Search for the Sunlight
Chapter 1

Basil S. Treewood sat in his favourite elm chair gazing out across the lagoon.

As he stared motionless into the cold grey mist, he could easily have been mistaken for dead. Moving only his eyes, he looked beyond the dune grass towards the jetty at what little remained of his dinghy. Ravaged by time and neglect, its wooden hull had rotted through, causing it to sink into the slimy black silt. The prolonged lack of sunlight had brought his world crashing down.

Basil closed his eyes and shivered. He could still recall the days before the fog, when he and his friends used to dive from the overhanging branches of the tall Stonewood trees into the crystal blue water and race one another to the tea house on the opposite shore. There they would while away the long hot afternoons, lazing in the shade beneath the giant cedars, drinking the finest tea that the Gouldong Plantations had to offer. In the evenings, when the sun went down behind the distant mountains, they would wind their way home and gather round the glowing night fires to play music and listen to the Elders’ tales of magic and the mystical secrets of the universe. But now, in these dark sunless times, few Treewoods ventured from their homes. The Teahouse had long ago closed its doors and shutters for good and everyone in the forest had become grumpy and selfish.

Basil leaned on the arms of his chair and forced his weak wooden body to sit upright.

His brittle frostbitten limbs creaked and groaned as he stooped forwards and plucked a wrinkled marshmelon from a sack by his feet. With a pained look on his face, he drew his stiff arm back and lobbed the sticky pink fruit into the lagoon.

In the chilled silence, a loud splash sounded out as the withered melon broke the icy surface of the water.

In sunnier times, wading birds and water fowl would have taken to the air in their thousands and small mammals on the surrounding banks scattered for cover, while Basil and his friends laughed out loud at their mischief. But in this present cold and hellish environment nothing stirred, for nothing lived there anymore…