Dark Beacon

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1

[ramping ambient music]

[metal sign swings]

Hello?

Are you all right, miss?

What can I do for you?

Well, first I want

a licorice lace,

'cause I haven't seen

any in about ten years

and I used to love

them as a kid.

And I'm looking for my friend.

She moved here about

nine months ago.

Do you recognize her?

Oh...

[laughs]

No, sorry, I'm just kidding.

Yeah...

This is the girl that moved

into the lighthouse.

She comes in here

from time to time.

She's not quite

this girl anymore.

Well, how do I get

to this lighthouse?

[woman singing

in foreign language]

Oh, hi.

It's Maya, right?

It's Amy.

You've grown.

Well, it looks like you've finally

learned how to cook then.

It's a nice place, isn't it?

Very distant.

Maya's grown.

What do you want?

You Beth, Jesus.

I didn't even get

a chance to say goodbye.

Had to find out where you were

from Charlie in accounts.

How's he doing?

Oh great, yeah,

he's getting a new puppy.

What kind?

I don't know.

What are you doing?

God, you're like

a five year old.

Why are you here?

I just wanna talk to you,

Beth.

Just one night

and then I'll go.

We can't leave things

how we... left them.

Anyway, took me

ages to get here.

And it looks like you need

a little bit of a hand.

You're really good at making

it look like I have a choice.

It's what I'm best at.

[siren blares]

[continues blaring]

That's what I meant.

In about two minutes your road

home will be underwater.

[groaning]

Thanks for helping me

with my bag, by the way.

You brought it.

[old-timey music plays]

Well, if you've lost your mind out here at

least you've still got your taste in music.

Need something

to fill the void.

Not now, Maya.

Maya, go.

What do you want?

Jesus, Maya!

[sighs]

Go on.

She still not talking?

We try not to talk about it.

[silverware clanks]

Oh, you've got a dog?

Had.

Oh, sorry.

What kind of dog was she?

It's a bit dark in here,

should we open the curtain?

Don't. We like it shut.

Okay, that's a bit weird.

I think I see things

all the time.

Probably just driftwood,

or a whale.

Lighthouses are more about people

looking this way than us looking out.

Very educational.

In a past life I used to tell

people about things.

How has the advertising game

survived without you?

Has it?

I left people

like you in charge.

It's still around.

I actually left the company

a couple of months ago.

I didn't wanna keep walking past your old

office and making small talk with people.

No one said anything but I wasn't

very popular after you left.

How's Maya?

She's in her room.

She's amazing, you know.

You can always tell that she's thinking,

there's a lot going on in there.

Look, I don't really

know what I'm doing.

No, it seems like it.

I'm sorry, I should

have said something.

Yeah, you should.

Christ, I wasn't gonna hang around to

explain to everyone how it gets...

how it gets better

every day...

So you just moved out here

to the arse end of nowhere?

It's definitely

a change of pace.

You could say that again.

Quiet at least.

No gossip.

So that's it?

Just you and Maya?

How long?

You're not coming back,

are you?

You left, didn't you?

Yeah, I don't mean

back like that, I mean...

You know, people, schools.

How is Maya's schooling?

I'm homeschooling her.

What? Beth, come on, Maya needs

to be around kids her own age.

She needs help, professionals,

specialists,

people who know stuff.

I know stuff.

We tried, okay? It didn't work.

So you stopped trying.

I'm sorry.

It's getting late.

I should go and

make the sofa up.

We can chat in the morning.

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