But the thing he liked most about being by the beach on those nights was seeing the moon shine above the water. He didn’t know why, but he had been fascinated by the moon for as long as he could remember. Which seemed like forever.

Once, he was followed by Ben to the beach, unknowingly. He stood in the water, staring at his moon, his captivating moon, hands in pockets.

“Nice night, isn’t it Richard?”

Ben startled him, and he nearly fell into the shallow water. Seeing he was so surprised, he added, “And a great night for deep thinking, I suppose?”

Richard relaxed and sighed. He picked up on the insincerity in Ben’s voice. Sometimes he thought Ben liked to mess with him, stir him up a bit.

“Just thought I’d escape for a while... collect my thoughts.”

“You’ve been escaping every night this past week. Anything I can help with?”

"Not unless you've seen the things I've seen. Been the places I've been."

“You’ve been to the moon?”

“What?” A wicked smile spread across Ben’s face.

“You were staring at it, and so I thought you were saying you went to the moon.”

Richard’s expression went from solemn to slightly angry.

"Sometimes I wonder how you became their leader, Ben.”

Perhaps it's because he’s insightful, Richard thought. Or he’s just a conniving bastard that loves to get his way. Maybe because he knows how to get into people's heads and twist things around.

 “I’ll see you at the dock tomorrow morning. Goodnight.” Richard didn’t leave after saying this, so Ben saw this as a signal to let him be.

“Alright then. Goodnight.” Leaving him with a smile, Ben walked back to his home, away from the beach.

He never really liked the beach anyways. “Things wash ashore that one may not want to see ever again,” was something he once said on the subject.

After seeing Ben disappear into the trees, Richard turned back towards the sea, towards the moon. He’d been there for quite a while. His feet were sunk into the sand, and his rolled up pants were soaked. He breathed another deep sigh, and reluctantly returned to his house.