Shoreline Secrets Chapter 2 Storms don't shout when they
leave, they just slip out the back door and leave.
Everything changed. The cottage held its breath as
the sky cleared. The cliffs dripped like they've
been weeping, the sea calmer. The kitchen smelled of salt,
smoke and something warm, butter hitting the pan.
Egg just started to curl at the edges.
His uncle stood at the stove, moving slow and deliberate, the
kind of breakfast made by habit, not hunger.
Jamie sat at the small wooden table, steam fog the window
behind him. The chair beneath him cracked
every time he shifted. He didn't say anything, not yet.
The only sounds were the soft scrape of the spatula, the quiet
pop from the toaster, and the sea.
Always the sea. His uncle turned, slid one plate
across the table. The toast was just shy of burnt,
the egg runny at the center. He placed the knife and fork
with a kind of reverence, like he didn't want to wake the
house. They sat eight in silence.
The tea was strong, still slightly bitter.
Jamie watched the yolk split across the toast, and then, as
if the silence had stretched too far, why was there a surfboard
in the attic? His uncle didn't flinch, didn't
even look up, just kept chewing, then reached for his tea,
swallowed once, and met Jamie's gaze.
You know how to use one, no? Jamie replied then It's not
safe. He looked away again, back
toward the window, the sea beyond it.
The silence returned, deeper this time, like the tide pulling
back before something else breaks the surface.
Jamie picked at the last bit of toast.
The question still hung in the room, unanswered but not
dismissed. His uncle drank his tea like
nothing else needed to be said. I'm going to head upstairs for a
bit. Jamie said.
His uncle just nodded, didn't look away from the window.
Jamie stood. He grabbed his phone from the
counter and left the room. Jamie climbed slowly, his phone
loose in one hand. He didn't go to his room right
away. He stopped at the end of the
hall, where the attic door stood closed now, Didn't touch it,
just stood there, listening. No storm this time, only the
slow breath of the sea through the window glass.
Jamie blinked. Look down on his phone, Rosa was
calling. Have you become one with the
sheep yet? Rosa asked.
Nah, they said I didn't bleat enough.
The house creaks like it's got something to say.
Honestly. Jamie said.
Proper horror film energy. Love that for you.
But seriously, you were right. Rosa asked, still breathing,
mostly out of boredom. But yeah.
Jamie answered. I know you don't want to chat
about it yet, but not now, Rosa, all right?
Just don't go full C hermit on me.
Yeah, on his phone. His mom is calling in.
Tell her you've taken a vow of silence and seaweed.
Rosa laughed. Later.
Jamie smirked and the phone with Rosa ended.
Jamie stares at the screen a bit, then swipes to answer.
Hi love, just checking in. Everything all right?
His mom asked. Yeah, settling in.
OK, it's quiet. Well, that's kind of the point,
isn't it? Bit of peace, bit of space.
It's only till the end of summer.
We'll get things sorted by then, all right?
Doesn't feel like it. Jamie replied, barely audible.
His mom's soft now. I know, but things are.
It's getting better. Just hang in there, OK?
Is your uncle treating you all right?
Yeah, he doesn't say much. Jamie replied.
You 2 have that in common then? Mom said lightly.
And then again. Silence.
We'll talk soon, promise. Yeah, sure.
The phone clicks. Jamie sets it down beside him,
exhales. But outside the light was
changing, cleaner, brighter, The kind of calm that comes after
something leaves and before something else begins.
Later, Jamie followed his uncle into town, a drive through
narrow lanes, salt still dried on the window, silence riding
between them like a third passenger.
Cornwall held its stories in the clips, not the loud kind, not
the ones you'd told, but the ones that waited, that watched
in the curve of a Stonewall, in the rust on a gate, in the way
every Rd. seemed to lean toward the sea.
Old houses lined the Main St., narrow, sloping and around it
all the sea, never far, like a whisper you could almost hear
even when it wasn't speaking. The town was small, one Rd.
curling like driftwood through rows of old stone buildings.
Paint faded, signs rusted at the corners.
A post office, a bakery, a single corner shop.
Jamie followed his uncle through the narrow aisles.
The men didn't speak much, just pick up bread, milk, eggs, the
same way you pick up habits at the back.
Someone called out. Well, I'll be.
You're still upright then, old man?
Jamie's uncle turned the corner of his mouth twitching.
Not quite a smile, but something close.
The man walked over. Didn't know you had company.
Glances at Jamie. Your nephew, yeah.
Jamie nodded, unsure if he was meant to say anything.
You getting him out on the board yet?
Friend asked. He doesn't know how.
What? Never surfed.
Jamie shook his head. Well, we can't let that stand,
can we? Got a few of the lads down near
Gaul's Point this week. You should come by, I'll tell
Sam to look out for you, he said playfully.
Jamie didn't say anything, but the name lingered like sea salt
on the back of his throat. Across the road, tucked between
a cafe, he saw it. A record shop, faded sign,
window display of worn sleeves and handwritten price tags.
Can I check that place out real quick?
His uncle glanced over, nodded once.
The friend gave a wave. The shop smell like old wood and
cardboard sleeps. Posters for shows long past
curled at the corners. Jamie moved down the aisle. 13
senses, Rosie and the Gold Bug. Someone signed LP's with names
he didn't know. Then he saw it.
A white sleeve. No title on the spine, just a
name faintly penciled across the front.
SNWB. The Echo Between Worlds demo
sticker on the corner, Red. A string playlist for what still
hurts. It looked like it had been
pressed just once, maybe twice. The kind of thing someone made
for friends, or for someone who never came back.
He picked it up, held it, then put it back.
By the time he reached the cottage, the sky had cooled to
Gray. Grass brushed his sneakers.
Inside, the quiet returned, familiar now almost welcome, but
not quite. Jamie should have bought
something, even just to break the silence.
Then came the knock. Jamie looked up from the coat
hook his uncle had already crossed to the door, framed in
the light. A boy.
No words at first, just the sound of the wind curling
between them. Jamie stepped closer, but didn't
speak. Didn't have to, because the boy
on the porch was the same one he'd seen.
Jamie blinked once. Hey.
Sam said. Jamie watched him, not openly,
just in glances. Up close, Sam looked different
than he had on the shore. There was a kind of ease to him.
Jamie had imagined him freer, maybe even Wilder.
But up close, it wasn't wildness, it was stillness, like
he belonged to something Jamie hadn't learned how to stand in
yet, a silent stretch between them.
You look bored stiff, want to get out of this cave for a bit?
Sam said. Jamie didn't answer right away.
He hadn't expected Sam to speak, or to offer, but the house
behind him was too quiet, and the air outside felt clearer
than his thoughts. He nodded and followed.
The path curved down, skirting the cliff's edge.
Sharp drops on one side, tangled grass on the other.
Sam didn't say much. He just walked ahead, surfboard
tucked under one arm like it waited.
Nothing. Jamie followed.
At the bottom of the path. The sand opened wide, empty
except for the low tide, curling in soft crescents along the
shore. Sam dropped the board with the
thud and kicked off his shoes. Then, without a word, he peeled
off his shirt, slow, careless, and tossed it aside.
Jamie didn't mean to stare, but he did lean brown from sun, the
kind of body that came from use. Muscles that didn't try to be
muscle, just was. His thin chain caught the light
at his neck. Sam crouched to adjust the fin
on the board. Jamie had seen plenty of bare
chests in school, online, even in changing rooms, but this was
different. This was real, and right in
front of him. Sam.
Glenn stopped squinting. You coming or you just going to
melt on the spot? Jamie looked away fast, too
fast, then stepped forward, unsure where to look, unsure of
how not to. Sam didn't talk much, didn't
explain like a teacher, more like someone used to being
watched. He pointed once at the board, at
the water, then dropped low to show how to paddle.
Jamie crouched beside him, nodding like he understood.
But it wasn't the lesson that stuck.
It was the way Sam moved, like the sea didn't just welcome him,
it recognized him. Sam stood again, shook the sand
from his legs. Just watch me for now, Sam said.
He paddled out fast, quick strokes, cutting clean, waited,
the weight of cane not too high, not loud, just enough to carry
him. And then he rose, not just
standing, lifting into something Jamie hadn't known a body could
do, like flight, but grounded, like freedom.
It lasted only seconds, but Jamie felt it, something shift,
something spark, a quiet thrill under his ribs.
Not fear, not yet. Sam came out of the water and
shouted. Hey, got a spare board at mine,
I'll bring it by. We'll go out tomorrow.
Early's best. The sea's less crowded, calmer,
easier to listen. The sun was lower now, the tide
pulling back like it had seen too much.
He looked at Sam, Sea strict Sun warned something wild still
clinging to his skin, and said nothing because he couldn't yet.
They walked the Cliff past, back, not saying much.
The breeze had calmed, the light turned golden, the kind that
made everything feel like memory before it was even over.
Near the gate, Sam paused, look over at Jamie, who was still
clutching the towel like it might steady him.
You've got a lot to learn. And then, just like that, he
reached over, slung his arm across Jamie's shoulders.
Not heavy, not playful, just there.
It was just a moment, but Jamie felt it all the same.
The shape of Sam's arm, the weight of him, warm, solid.
The kind of closeness he hadn't realized he missed.
They reached the porch. Sam stepped back, gave him a
quick nod. And turn early tomorrow.
Don't sleep in That night, the house stayed still.
No storm, no whispers from the attic, only the memory of sea
and skin and the touch that hadn't left him.
What do you think Sam carries with him, then?
I thought it. And what do you think Jamie's
starting to feel beneath all that quiet?
Tell us below, and if you want to see what happens next, come
back for Chapter 3. Lake Comment Subscribe.
The sea's not done with them yet.
The world held its breath.