Thursday July 27th, 2056

[Nothing special has happened.]

With this realization, Andrew gets out of bed. He sits down and looks outside through the window. It is storming, pouring with rain, and the waves clashing against the rocks.

[It is already Thursday. I came here on Friday, so almost a week has passed, and it has just been raining for the past few days.]

Andrew gets up. It is nine in the morning. He dresses up and heads downstairs, to the kitchen.

[Breakfast, breakfast…]

He prepares his breakfast. Afterwards, he heads to the living room and sits down on the couch, with his breakfast in front of him.

[The east side of the river was as boring as ever. I shouldn't have expected anything. I'll check out the other side of town this weekend, though Melissa wanted to tell me something about it. I hope she does this evening.]

He starts on his breakfast.

[Boring. I get it now. I don't have anything to do. People get bored easily, but I never understood. Now I do. When there's nothing to do, you… well I don't know. Being bored is just really… boring. Nicely said, Andrew.]

Andrew finishes his breakfast in silence, puts the dishes in the dishwasher, and turns it on.

[Guess I'll head back to my room, there's nothing to do in this weather anyway.]

He heads upstairs and into his room. There, he sits down behind the desk, with the notebook in front of him. He stares at an empty page.

[I only wrote that nothing has changed, but what else can I write down? I don't want to write about Melissa, that feels odd in a way. Don't know why.]

He taps on the desk with his pen, and looks outside. It is still pouring.

[There's nothing to do in this rain either. It isn't stopping anytime soon, if I trust the weather app. I wish I could just go outside.]

Andrew closes the notebook and tucks it away in a drawer. He looks at the stack of books next to the closet.

[Guess I'll reread one of them.]

He picks up a book he's already read, and goes downstairs to read it on the couch. With a cup of tea and some biscuits, which he bought at the local market, he settles down.

[It's like I'm a bored, single, middle-aged man. Though, May hasn't given up, so scrap the 'single' part.]

Hours pass, and it is already way past lunch time. The cup is empty and all the biscuits are gone. He flips the final page and slams the book shut. It makes a loud thud.

[Done. This is a good one to reread.]

He looks at the time on his phone.

[It's already half past three, let's make lunch.]

Andrew gets his lunch together and sits down on the couch again. He looks outside.

[The rain has stopped. Maybe I'll check out the beach today, as it shouldn't be busy right after a storm.]

After lunch, he empties the dishwasher and sorts out all the clean dishes. He places the dirty dishes in, puts on his shoes and coat, and heads outside. He takes a deep breath, and the humid, post-rain air fills his lungs.

[It's the greatest smell there is, especially near the ocean.]

Andrew looks up at the sky, which is slowly clearing up. Rays of sunlight break through the clouds above the ocean. He passes different houses as he walks towards the shore.

[They still look the same. All of them. Old and weathered cottages everywhere.]

Andrew crosses a small wooden bridge over a thin river, which divides Perigowinkle in two parts, east and west. The east side of Perigowinkle is where most of the residential houses are, while the west side is for the shops, docks, and various other community spaces. After he crosses the small bridge, he takes a path straight down the hill, and arrives at the docks.

OUT OF BUSINESS

Large, dominant and painted on by hand, these letters are written on a weathered sign above Hillton Fishing Co., Ben's fishing store. Andrew stares at the large sign, almost a billboard. He changes his focus to the entrance and slowly advances towards it.

[But why?]

The door is closed. Tightly shut with a wooden beam.

[He told me he was going to keep running it.]

Andrew loses his smile, and looks at the door with his mouth slightly opened.

[And… if he were to leave, he would… pass it on to someone else.]

The emotions overwhelm him. He starts pulling on the door vigorously.

[Open up! Let me in! Fucking… who closed it? Why? Why! He was going to keep running it! He would never let it fall into ruin like this!]

Andrew's eyes fill up with tears.

[I was planning on taking over! I really was! I'm sorry I never told you…]

He kicks the door, and the weakened planks immediately give way. It opens up. Andrew breaks off the remaining planks, and goes inside.

It is extremely dusty. Uncleaned for years. Andrew pulls out his phone and turns of the flashlight. Everything is grey. The somber, arid and dreary kind of grey. Light doesn't even pass through the window.

[I can't make anything out. It looks like it hasn't been touched for years. I don't know what else to make of it. Left behind. Deserted. Abandoned. All of them fit.]

He shines his light around the room, looking at everything present. He picks up what looks like a notebook, and opens it. Dust comes flying out and Andrew evades his eyes. He coughs.

[I have to get out… soon. This can't be healthy. I can't make out anything in here too, all the pages are battered and covered in dust.]

He places it back down on the desk, and another cloud of dust rises up. He coughs again.

[Let's get out of here.]

After exiting, he places a few loose planks from around the building against the doorframe. While looking up at the sign, he sweeps the dust off of his clothes.

[I wonder where you went. You wouldn't be one to give up his shop, right dad?]

He heads towards the docks, but stops early.

[All of the boats and ships, gone. Those docks don't look stable at all.]

"Everything… is gone." He says. His voice is rough, from both the dust and the weeping.

[Melissa, you know everything, right? I want to know too. I have to.]

Andrew turns around, and heads home, following the same path he came from, not wanting to look at anything else.

Andrew enters the house. Melissa glares at him from the kitchen for a moment, but doesn't say anything.

[No 'welcome back' or 'where were you'... not a single noise.]

Andrew doesn't say anything either, and heads up the stairs to his room after taking off his shoes.

[I don't want to talk to her. She didn't tell me anything either, so why would I have to ask her about it? She doesn't want me to know. She still hates me, I've noticed that over the past few days. Hate might be a strong word, but there's nothing else to describe it.]

He undresses and falls onto his bed in his underwear.

[Helen was right, I left too early. I don't remember her saying that exactly, but she looked worried. But... there's no going back now. Melissa agreed to take me in. She wanted to take me in. They couldn't have forced her, so there must be a reason. She must've taken me in for a reason, though I don't know what that reason would be.]

Andrew wraps the blanket around him.

[I just want to know where everyone went. Mom, dad, Connor. Keil, Lin, Sarah. May.]

He looks at the letters which are stacked on one another on his desk.

[May. I don't want to read your letter yet. It's not the time. Knowing you, you have written something that'll help me out of the toughest situation. This isn't it. I'll get over this easily, I'm not even crying anymore. That's when you're over something, right? If you don't cry anymore. If you don't feel it anymore. If you can't feel it anymore. Emotions are odd. They play with you every day, influencing and changing one's actions. I wouldn't have run home if I didn't feel what I felt at the shop. They prevented me from searching. The emotions did.]

[Maybe I should just block them off.]

Andrew and Melissa are having dinner downstairs. Both of them are eating in silence, until Melissa finishes her plate.

"You went to the fishing shop, right?" Melissa asks. Andrew is startled.

"How do you know?"

"There was a lot of dust on your shoes, and you didn't deny it, so that's confirmed."

Andrew doesn't respond. Melissa doesn't continue either, and they sit opposite of each other in an awkward silence.

[Do I ask her about it? Seems like she doesn't want to talk about it, but I can't really tell.]

"You're probably wondering what happened." Melissa says out of the blue.

[Mind reader.]

"I'll tell you when it's time, you should familiarize yourself with the west part of town first."

"Do I have to?" Andrew asks.

"It'll make you… understand better." Melissa responds.

[Okay, I guess. I'll just take it. No need to think about what could have happened, that'll only make me worry more. She'll tell me, she confirmed that just now... I don't know when, though.]

They finish their dinner and both head up stairs. Melissa enters her office, while Andrew takes a shower. He heads to his own room afterwards.

[An uneventful mid-week followed by a strongly emotional day. Strongly might even be exaggerating it a bit, I was just... slightly overwhelmed. I have to keep my mind intact. Keep my emotions in a bottle. There's no need for me to throw them out there, because no one really wants to know. No one wants to hear them, why would they?]

Andrew heads to his bed and turns off the lights.

[I'm rambling to myself too much, maybe I should put some breaks on that too.]

He closes his eyes.

[May. I can't imagine you clearly anymore. I'm sorry. I know what your hair looks like. I know the colour of your eyes, but I forgot the shape. I remember your curves, but not your body. Sorry for that.]

[I'll find you, someday.]

His consciousness fades.

[Man, what are you thinking about Andrew? Why are you thinking like this? You should just go to sleep and wait for the right moment. Melissa's sending you back to Clifftell soon, maybe there are some clues to May there. Go to sleep now, and take it easy tomorrow.]