Lighthouse 

Lay pushed his shoulder against the huge rusted door with the last of his strength. His forehead was already sweaty and the hot weather didn't help his body temperature cool down at all; instead it made him warmer under the grey school uniform. Right after he finished school, he ran to the ancient lighthouse, without changing into more comfortable clothes and without doing his homework. It was the weekend anyway so he decided to do it sometime later.

The muscular boy groaned as he struggled, trying to move the old door of the building. It reminded him of how he - when he was a lot younger - tried to pass through his much stronger father. He wanted the fruit tart so badly for it was his favorite dessert and so he fought his way through his father, Zhang Weimin. Although he couldn't recall the details of the whole scene, he knew that no matter how much he pushed against the big hand of the older male, he didn't have enough power to do so.  

Lay assumed hardly anybody paid the building a visit, which was, according to him, a great pity. Probably because they thought they couldn't open the door; or maybe some people didn’t know that the walls of the lighthouse would change its colors depending on the position of the sun respectively, the weather, so that no one was interested in finding a way to barge in. However, in Lay's case, he was dying of curiosity to see the inside.

The actual color of the walls on the outside was bright red, like a sweet cherry in a sea of avocado juice. Whenever it would rain, be it light summer rain or heavy water drops and whistling wind, the color would change into a darker red, similar to a rose in its full-bloomed period.

He first observed the beautiful memorial as he took a walk in the forest to explore the new area he was going to be living in for the following year. Since his father had some scientific research to do - or so he was told, Lay had no choice but to come with him.

Nevertheless, he knew the real reason for their rather abrupt house moving. It wasn't his research on plants; it was his research on certain people. Either way, Lay didn't know much about it and his father wouldn't tell him anyway, hence he pretended not to care, although he did want to know.

When the door finally cracked open with a loud squeak that reminded him of his new teacher who seemed to enjoy torturing the class with scratching chalk on a board, he sighed in relief mixed with pride that he was able to open the heavy metal barrier. His heart was still pounding since he had run at full speed to the lighthouse. The sun was going to set soon and he was impatient and eager to make it the first precious moment he would have in the new area.

It took a few blinks for his eyes to adjust to the spare light. Lay ran his hands through his soaked hazelnut hair and dusted off his blazer and the dark pants he was wearing.

Guess I should've changed my uniform. Frowning at the thought of doing the laundry, he fished a pocket-sized flashlight out of his school bag and pushed the button on the end of the gum that covered the batteries.

The smell of old wood immediately filled his nose as he sniffed like the dog he left back in his hometown; a little golden-retriever, barely 2 years in age. Truth be told, he missed his friend, but it wasn't like it was the first time he had to leave him in the care of his aunt. Due to his father's work he had to move out quite often.

After looking around briefly, Lay found out that there was nothing inside except some hoary wooden boxes lying lazily next to the stairs, as well as a box right behind the door. Guessing it was the reason why it was so hard to come through, Lay closed the door behind him with a loud thud and continued scanning the place. 

Rays of light slipped through small windows and brightened the inside. Most of them were way out of his reach, even if he jumped, but strangely, none of them were immensely dirty. The windows were divided in four pieces by wood and he could recognize circles drawn on each part. To be honest, the whole room was more coordinated and cleaner than he thought it would be.

Maybe there was someone who looked after the light house after all.

He flashed his own light up and down the round wall and it was so angelic that he gazed in amazement. Dust was flying everywhere the light was shown. He looked again and perceived a pattern with a lot of fantasy.  Looking close, Lay could descry the form of an orchid. Laughing at himself for his ridiculous imagination, he walked around thinking of the old stories about the lighthouse.

Some of his new friends told him a few years after the lighthouse fell into disuse, it became a popular place for forbidden relationships. Like a different version of Romeo and Juliette, they would sneak out at night and meet up under the dim moonlight, despite the danger of getting caught. There were only a few couples who ended up together, while the rest were ruthlessly killed by their own family or neighbors.

The cruelty made him widen his eyes as his friends lowered their tone with their dark expressions. Suddenly - in a blink of an eye, they laughed out loud, hitting their table and filled the silence in their class into a room with laughter. Luhan, the boy who sat next to him explained what happened actually: The lovers weren't able to meet each other forever, but that was worse than being dead for the lovers. In the end some of them were foolish enough to commit suicide themselves.

Lay shuddered with the thought of it and decided to take a step on the circular staircase. After being in there for a while, he realized how cold it was - especially after he was sweating so much. His previously wet neck was freezing and the hair on his neck stood on end. Trying to warm up a bit, he rubbed his arms continuously.

If he fell down he would be screwed and he didn't even tell his father where he was, therefore, he climbed upwards with his head hung low to watch his own step.

A gentle soft breeze welcomed him as soon as he twisted the doorknob on the left side of the lighthouse. Smiling widely at the scenarios he saw, Lay stepped further under the steel ceiling. To make sure he wouldn't end up flying down, he shook the railing before he put his palms on it to lean on. His almost dried hair swayed in an irregular rhythm and he closed his lids for a moment to savor it, just so he could keep it in his drawer of memories. The salty taste of the ocean was brought by the wind and Lay merrily inhaled the scent.

He knew he would've regretted not being there at least once.

"Guys!" Lay turned around as he heard a somewhat melodious and nasally voice echoing below. "Someone broke into our place!"

He might have been mistaken, but he could hear panic in the person's statement. Quick steps reverberated and it sounded like at least three people would arrive soon.

Once he poked out his head, an astonished-looking girl appeared before him with hair as black as the night and eyes which sparkled like the stars in the sky. Her lips were rosy; the strawberry yogurt filling of a milk chocolate truffle. She immediately stepped back and her puzzled expression transformed into a wary one. 

He didn't know what had happened or how, but something about her fascinated him.

"Luna!" the same voice shouted and soon the speaker reached the uppermost step while her short carbon black hair bounced along. Lay recognized the person as one of the students in his class who had the nickname Llama for whatever reason. He thought she looked like a normal enough girl, despite her body language which was more like a boy's from time to time. Granted, her voice was a bit deep for a girl, but it was also one of her charms. "W-who are you? I warn you, I know Taekwondo!" Lay blinked at what Llama said, trying to suppress his laughter as she posed in a really hilarious combative posture. He had to admit, he hadn't caught her real name since the others just introduced her as Llama to him.

Lay opened his mouth but was interrupted by two newcomers. A girl who had an expressionless round face literally floated to the balcony. Out of the three girls she had the fairest hair with the color of the wood the trees had in that place. She stared at Lay wordlessly with eyes so big in her face they looked as if they might pop out at any time.

Behind her was another boy who brushed off some strands of his coconut hair which danced along with the increased wind. His sharp gaze emphasized his overall serious expression which was contradicted by his surprisingly warm smile. For an Asian guy, his height was quite tall and he had to duck his head to step out.

"Good evening," the boy greeted and frowned in thought. He then nodded in self-affirmation and smiled friendly at Lay. "Aren't you from Amber's class? Am I right in thinking that you're the new student?" 

"Eh, you're in my class?" Llama - Amber pointed her index finger to herself and looked startled at Lay.    

He nodded and curled his lips into a smile to greet them officially, "I am Lay from class B and just moved in five days ago so you might have overlooked me. Besides, today was the first day I saw you since you've been ill for a while." The dimple on his right cheek formed as he ended his monolog with a smile that was just as wide so that his cheeks went up to the clouds. The short haired girl opened in unspoken enlightenment at the clarification. "I didn't intend to break into the lighthouse without permission, so uhm, sorry. I didn't know that it belonged to you... but I had a great time here, although it was short."

"Nah," Amber waved him off and stretched her back. "We were just surprised that someone came in through the main door, right Victoria?"

The addressed girl only observed Lay and didn't take her eyes off of him until Amber tapped her finger on her shoulder. She kept her eyes on him as if she could see through him. "Yes," she answered shortly.

"Good,” the tall guy laughed with his deep soft tone and bowed at Lay. "By the way, my name is Kris. We usually use the small opening on the other side, since we have the key. Anyhow, we didn't know someone else would actually want to take a look inside the lighthouse, so we just left the box behind the door." 

Amber nodded and took over the explaining. "Other than us there is no one who visits the lighthouse... if you want to, you could have our spare key!" she suggested as she examined Lay's outfit. "By the look of it, it seems like you couldn't wait to come here too... it kind of reminds me of Luna!"

Just then he realized that all of them were still in their uniforms. He chuckled at their dusty clothes and arms and the earth smell that came from them. He could imagine them crawling through the opening and made a mental note to search for it himself. Making sure of their allowance for him to come into the lighthouse from time to time, he shifted his gaze to each one of them. When he stopped at the girl who he assumed was Luna, she looked blankly at him, the expression unreadable and guarded. "Would it really be okay for you?"

"Sure," the smaller girl answered too quickly as she shrugged her shoulders, but Lay could sense a wave of unease coming from her and he knew she was hesitant about it. Not knowing why, he was disappointed that she didn't want him to share the lighthouse with him - although he could understand somehow. They had probably been friends for years and now someone new just suddenly appeared and wanted to join in too; not something everybody appreciated. "No, actually, you could hang out with us, so we don’t have to make a new key. Besides, Kris is a little bit weird sometimes when he’s only with us girls. A mate for him wouldn’t hurt, I think.”

"Excuse me?" Kris lifted his eyebrows indignantly, smiling with a mock-cross expression as he looked down at the shorter woman.  His response made the others laugh and some of the unease slipped away from Luna which Lay picked up on immediately.

This time, her response felt more genuine with her approval and Lay's smile widened happily. Victoria too made a barely noticeable nod which looked sincere enough for him to believe her as well.

“Thanks guys!” Lay said gratefully and hoped that was how a new friendship would start. 

“Lay!”

“Mmf,” the called boy mumbled as he fluttered his eyes open and tried to clear his vision by rubbing the eye boogers out of his lids. As soon as the blurry curtain of his eyelashes opened, Lay massaged his temples to stop his dizzy head from spinning around and lifted it from the dining table.

“Here,” his father slammed a piece of paper with several food items written on the note. “Buy these things in the market,” he ordered and swept the filled backpack on his broad shoulder. 

Lay blinked and viewed the back of his father. People often told him they could’ve been twins if he were older and taller from behind. True, he also thought the same about the athletic appearance of both of them, however, the strict tone and the cold gaze of Mr. Zhang could not be found in Lay. It had always been their clashing personalties that set them apart.

“Make me my dinner afterwards,” the taller man demanded and took out his leather gloves, practical for climbing and the like. His big hands caught the keys to his car and he pulled out his alpine boots, one of his favorites for walking, and stuffed them inside a plastic back. “I’ll warm it up in the microwave when I get back.”

“Okay,” Lay mumbled half-awake and opened the fridge. The chilly air brushed his face and it brought him back to life again, away from dreamland. There was nothing inside but tomatoes, eggs and cold water. His mother had to take care of his little sister a lot, therefore Lay was responsible for the chores since his baby sister couldn’t do anything but cry. He took a cup and gulped down the drink to refresh his mind and body.

After a few swigs, he closed the door and turned back to the table next to the kitchen. He still had to read a book for history class; another foreign policy about America and the Soviet Union and the cold war between them. Not that it was so boring that he fell asleep, but he couldn’t concentrate reading when the weather outside was marvelous while he had to sit in the house. As the young boy cleaned up the table, he heard his father bid goodbye to his mother.

“Where are you going?” he asked, facing the older man who just quietly closed the door to the sleeping room which was built across the dining room.

His father halted midway and briefly glanced at the other male Zhang in the family of four. “University. To explore some rare plants growing here.” Shortly after that, he left the house without looking back.

Both of them knew it was a lie.

It was no secret that Lay lived in a mysterious family where every member had a special ability. After marrying Mrs. Zhang though, their own family wasn’t as special as his aunts on his father’s side and their families. His mother was a normal human and had always been living happily with them, as if none of them were different in any way to ordinary humans - except the fact that the others in his father’s family looked down on them in a way.  Yet, she didn’t have any problems with the powers and all that. 

Regardless of whether Lay’s ability was identifying the truth between lies (and making other people suffer from the guilt of it so that they would almost die from hunger yet wouldn’t even dare to touch a plain roll and were forced to stop the lies until they uttered the truth until they would disgorge the words). Still, it was not powerful enough: not enough to kill someone. And not enough to look someone in the eye while stabbing a metallic claw growing from the murder’s nails into the victim’s heart. Funnily enough, his ability was as strong as a dust grain whilst his cousin's could burn down a multi-story building in the blink of an eye.  

The same went for his father whom Lay inherited it from. The older living lie detector still kept contact with his family and the organization they were in. Lay didn’t know much about his job in that place, but it seemed to have something with moving out numerous times and finding other people with strong powers.

There was a secret that couldn’t be told until Lay himself was part of it. But he already knew that he wouldn’t like it, so he stopped asking the older man his pile of questions, although he was more than curious about it. The only thing that helped suppress his curiosity was recalling his aversion for the venomous smiles from some of the higher ranked males and females who laughed so spitefully at them that the sound pierced his heart and made him feel sorry for his own family.

It didn’t matter to his father’s family who Lay was; it was more important what Lay could do. Apparently God sent him into a family where everyone needed a certain talent to be acknowledged. Apart from his own small family, the family members on his mother’s side, her mother and the big sister of his father, no one cared about other people with only a simple ability or none at all.

Lay picked up some crumbs under the table from the cookies he ate and rose up to straighten his back. The dining room was where he mostly did his school work, since his own room was too small to even put a bed and a wardrobe, let alone a decent table that could facilitate his writing.

When he finished tidying up, he put the note inside his pocket and tiptoed into his mother’s room. She was deep asleep on the crinkled bedclothes. His little sister was already in dreamland as he walked closer to the crib and her silky feather-like dark hair. He wrote down on a piece of paper that he was going to the market and left it at the bed table next to the mattress. Then he quickly closed the door and went through the main entrance to inhale the fresh air as soon as he stepped out to accomplish his task of buying food for the next few days.    

 author's note 

Sorry for the looong wait. (Sadly, you have to wait again after the first chapter :/) And as you can see, I changed the story again. Hehe. I'm sorry, but I'm more satisfied with what I have now.

Anyway, thank you so much, Amalya! You helped me a lot and I know my English is not that good, so thanks for helping me out!

Check out her stories here

04/ October/ 2013