Dove Sport

Chapter One: The Cliff's Edge

Small towns are ideal for keeping secrets. From a distance everything seems innocent enough, with their small businesses and close-knit networks. This town seems like any other in America: safe and innocent. The closer someone gets to the town though, the easier it is for them to see the shadows lurking beneath the surface.  This town is named Doveport, and it has its fair share of secrets.

 ***

Blair Wallis stared out the window of the cafe, her eyes finding their way to the groups of reporters scattered across the sloping, rocky beach below the docks. They'd been obsessed with the place all summer, standing before their cameras and giving useless updates in a search that never seemed to progress. 

"The wind's picking up, they'll be gone by the end of the week." Blair's father predicted, creeping up behind her and wiping his hands on his apron. He owned the cafe she sat in, The Hook, and because of the reporters, business had boomed all summer.  If only for that reason, Blair would be sorry to see the news crews go.

"They're such vultures," Blair said, disgusted. They had arrived with their cameras in June not a week after school had finished to cover the disappearance of Seth Lark and, later, to commentate about the sheriff's inability to turn up anything leading to answers.

On June 25th- the evening of their shared birthday- the Lark twins, Meredith and Seth, had made their way out to Lighthouse Point to launch a boat and go stargazing on the ocean. They were meant to return later that night to celebrate with their friends. That is not what happened.

All anyone in Doveport knew for sure was what Meredith told them. She'd been sitting in the boat while her brother pushed them off the rocks. Only, the rocks were unusually slick that night after some windy mornings, unbeknownst to Seth, and he slipped and cracked his head on them. The momentum from his fall pushed Meredith and the boat out to sea but he'd been holding the paddle, so his sister was left to float all night long until she eventually caught a current which pushed her back into the bay by sunrise. Meredith washed up on the beach outside The Hook in the same area where all the reporters now stood. When Blair's father, Logan, had come in to open up the cafe that morning he'd found Meredith, tear-stricken, sitting on the seawall that separated the storefronts from the piers. After calling the police and explaining, Meredith was rushed home as the sheriff headed to Lighthouse Point only to find that Seth's body had been washed away during the night.

The Larks paid to have the surrounding area scoured by the coast guard but no sign of their son turned up. Two weeks later, they buried Seth's casket empty and his death was ruled a freak accident as there was no proof of foul play and Meredith's story matched the blood particulates that the police were able to turn up on the rocks. The official story is that Seth slipped, hit his head, and slid into the water where he was disoriented and drowned, and then his body was swept out to sea to be picked apart by birds.

Blair remembered that day like it was yesterday although it was months ago now. She was meant to be starting her sophomore year the following day and would have liked to have enjoyed her last day of summer without seeing the press. She'd heard enough about Seth's death at home, and she wasn't looking forward to hearing about it at school as well.

A figure began making its way up from the beach to head to the cafe.

"Look alive, Bee." Blair's dad called said over his shoulder as he headed behind the counter to greet a potential customer. Blair sighed, standing and brushing off her apron. She worked part-time as a waitress in her dad's cafe. It used to be enjoyable, back when her older sister, Grace, was still around and they'd gossip about the people they served. Now it was just a tedious way to fill her time and earn a little extra money.