The Beach

 

For an audio/video version of this story, check out the youtube video:

            Jess breathed in the sweet ocean air. Their Hawaiian vacation had been amazing, and this was their last day here. She tried not to think about leaving tomorrow. The past week had been filled with beach days and sunshine. Going home meant returning to winter and the cold. A shiver passed through her at the thought.

            The wind blew gently through the palm trees as she stared up into the sky. The sand under her towel was soft and warm from the day’s heat. She closed her eyes and felt herself melt away with the afternoon sunshine.

            When she woke up again, the sky had turned pink with the sunset and she sat up. The wind had strengthened and now blew her hair behind her like a long streamer. Sand peppered her face and she realized she should probably go back to the hotel. She hurriedly gathered up her towel and threw it into her beach bag. She took one last look at the ocean, and then started walking up the beach.

            The wind continued to grow stronger and threatened to knock her down. She hurried faster, but she realized that she didn’t recognize anything around her. Which way was the hotel? Where was her family? Why wasn’t anyone else out there with her?

            As the wind intensified, big drops of rain started to fall. It was difficult to see anything now. The sun had fully set, and it was quickly getting darker. Jess ran blindly, desperate now to get inside somewhere—anywhere.

            A dark shape loomed suddenly toward her, and she nearly screamed before she realized it was a small cabin. Light shone from its windows, and she ran directly toward it, hoping to find shelter from the storm.

            She reached the porch and enjoyed the feeling of having a roof over her head. Looking back the way she’d come, she saw lightning flash as it illuminated the shoreline she had just run away from. Dark, prowling shapes moved about and Jess strained her eyes, willing to see more.

            Another flash of lightning lit up the sky and terror raced down her back. Whatever was down by the beach wasn’t human. Their huge, hairy forms were slowly walking up the beach, heading directly for the cabin.

            Panic caused her to bang frantically on the door. “Help! Let me in!” She stole a glance behind her and realized they had gotten close enough to be lit by the light from the cabin. She could easily see their otherworldly figures getting closer and closer. Dark gray fur covered their bodies as they stalked toward her on four legs. “Help!” she cried again, banging on the door as loudly as she could. “There’s a pack of wolves out here!”

            There was a loud creak as the door opened and light flooded the porch. The relief she felt soon evaporated when she saw that no one was there to greet her. “Hello?” Her voice sounded muffled in the night and soon quieted. Remembering what was coming behind her, she threw herself inside and slammed the door shut. She turned the deadbolt on the door and then studied her surroundings. “Hello?” Silence greeted her.

            Flames from the fireplace beckoned her, and she hurried to feel the warmth. As she held her hand out to get rid of the storm’s chill, a voice sounded behind her.

            “And who might you be?”

            Jess spun around, an apology already on her lips. “I’m sorry, but there’s this huge storm outside, and something’s coming. I had to…” Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at who had spoken. A man with a long gray beard stared at her as he sat in an armchair. When her voice came out next, it sounded small and scared in her own ears. “Wolves were chasing me.”

The man let out a huff and a little laugh. “Well, what did you expect? The sea wolves always appear during a good storm.”

Jess raised an eyebrow. “Sea wolves? I don’t know anything about them. Why weren’t they advertised in the Hawaiian travel brochure?”

The man looked at her strangely. “I thought everyone around here knew about the sea wolves. It’s just a part of life here in Dunwood.”

Now it was Jess’s turn to give him a strange look. “Dunwood? What part of Hawaii is that?”

The man chuckled. “Hawaii? You’re about as far from there as you can get. This corner of Texas isn’t the same as Hawaii.”

Jess’s thoughts turned icy. Texas? How could she be here?

The man looked hard at her. “It’s obvious that you don’t belong here. You’d better get back to where you came from.” He gestured to the door, and Jess had no choice but to leave.

She slowly walked to the door and put her hand on the handle. “But what about the sea wolves?” She looked pleadingly at the man, but there was no compassion for her on his face.

“Just get back to where you came from.” He stood up and threw open the door, pushing her out into the night.

Tripping down the porch stairs, she fell onto the cool sand. She looked carefully around her for the sea wolves, but they were gone. A brilliant moon hung in the sky, and the night was as still as if there had never even been a storm.

As she stood up and brushed herself off, she looked back to the cabin, but it was gone. The familiar outline of her hotel lay just in front of her. She saw her older sister, Becky, run toward her. “There you are!” She threw her arm around Jess’s shoulder. “Did you fall asleep at the beach? Come on, we’re ready to go out to dinner now.”

Jess was in a daze. She hardly remembered the rest of that evening as her mind kept going back to the experience she’d had. Had it just been a dream? She didn’t think so, but it was too strange to be true.

When she finally had a quiet moment to herself, she looked up Dunwood, Texas, on her phone. It turned out there was no such place. She concluded that it must have been a dream, but she was always careful afterward never to be on a beach after dark. Real or not, she did not want to experience that again.