Imprint by Annmarie McQueen

me outside in ten.”
    “Okay, see you.” The older boy paused at the door for a moment and stared, there was a strange look on his face. It was a mixture of something: curiosity, confusion maybe. Sean didn’t have time to analyse it, because he left soon after. Then it was just him, Drew and silence. He felt like a third wheel.
    “The beach?” Sean spoke up incredulously . “Really? I hate the beach. You obviously didn’t do all of your homework. ”
    “I know yo u hate it,” Drew snapped . “I know I ’m not doing a very good job of ac ting like you, either. I don’t want Hayden to find out.”
    “Then why?”
    Drew didn’t answer for a long time, moving around the room clumsily and throwing clothes and bottled water into an old backpack. Then he straightened and leaned heavily against the doorframe with a wince. “It’s been s even years since I’ve last seen the sea,” he said at last. “Just let me have this, will you?”
     
     
     
    The family car was old, and it smelled like must and stale air freshener with an undertone of outdated tobacco smoke. The leather seats were worn and cracked, little fissures running through the fabric that reminded him of bone-dry desert earth. He’d always hated this car. The seats squeaked noisily and the outside was getting rusty, but mum refused to buy a new one. They didn’t have the money, and Hayden confided once that she kept it partly because it reminded her of their father. Hayden explained that the man used to smoke in here occasionally , when he was still around, and tried to cover up the smell later, which explained the car’s strange odour. This smell, a fossil of a recent history, was the only thing Sean knew about his father.
    Hayden was unusually cheerful. He switched on the radio as they turned onto the motorway, the M25, and hummed along to the music. “Don’t get too carried away,” Drew warned in a joking manner. “We don’t want to crash.”
    “Lighten up,” the elder grinned. “We don’t hang out often, so don’t ruin it by nagging me.” Drew just sighed, leaned his head back and closed his eyes, deciding to drop the matter and just enjoy the ride. Sean, on the other hand, took the opportunity to phase his head out of the roof of the car and, even though he couldn’t feel the wind on his face, screamed as loudly as he could. Because he still could. It was something he’d never be able to do while he was still human.
    Hayden was right. By the time they arrived at the deserted beach, it was drizzling and the sky was shadowed by dark clouds. The sand was polka-dotted with damp patches, and the sound of the rushing sea was ominous. Small waves crashed into the bank, one after another, continuous. Neither Hayden nor Drew seemed to mind thoug h and set up camp on a drier patch , dumping their stuff down as Sean watched warily. “I’m going into the sea,” Drew announced, although he made no move to take his clothes off.
    “You’re injuries still aren’t completely healed,” Hayden frowned. “I don’t think you should.”
    “Don’t you dare damage my body more than you have,” Sean added angrily.
    “I’m fine , really. I’ll take it easy.”
    Hayden sighed. “If you’re sure, but not too long.”
    “Now who needs to lighten up,” Drew laughed, and the grin on his face seemed real, for once. His eyes were lighter. “If you’re so worried, why don’t you just come in with me?”
    “I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”
    “Then just come in your clothes, we have spares.”
    Hayden agreed reluctantly, and Drew smiled again in triu mph, leading the way into the surf . They both waded into the sea until it reached their hips, and then Drew took a dive and disappeared under the white foam. Sean watched from the bank, and felt a deep ache resurface. The scene was so familiar, but also so wrong. It reminded him of that picture he’d seen, the one taped to Hayden’s ceiling, and the memory he had forgotten of the two of them