In the coastal village of Harrows Cove, life was simple but harsh. The people depended on the sea for their livelihood, and every family had a story of a loved one lost to its treacherous waves. The village was often battered by fierce storms, and with each one, the sea claimed more than it gave.
Among the villagers was a young man named Ayo. He was the son of a fisherman, but unlike the other young men in the village, Ayo did not feel at home on the water. His father, a stern and respected man, expected Ayo to follow in his footsteps, but Ayo had different dreams. He longed to explore the world beyond Harrows Cove, to find a place where he could escape the shadow of the sea that had taken so much from him.
Ayo’s mother had died when he was a child, swept away by a storm that had come without warning. Since then, his father had become a hardened man, more determined than ever to teach his son the ways of the sea. But Ayo’s heart wasn’t in it. Every time he set foot on a boat, he felt a deep unease, as if the sea was a living thing that wanted to pull him under.
One evening, as the villagers prepared for another storm that was brewing on the horizon, Ayo stood on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The wind whipped his hair, and the sky was dark with ominous clouds. He could see the fishing boats being hauled ashore and the shutters being fastened on the cottages. But Ayo’s mind was elsewhere.
He had been saving money for years, working odd jobs in the village and secretly stashing away every coin he could. He wanted to leave Harrows Cove, to start a new life somewhere far from the sea. But deep down, he knew that leaving meant abandoning his father, his home, and everything he had ever known.
