"Keep journalling," the woman on the laptop screen said to Daniel. "It'll help you spot patterns in your thoughts. It could help you identify what triggers your ideation."

Daniel nodded. "I will. Thanks."

They said their goodbyes to each other then ended the call. Daniel pulled off his headphones and flopped back onto his bed with a sigh. I never did tell her about the other night, he thought. Maybe she'd have called an ambulance if I did. He could feel darkness swirling in the back of his mind like it had for months. Not been so bad since I met Lizzie. If I'd stop worrying about someone spotting her it'd be even better. Yet the weight of that was lighter and fresher than anything he'd felt in quite some time.

He opened a tab in the website he was on, hovering a hand over the keyboard. Then he sighed again. Not here. He grabbed a notebook and pen then jotted down some errant thoughts:

I hate this stupid place. Impossible to get a decent job.

The only good thing is the beach at midnight.

Will L- he paused, then scrubbed out the letter- she be here for long?

I wish I could talk to someone about this. It's fucking weird.

That dream was even weirder. I know that bar. Where from?

Daniel glanced over the notes, grimaced, then hid the notebook under his unused pillow before getting dressed and ready for the day.

~~~

Eighteen years earlier

A nine year-old Lizzie stood nervously in the dress her grandmother had picked out for her. She hovered in the open doorway to a school hall covered in gaudy decorations; children her age milled everywhere, chatting and squealing and effusing an air of happiness.

Where's my friend? Lizzie thought. She couldn't spot her amongst the crowd of children.

The lights in the hall darkened and the crowd grew more excited. Then, pop music began to blare from each corner, the low-end speakers overdoing the bass to compensate for lacklustre everything else. Lizzie hovered for another few minutes before making her way into the crowd, waving to her classmates who'd staked out a part of the dancefloor to themselves.

The music was turned far too high. She couldn't hear anything but; she let herself drift away on the sound, carried by the ebb and flow of the bass to somewhere else entirely-

There was a tap on her shoulder, causing her to jump and squeal. She turned around to see a boy of the same age. He said something to her that she couldn't hear. She leaned in.

"Huh?" She shouted.

"You like this song too?" The boy shouted back.

She nodded furiously.

"My friend does too!" He said. "Have you seen him?"

To this she shook her head, grinned, then started bobbing along to the beat, putting a flourish on it with a spin. All around them, other children were similarly engaged though none quite so much as her.

The boy grabbed her hand with the childlike glee of a silly idea coming to life. "Wanna spin faster?" He said to Lizzie. "Hold on tight!"

She giggled then gripped his hand with two of hers. He spun her round, slowly at first then faster and faster and faster and the music reached its crescendo-

Her hand slipped and she almost went flying; but the boy grabbed her arm with his spare hand. The two of them fell over from their combined momentum then started laughing. The children around them took no notice.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

A boy emerged from the crowd then grinned as he spotted his friend on the floor.

~~~

In the present time

Getting walks out here most nights is helping me, too, Daniel thought as he strode across the beach. The moon was fuller than half this time though not quite three-quarters.

This time, Lizzie was already waiting for him on the beach, sitting by the shoreline. He sat down next to her without a word. The two stared out to sea for some time.

"Haven’t seen you in days!" She chirped.

"Sorry," He muttered. He called to mind the previous three nights: lying in his bathtub with barely enough energy to move a finger. "I… get kinda sad sometimes. Makes it hard to do things."

"Oh. Okay," she replied. "Like the time you came here with rocks in your pocket?"

Daniel blinked. Huh, he thought. "Yeah," He said. "Like that. Though that night was the worst."

"You seemed lost," she said, still looking out to sea. "Like you didn't quite know where you wanted to go. But I didn't understand why. Not till yesterday."

"Oh?"

"I think I felt like that once. But I don't know why. Um…" she hesitated before continuing, "Sorry I offered to help you find more rocks. My head was all swirly."

To this, Daniel burst out laughing. "Nah, s'cool. To be honest it snapped me out of it. You ever had someone offer to help you off yourself?"

Lizzie smiled. "Maybe? Who knows?"

Daniel laughed again then glanced at her mess of tangled hair. "Oh. Here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hairbrush, offering it to her while trying not to smile. "Your hair's kinda, um, yeah. Want this?"

Lizzie accepted the gift then turned it over in her hands. "Oh! Thanks!" She raised the brush to her ends then tugged it through her hair to middling success.

"Need a hand?" Daniel asked. "I used to help my sister with hers."

Lizzie nodded. Daniel took the hairbrush from her hand; gripping each section of hair at the root so as not to tug her scalp, he took the brush gently through the tangles, starting from the ends then working his way up.

"I don’t think I ever got as bad as you," Lizzie piped up, “but I remember it being awful. Like nobody could see this shadow that was always looming over me.”

"Oh," Daniel replied. "Yeah. Mine’s like that."

For a while they sat in silence as Daniel detangled her hair: long enough that the incoming tide started lapping at their feet. When Daniel reached the part of her hair her bruise was on, he raised an eyebrow as he noticed it continued three inches past her hairline. Looks like it's healing, he thought, but what caused it in the first place?

Suddenly, the faint noise of music echoed across the beach. Daniel glanced back to locate a source but could find none.

Lizzie jumped to her feet in excitement; the hairbrush went flying. "I know this song!" She squealed. "Ohmygosh it's been years!" She raised two hands onto the air, bobbing along to the music.

Daniel grabbed the hairbrush and shook out the sand before tucking it away. "Huh," he said. "Same here." The music grew louder as Lizzie started to rotate, casting out her hands like driftwood as she went up on her tiptoes. The light of the moon gave her an otherworldly glow as the sand shifted beneath her feet.

An idea fell neatly into Daniel's mind. "Hey!" He called out.

"Huh?"

Daniel surged forwards, grabbing her hand with the childlike glee of a silly idea coming to life. "Wanna spin faster?" He said to Lizzie. "Hold on tight!"

She giggled then gripped his hand with two of hers. He spun her round, slowly at first then faster and faster and faster as the music reached its crescendo then faded away into nothing. Lizzie let go of Daniel then sat on the ground hard, slightly out of breath and giggling like a child.

Daniel glanced down at his hands which felt oddly warm to the touch. Huh, he thought. Wait- no way.

~~~

Eighteen years earlier

A boy emerged from the crowd then grinned as he spotted his friend on the floor.

"Danny!" He shouted. "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

The boy who'd spun Lizzie round looked up. "Hihihihihihihi!" He jumped to his feet, ran to his friend then looked back at Lizzie. "What's your name?" He shouted.

"Lizzie!"

"See you later Lizzie!" With that he was gone, absorbed back into the sea of people.

~~~

In the present time

All of a sudden, Lizzie looked up at Daniel. "Oh- you- I remember you…"

"I remember you too," Daniel whispered in astonishment. "What the fuck?"

The two stared at each other for seconds that to them lasted hours. Daniel noticed flecks of green in her irises where he hadn't before.

Oh, he thought. Oh fuck. This complicates things.