Dark Beacon

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1

[ramping ambient music]

[metal sign swings]

Hello?

Are you all right, miss?

What can I do for you?

Well, first I want

a licorice lace,

'cause I haven't seen

any in about ten years

and I used to love

them as a kid.

And I'm looking for my friend.

She moved here about

nine months ago.

Do you recognize her?

Oh...

[laughs]

No, sorry, I'm just kidding.

Yeah...

This is the girl that moved

into the lighthouse.

She comes in here

from time to time.

She's not quite

this girl anymore.

Well, how do I get

to this lighthouse?

[woman singing

in foreign language]

Oh, hi.

It's Maya, right?

It's Amy.

You've grown.

Well, it looks like you've finally

learned how to cook then.

It's a nice place, isn't it?

Very distant.

Maya's grown.

What do you want?

You Beth, Jesus.

I didn't even get

a chance to say goodbye.

Had to find out where you were

from Charlie in accounts.

How's he doing?

Oh great, yeah,

he's getting a new puppy.

What kind?

I don't know.

What are you doing?

God, you're like

a five year old.

Why are you here?

I just wanna talk to you,

Beth.

Just one night

and then I'll go.

We can't leave things

how we... left them.

Anyway, took me

ages to get here.

And it looks like you need

a little bit of a hand.

You're really good at making

it look like I have a choice.

It's what I'm best at.

[siren blares]

[continues blaring]

That's what I meant.

In about two minutes your road

home will be underwater.

[groaning]

Thanks for helping me

with my bag, by the way.

You brought it.

[old-timey music plays]

Well, if you've lost your mind out here at

least you've still got your taste in music.

Need something

to fill the void.

Not now, Maya.

Maya, go.

What do you want?

Jesus, Maya!

[sighs]

Go on.

She still not talking?

We try not to talk about it.

[silverware clanks]

Oh, you've got a dog?

Had.

Oh, sorry.

What kind of dog was she?

It's a bit dark in here,

should we open the curtain?

Don't. We like it shut.

Okay, that's a bit weird.

I think I see things

all the time.

Probably just driftwood,

or a whale.

Lighthouses are more about people

looking this way than us looking out.

Very educational.

In a past life I used to tell

people about things.

How has the advertising game

survived without you?

Has it?

I left people

like you in charge.

It's still around.

I actually left the company

a couple of months ago.

I didn't wanna keep walking past your old

office and making small talk with people.

No one said anything but I wasn't

very popular after you left.

How's Maya?

She's in her room.

She's amazing, you know.

You can always tell that she's thinking,

there's a lot going on in there.

Look, I don't really

know what I'm doing.

No, it seems like it.

I'm sorry, I should

have said something.

Yeah, you should.

Christ, I wasn't gonna hang around to

explain to everyone how it gets...

how it gets better

every day...

So you just moved out here

to the arse end of nowhere?

It's definitely

a change of pace.

You could say that again.

Quiet at least.

No gossip.

So that's it?

Just you and Maya?

How long?

You're not coming back,

are you?

You left, didn't you?

Yeah, I don't mean

back like that, I mean...

You know, people, schools.

How is Maya's schooling?

I'm homeschooling her.

What? Beth, come on, Maya needs

to be around kids her own age.

She needs help, professionals,

specialists,

people who know stuff.

I know stuff.

We tried, okay? It didn't work.

So you stopped trying.

I'm sorry.

It's getting late.

I should go and

make the sofa up.

We can chat in the morning.

Thanks for letting me stay.

[screaming]

[muffled screaming]

So, erosion.

Hey, Maya. Maya?

Paying attention?

Good.

So you see these cliffs

way back here?

They used to be all the way out

there over thousands of years ago.

Before the lighthouse.

Before us. Before anything.

Maya.

You see the way

the waves hit them?

Every time they hit, they break off

teeny, tiny pieces that we can't even see

and the cliffs become

smaller and smaller

as the waves knock

them off more and more.

Amy?

So what happens to

the teeny tiny pieces?

Good question.

So the little pieces become

sediment at the bottom of the sea

and sometimes they wash up onto

the coast and they form beaches.

Basically erosion is when

something big breaks down

little by little

and ends up somewhere else

and Amy if you're going to turn

that into a Freudian metaphor

I swear to God

I am going to slap you.

You said it.

When are you going to start

teaching Maya something else?

I mean, come on, erosion?

What about... snow?

Shakespeare?

Anything?

I thought this would

be something nice.

No, you thought this was gonna make you

like you knew what you were doing.

Okay, grab that.

So, you know what this is?

This used to be

somebody's house,

a crustacean that

lived in this rock pool.

Do you like rock pools?

So do I. I love rock pools.

I used to play in them all the

time. They were so much fun.

[wind blows]

- Get inside.

- What, why?

Don't ask, just go.

Maya, let's go.

What, Beth?

Now.

[woman singing

in foreign language]

I had a weird childhood too. You

won't tell your mum, will you?

Thanks.

Christian?

You're living in his house?

Hey, Maya.

Oh, cool. I used to be

really good at drawing.

Okay, bit too soon.

That's fine.

Just show me when

you're ready, yeah.

Does that kind of thing

happen a lot with your mother?

It's weird 'cause...

when I met your mum it was at

this marketing conference thing

which is basically a room full of boring people

talking about boring things for a living.

But your mum got up on stage

because she was doing a talk

and the whole room felt silent 'cause

she just had this energy about her

and she made you feel like she was

taking to each person individually

and she was up there

talking to us about

the secret of,

I don't know, whatever.

And halfway through I realized

that I was laughing.

And I was the only

one laughing,

I looked around the room and everyone was looking

at me like I was some sort of crazy person

but Beth just carried on.

It was like she was trying to

make me laugh but just for me.

By the end of it, obviously,

she'd got everyone around

and everyone was standing up

on their feet and cheering.

I was at the back so

I popped out to the loo and,

when I walked in she was

in there but had her back to me.

And I realized that she was

just throwing her guts up,

over the toilet,

just vomiting.

Sorry, that was probably a really

weird story to tell you wasn't it?

Look, what I'm saying is

your mom is so clever and...

and so controlled or she likes to

think she's in control all the time.

She likes to believe

she's in control.

I think at the moment

she's having a...

a bit of a tricky time.

I just need your help

to look after her.

Do you think you

can do that? Thanks.

[thud]

Beth!

[indistinct whispering]

Amy.

Where've you been?

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