{"id":694,"date":"2021-01-07T19:10:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T19:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=694"},"modified":"2021-01-07T19:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T19:10:45","slug":"widows-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/widows-peak\/694\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow\u2019s Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is it!\u201d announced Gav proudly from the clifftop, phone in hand as he live-streamed a video on Facebook. \u201cWidow\u2019s Peak, fabled secret Point-Break. Six foot and clean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We charged towards the sea, a rainbow rabble of surfboards, hooting all the way. The wave swelled, glinting in the morning sun and rising like the excitement in our bellies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of us were experienced surfers. We were just a bunch of kooks from London on a stag do, but we copied what the locals were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After a couple of hours, everyone except Gav and Tony headed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we approached the van, we discovered the words \u201cLocals Only\u201d plastered across the side panel. Its tyres had been slashed, too, for good measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our collective mood instantly deflated like the tyres. What sort of place was this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were so distracted sorting out the van, we didn\u2019t register that Gav and Tony hadn\u2019t returned until we were leaving for the pub. They weren\u2019t answering their phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pub\u2019s walking distance from the surf spot,\u201d said Jay. \u201cI\u2019ll look for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll join you,\u201d said Simon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the pub, Mark, Biz and I tried to crank up the atmosphere to \u201cstag do\u201d level, but it wasn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I downed my pint. \u201cI\u2019m going to find them.\u201d The others followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony\u2019s car was still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sea looked ominous now beneath frowning dark clouds. There was a chill in the air and the wind whistled around us as we descended towards the beach. My stomach lurched. Why was the place deserted when the surf was still pumping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlex, look,\u201d said Mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A yellow surfboard bobbed against the rocks. It was Tony\u2019s board, its leash cut. And just a few feet away lay Jay\u2019s cracked phone. My blood ran cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just then, a stone skimmed my head. We turned to see an arc of surfers, hands on hips, staring down from the clifftop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRun!\u201d I shouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                        *<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou do realise,\u201d said Garda Detective Murphy, \u201cthat you broke every rule of surfing etiquette in one morning?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you saying we deserved this? Why aren\u2019t you interviewing the local surfers and looking for our friends?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m saying, Widow\u2019s Peak is a dangerous wave and you\u2019re clearly inexperienced surfers. We have Search and Rescue looking for your friends. It\u2019s much more likely that they got into trouble in the water. There\u2019s no evidence that local surfers were involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow does that explain our two missing friends who weren\u2019t even in the water? The cleanly cut leash? Our vandalised van?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re done here,\u201d said the Garda. \u201cIf I were you, Mr Hayes, I\u2019d get out of town immediately and keep my mouth shut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside, people on the street eyed me menacingly. Even the wind howled, \u201cGo!\u201d and pushed me towards my car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sea bid me a final farewell through my rear-view mirror, hissing and spitting like a snake as I drove away. And then a wave of grief came crashing down over me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is it!\u201d announced Gav proudly from the clifftop, phone in hand as he live-streamed a video on Facebook. \u201cWidow\u2019s Peak, fabled secret Point-Break. Six foot and clean.\u201d We charged towards the sea, a rainbow rabble of surfboards, hooting all the way. The wave swelled, glinting in the morning sun and rising like the excitement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A great new story from SWANSEA WRITERS \"Widow\u2019s Peak\"\n\n#FLASHFICTION","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[379,380],"tags":[383,384,385],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-379","category-january-2021-crime-wave","tag-surfers","tag-crimewave","tag-surfing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-bc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":696,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions\/696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}