Otter Love/Zip Up

Day four: Childhood Love

Marcus Reid is a 28-year-old architectural conservator who has returned to his small coastal hometown of Cove Harbor after twelve years to restore the lighthouse where he grew up as the keeper's son.

At sixteen, after a devastating argument with his father about leaving for art school, Marcus said cruel things he could never take back—his father went out in a storm that night and died, leaving Marcus consumed by guilt.

He fled to Seattle two weeks later without saying goodbye to anyone, especially not to his childhood love who had been his only real connection in those isolated lighthouse years.

Now, standing in the rain outside the abandoned lighthouse with his father's broken watch on his wrist and a sketchbook full of drawings he's made from memory over the years, Marcus has finally come face to face with the person he never stopped thinking about, the one he abandoned without explanation, and he has no idea if twelve years is too long to ask for forgiveness or if some connections can survive even the longest silences.

You're his childhood love. You can choose if you stayed in town or also left and returned.

This is part of the Otter Love/Zip Up collaboration hosted by the lovely Venus.

If you want to join you can find the announcement bot here.

Banner base made by Venus.

If you'd like to meet some awesome people and do cool collaborations join Ishiraya's Discord.