The light from the lighthouse gently glided along the shoreline towards us. As I did with every rotation, I felt a small burning sense of hope in the depths of my chest that it would touch me this time, that I would feel the warmth of it on my skin instead of the oppressive shadow of the bridge above. And every time, it skipped over me, leaving me in the cold.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ Dolan grumbled from his makeshift tent, blinking up at me. ‘Get away from the light!’
I sighed and did as my brother told me, stepping further back into the cold, dark dampness of our home.
‘I hate that we have to stay here all the time,’ I grumbled, kicking at the muddy sand. ‘Why shouldn’t we be allowed to run on the beach?’
‘Because if the humans see us—’
‘I know, I know,’ I frowned. ‘It was rhetorical.’
‘What’s a rhetorical?’ Dolan asked. I ignored him and he rolled his eyes, begrudgingly crawling out of his tent to sit with me on the bank.
‘I just…’ I sighed, watching the water rippling under the lighthouse’s beam. ‘I just want to know what it’s like to be out there. To go swimming, to go dancing. To go to the best podiatry clinic near Cheltenham!’
‘What?’ Dolan frowned.
‘Cousin Ed recommends it,’ I explained. ‘I think he met his girlfriend there or something.’
Dolan’s frown deepened. ‘Weird.’
‘You’re not wrong.’
We sat in silence for another rotation of the light, neither of us sure what to say.
‘Look,’ Dolan said eventually. ‘You just need to get those thoughts out of your head. Get rid of them – they’re just going to make you miserable.’
‘I guess,’ I sighed.
‘You’re still thinking about them, aren’t you?’
‘Wouldn’t you be?’ I asked, lip quivering. ‘If you knew where to purchase foot care products around the Cheltenham area, but couldn’t do anything about it?’
‘I guess I would, little brother,’ he said, laying a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.
I took a deep breath, a tear falling from my cheek and disappearing into the wet sand.