The air was warm, a pleasant change from the receding autumn (fall (whatever I’m Aussie)) chill. The wind smelt like salt and there was the slightest sound of water lapping against the shore, the waves illuminated by the light of the full moon beaming down upon them. Most of this would have made for a pleasant, quiet night and other day of the year. However most of it was drowned out by the party going on not five hundred metres behind him. As it stood now music blared, its volume challenged only by the voices trying to speak over it and the crackle of fire.

The salt in the air was drowned out by the smell of smoke and burning wood. The light of the moon paled in comparison to the bonfire raging. The turnout looked about the same as last year. It was a tradition, every year they had a big party on the beach the night of the first full moon of spring. Chase remembered his father telling him it used to be a very private night amongst the original families that created the tradition, his families. However somewhere along the line it became a bit more… “Chase! Get your ass over here!” Commercialised.

The boy glanced over his shoulder, the ocean breeze blowing soft brown hair over his dark blue eyes and smiled slightly before he abandoned the quiet water’s edge and quickly ran back towards his friends waiting for him. “Dude! Best night ever or what?” Mason said as he threw a beer to him. The sacredness of the night may have changed slightly, but the descendants of the first people of this tradtion were still in charge of organising the party. As it was, that meant him and his friends usually. They’d all known each other since birth virtually, so they were more like brothers than anything else.

Port Byrne had been founded… well a long time ago. Honestly it had been a long time since he’d finished high school and he couldn’t remember anymore. All he knew was that it had started with a small number of families and happened a long time ago. Those small number of families still held a very close bond, they had stuck together throughout the years, becoming more like one very large family, rather than a small number of individual units. Children were raised together, doors were left unlocked and fridges and pantries were practically communal property. Chase knew no other way of living. Perhaps not by blood, but his friends were as much family as his mother, father or biological sister.

The boy smirked casually and shrugged as he put the drink down. Sometimes it did feel like they were doing this wrong, disrespecting their ancestors or something like that. He tried not to let it bother him, tried to remind himself that things change and that pretty much every one of legal age looked forward to this event every year. But he couldn’t help but think it would have been nice to celebrate it with just family for once. He knew most of the people here by sight, some by name, but any more than that and he couldn’t tell you. Having spaced out for a few moments he missed Mason’s next comment and the sudden shove he received caught him completely off guard and he stumbled before he collided into someone and the boy quickly turned, catching them to prevent the pair from falling to the ground.