. All he could do was try and dodge, though he knew his efforts were futile. He leapt and spun again, hoping to run if he managed to live through it, but he didn’t expect to hit the side. As he turned, the entire ship rocked, and his gut collided with the side hard, and before he knew it, he was keeling out over the ocean. He could feel the sword barely missing him over his head, the wind rushing past him and his hair blowing. He had survived the swing… but for how long?

                Alex couldn’t balance himself. The rocking of the ship propelled his jump forward and had given him a velocity he couldn’t match. The upper half of his body was continuing over the edge, and the rest of him was following suit, and he was completely helpless to prevent it. Even if he had friends, none of them were present on that ship, and not a single person was going to do a thing to stop his tumble into darkness.

                This is it, Alex thought to himself as the wind rushed past his face and the water flew to greet him. This is how my pathetic, miserable life comes to an end. I always thought there would be more time. I always thought things would change. This person, this sarcastic, thieving, cheating, lonely, emotionless shell of a person is who I really was. This is who I ended up being. And there’s nothing I can do to change that. Fitting, in a way, that it should end in this fashion. Oh well. Mia, here I come. And inevitably as it had always been, his thoughts ended, his life ended, and his being was consumed by darkness.

                                                                                                *****

                A crescent moon hung high in the night sky, suspended over the beach, beautifully casting its glow on the world. The waves crashed heavy on the beach, washing the sands away and repeating, as if by some metronomic system. Four feet padded along; cold sand seeping through toes, the refreshing water cleansed them as they passed through the edge of the waves reach. A cool breeze blew gently through the hair of young Alex and his older sister, Mia.

                Though the two weren’t biologically related they shared a bond that ran deeper than blood. Children in the same orphanage, the two were both cast aside from their true families and left on their own at an early age. They stuck together in the orphanage, two peas in a pod, ever attached at the hip, so much so one could be fooled to believe they were actual siblings. In a place that felt so very unlike home, they were each other’s salvation.

Unlike many kids in the home with them, they were both exceedingly intelligent and very clever, but most of all they shared a thirst for adventure. It was often nights like this that twelve year old Mia and nine year old Alex would sneak out of the orphanage they despised and explore. They would traverse wooded areas, navigate trails, journey through abandoned houses, but most commonly they could be found on this beach, making their way to the lighthouse Mia so adored.

Tattered clothing blowing in the wind and blown out shoes in their hands, they hurried towards the lighthouse once again. They had been here many times before but they had never entered as it had always been locked. Alex had always promised he’d find a way to get his more than deserving sister to the top, to let her soak in the beauty of the view, and on this night the weather felt perfect enough to be a frame to the picture he envisioned. The two were eccentric, glad to be free once again from the shackles of the orphanage and the other dull depressing creatures who called themselves peers, the one place more than any other that could remind them of their misfortune and misgivings, the one place that could force them to arrive at the realization that they hadn’t been worth anything to anyone but each other.

Alex glanced to his right and saw the smile on his sister’s face. He always drank in that smile, intoxicating himself and overdosing on her happiness. Regardless of how down he felt, her laugh and her smile could bring him to the top of any dark mood. It was an expression to say that someone’s smile could stretch from ear to ear, but Alex felt that if that held true for anyone, it was this girl. When she was happy, and truly happy, not the fake kind of happiness they had to put on with the rest of their act back “home,” but when she was honestly elated, there was no hiding it. Her lips peeled upwards and her teeth spilled out, two gorgeous glittering rows of happiness. The corners of her mouth seemed to extend up into the sides of her face, forcing her freckled cheeks upwards, and releasing her dimples to the world. To some, this may sound unattractive or somehow ugly, too extensive like the grin of the Cheshire Cat, but on this girl, it fit perfectly. Her happiness shone brightly through her pearly white smile, and her green eyes lit up whenever she did. Long brown hair fell around her shoulders and bounced against her back as she ran, and Alex knew she was truly happy.

Basking in her glee, Alex wanted to somehow preserve this moment in history. He wanted to keep this memory, so that whatever else they had to go through, whatever else life threw at them, they would have this piece of perfection stored within their heads, a place to go back to, a centerpiece for their happiness. There was only one way he knew of that could make something like that possible. One thing he could do for her to set her smile in stone and ensure that she never forgot this night and never let go of this memory, no matter where life took them. He had to get her in the light house. He had to get her to the top of the light house so she could enjoy the view as she deserved, and he would.

“Why don’t you take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Mia teased, ever smiling, reaching her arm out to mess up his hair.

“Come on now Mia, we both know I couldn’t afford a camera if I saved up for an entire year! And if I could, I think I’d spend that money on something better to eat that old Miss Darcy’s cooking,” Alex added, only half joking.

“Now, now, we both know you love those cold mashed potatoes she serves with every dish!” Mia exclaimed, leaping over a pile of branches and continuing to run.

Alex panted. “Well maybe if anyone could say for certain what those lumps were, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. Stout Mr. Chauncey never fails to get his filling though. I’m fairly sure he’s the whole reason the potatoes became a staple of every meal in the first place. The moon could fall out of the sky tomorrow and the world would be ending, and he’d wonder where his potatoes were,” he said with a laugh, again, only half joking.

“Haha,” Mia said, though her smile had unmistakably faded at the mention of the man. There wasn’t much Alex didn’t understand about her, he could usually read her like a book, but at this moment, he had no idea what was going on in her head. The only thing for certain was that he was about to give her the night of her life.

“Come on sis, I have a surprise for you,” Alex said with an assuring smile. “This way!” He grabbed onto her hand and led her down the dock that was the path to the lighthouse.

“Oh, don’t tease me,” Mia said. “You can’t say there’s a surprise and then veer me towards my favorite thing in the whole world, you’ll get my hopes up and make me misread things.” Her wide eyes traveled up, following the round, white painted lighthouse all the way to its top.

“What’s to misread?” Alex said with a wink, and then he let her hand go and hurried forward.

“Oh, don’t be mean, Alexander,” Mia said. “Now you’re just picking on me!” Her face flushed red as some part of her deep inside wished that there could be a chance of her dream coming true this night. She hurried behind him, curious to how things would proceed.

The door at the bottom was one Alex had seen many times, but he had never been able to breach. It was bright red, the only part of the lighthouse that varied from the impeccable white slathered brilliantly from top to bottom. He grabbed hold of the black handle, and… nothing. Just as all of the times before this, the door wouldn’t budge. Fortunately, he had been expecting this.

Mia frowned, while trying to fake a half smile as to not give away her obvious disappointment. There was definite contrast to the smile she wore minutes earlier. Alex was much more taken to the happy sister. “I asked you not to mess with me, little brother,” she said sadly. “You almost had my hopes up.”

Alex looked at her and smiled. “Just wait here,” he said. He reached into the pocket of his trousers and felt the rock he had grabbed for this occasion. He was forced to get one big enough that it wouldn’t fall out of the hole that lined the bottom of his pocket. He could have switched to the other one, but it had an even bigger hole than this. “Don’t move,” Alex insisted, walking around the side of the lighthouse and then looking up. About fifteen feet up was a window. He wished it was lower, but he was adept at climbing and he didn’t foresee it to be too much of an issue.

Luckily for him, there were small indents and places between the bricks that, while they would not accommodate a fully grown climber, were perfect for his tiny fingers and toes. He didn’t put his shoes on for this journey, they would have only proved themselves a hindrance. He leapt up, digging his fingers into a crevice, and began the climb. He was careful not to look down, except for at his feet, as he progressed up the wall. His dirty little toenails curled into the nooks and crannies he found and he stretched to support himself up to the next area. When he reached the windowsill, there was a bit of a gap between where he was and where he needed to be. He could climb it, but there was nowhere to put his feet and he would only be supported by his hands. Despite the cool breeze coming off of the water, beads of sweat began to form on his brow. He wished he had the freedom to wipe them away.

“What’s really going on over there, Alexander?” Mia called to him, becoming impatient in front of the door.

“Just…stay there,” Alex said. “Ignore what you hear and stay there, it’s a surprise.”

Alex closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, counting to three. He reminded himself why he was doing this. He reminded himself that she deserved it. And he reminded himself that he had nothing to lose otherwise. His eyes sprung open and he climbed, hurriedly, using only his minimal upper body strength and small cracks to support himself until finally he was gripping the sill. He pulled himself up and ran his arm across his forehead, relieving himself of both the nervousness and his sweat build up. Reaching inside his pocket, he grabbed the rock he brought for this occasion, and he looked down at it. “Here we go,” he said, holding it tightly in his moist, sweat covered palm.

He swung the rock forward with such momentum, such purpose, that it shattered most of the window on immediate impact. Glass fell all around him and he felt several small cuts in his hand, but he wasted little time. He knew she had heard that and he wanted to hurry. He smashed out the rest of the glass with haste and wriggled his small frame into the now open passageway, dropping himself onto a concrete stairwell, and doing his best to avoid the shattered glass. Only a few shards found a home in the bottoms of his feet, which he plucked out quickly while biting his bottom lip to keep from making any more noise. Blood smeared from his heels as he hurried downward. The stairs were large and many, winding down to the bottom, and likely all the way up to the top- his ultimate destination.

“Alex? Seriously, what was that?” Mia asked into the night, concerned. “Okay I’m worried now, I’m coming around to check on you…” but she was cut off as the stubborn red door before her she had grown to despise so much creaked open and granted her access to her dream.

“I’m sorry, were you saying something?” Alex said with a cocky smile, but even as he joked, his heart fluttered. The smile had spread back across Mia’s face, and she looked even happier than before, if it was possible. He knew he had done it. He had given her the moment.

At first, she didn’t move. Tears seemed to well up in her eyes and it was as if she was frozen in time, unsure of what to do. Alex had expected her to rush straight up the stairs without looking back, but instead those green, tear filled eyes were looking at him. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him and held him close for a moment. “Thanks…” she said.

Alex didn’t know how to react. They were close, but she had never hugged him like this before, although he was sure this was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. He lifted his arms and embraced her, holding her close. In this moment, he truly felt like they were alone in this world, but they were together and that’s all that had mattered to him. They could have never returned to the orphanage for all he cared. They would make their way. Together.

Mia mumbled something in his ear that was muffled by her face being pressed against his clothes. “…to the top.”

“What’s that?” Alex questioned, pushing back from her to see if she was still crying.

“Race!” she said, turning. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

“No fair!” Alex exclaimed, pushing off of his heels and hurrying behind her. He was shorter than her and these steps were a challenge for him to climb, let alone run up, even if he weren’t ignoring the pain in every step. He knew he was going to lose, but it was fun nevertheless.

When he reached the top, Mia was standing at the edge, staring out at the water, watching silently as the waves crashed inevitably down on one another all the way to shore. She began to speak softly as he approached her. “You know, I think the full moon is overrated. People are so obsessed with it and they make it seem like such a big deal. It’s the object of so much obsession and endless lore circles it. People use it as a cornerstone for fairy tales and they always have and they always will. Everyone loves the full moon and I think it’s just full of itself.” She climbed up on the side and sat down, her feet hanging down over the water, pointing her finger up towards the sky. “You see that guy? That crescent moon? That looks beautiful in the sky. And there are no wackos going insane over it, nobody seems to even notice it really, but I notice it. It’s perfect up there. Who needs a full moon? It’s beautiful just like that.”

Alex climbed up onto the edge next to her, and let his bloody, dirty feet dangle down below. They had climbed for quite some time. It was a very tall lighthouse, easily a hundred feet, and where they sat was rather dangerous. The moment, Alex thought, was worth the risk. He glanced at the moon for a moment and then looked at her. Her happiness made him smile and he stared in awe of her wisdom which reached beyond her own years. “You’re beautiful too, you know.”

She looked down at the water and didn’t respond, which made him feel awkward. Finally, she spoke, “Alexander…”

Alex laughed. “Don’t be gross, you’re my sister. I meant that like a brother. I don’t think anyone ever tells you, but you are. You should know.”

“It doesn’t bother me. It’s not that,” she said.

“So why do you look so sad all of a sudden?” Alex asked. He felt a pit in his stomach. Could he have ruined her night?

“We can’t do this anymore,” Mia replied softly. She kept looking down at the water.

“What do you mean? Because it’s illegal? That type of thing has never stopped us in the past,” Alex said. “What are you really trying to say?”

She was flustered and her face was flushed. She seemed to be having a hard time getting whatever it was she needed to say off of her chest. “Alexander…I got picked.”

For a moment, Alex thought his heart stopped. He didn’t know how to react, or if he had even heard her properly. These were words he had never expected to hear her say. “Wh… what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” Mia said. “I got picked. A family wants me, and they want me to leave tomorrow.”

Alex pouted. “You’re messing with me. I would have known about this.” He shook his head, refusing to acknowledge such truth. “There are protocols in place to prevent things like this from happening. This shouldn’t be happening…”

She looked ashamed. “Mr. Russell knows we always sabotage each other’s meetings. The family’s only looking for one child. He knows we don’t want to be separated. But this time, he changed things around. When I went to the doctor’s appointment last week, well, I wasn’t sick.”

“So don’t go. There’s still time. We can still turn this around. Do something crazy so they don’t want you,” Alex said, getting to his feet. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation!”

“You wouldn’t want me to have a better family?” Mia asked, her wide eyes tearing up again, although this time they weren’t born of joy.

“I mean… I want us to have a better family, but we both know that’s not likely. I thought that’s why were biding our time until we were old enough to run away!” He was fuming. “I… I thought I was your family?”

“I don’t know what you want from me!” Mia yelled, tears streaming down the sides of her face. “It’s not the same for me as it is for you, I can’t stay in that place anymore.”

“Let’s run away,” Alex said, “tonight.”

“I won’t be the reason you starve!” she screamed. She pulled her necklace off from around her neck. “Will you keep this?” she asked, calming herself and setting the necklace down on the ledge. “It would mean a lot to me if you did. Just, you know, as something to remember me by.”

The necklace bore a green emerald on a silver chain. It was the only piece of Mia’s life that remained from before the orphanage. “But,” Alex said, realizing how serious the situation was, and how ready she was to walk out on him, “this is all you have from your real life.”

“I kept the other jewel,” she said holding up her wrist and showing the ruby on her bracelet. “And you’re my real life,” Mia said, still crying. The moon still hung high, though it gained little attention from her at this point.

“I can’t believe you’re seriously going to leave me. I thought we were family,” Alex said, his eyes following suit and filling up with tears as well.

“We are,” Mia said, sobbing. “Please don’t think this has anything to do with you. There are reasons I can’t stay there anymore…”

“Really,” Alex scoffed in disbelief, “like what, cold potatoes?”

“I wasn’t going to tell you,” Mia said. “But I don’t want you to think this was about you.” She lifted her shirt a bit and the bruises became visible, stunning Alex. His jaw dropped and his face turned red with rage, but he didn’t know what to say. “It’s Chauncey, it started when I turned twelve. I don’t know, I guess that’s his sick limit or something,” she said, her eyes averted to the ground, embarrassed to open up, embarrassed to spill this secret.

“Chauncey… I’ll kill him…” Alex said, getting to his feet in a fit of rage.

“It started as just touching,” she whispered, almost frightened. “I guess I fight back more than the others. Things…escalated. I had to get out. I told Mr. Russell to schedule me an away visit. I had to. I…”

“I’m so sorry,” Alex said, feeling guilty. “You should have come to me before. I’ll take care of this. I’ll get us out of there…”

“How do you expect to do that?” she sobbed, “It’s over Alex! There’s nothing you can do, just let me go!”

“You’re all I have!” he yelled. “Is that what you want to hear? Maybe it’s selfish, but it’s the truth. If you leave, I’ll die! There’s nothing else! So if that’s what you want, if that’s what I mean to you, then go…”

Mia shook her head. “Alexander…”

“Go!”

This time he bellowed, his scream echoing in the top of the lighthouse. Suddenly, as a result of the noise, a group of bats flew out from the rafters in fear, scaring the children. Alex jumped and so did Mia, but the strange angle she had been turned in to argue with her brother caused her to slip backwards.

Alex knew what was happening before it began. As soon as he saw her turn, he worried that this was next. He ran as fast as he could, but she was slipping. As she disappeared over the edge he bent over and grasped, only barely managing to grab onto her right arm. She looked up at him, and he could see the fear in her eyes. A fall that far was impossible to survive. He searched her eyes for his sister, but all he found was fear. He felt his own tears fall from his face, splashing on the frightened girl. “Hang on…” he grunted, pulling with all of his might.

“Alexander…” she sighed silently. In fear, the word could barely escape her. She could sense her end approaching. There was no smile across her face, only tears that he had caused, and she was slipping. That beautiful crescent moon she cared so much for was of little comfort as her fingers slipped through his hand and she began to fall.

Blood and sweat only made holding onto her hand harder, and Alex could feel himself losing her. “No, no… Mia, please hold on!”

“Alexander, I’m scared…” she cried as her other hand flung upwards to grab onto his arm. Her weight pulled him and as he slipped further over the edge, she was only dropping farther down. “I… I’m slipping!”

“Hang on!” he yelled, his mind racing. His fear was preventing him from finding a solution. He let go of the edge with his other hand and reached down to grab her, both of them falling even farther down. “You have to climb me!” he said as his small slender frame continued to slip over the side. “I’m too weak to pull you up myself!”

Mia squeezed her eyes tightly and her mouth wretched into an ugly downward frown, sobbing. “Alexander you’re going to fall… you can’t save me.”

“No!” he yelled, squeezing as tightly as he could. His feet were curled to hold himself up on the ledge but most of his torso was now pointing down towards the water. He refused to believe this was the end. He couldn’t let her go. “Don’t you let go of me, Mia! I’ll never forgive you!” He slipped further and they both cried out, sure it was the end, but as his toenails scraped against the bricks, he managed to stop them from falling.

“I won’t let you fall. This is it…” Mia said slowly… “This is the end…” Until the final moment, her eyes remained filled with fear. Although she was accepting of the fate in store for her, she was never at peace. “I love you…” she cried, and as her fingers released their grip around Alex’s hands she fell backwards and into the distance, shrieking out in fear.

Alex watched her fall for what seemed like forever, until he couldn’t take it anymore. He clenched his eyes tightly as the tears burned their way through. Slamming his hand against the ledge, he felt the chain of the necklace press against his palm. It was of no comfort, it only reminded him of what he had done. Now the necklace was the only thing that remained to remind him of the only person who had ever loved him, and how he singlehandedly took away her happiness and ended her life.