"Never Stay On The Beach After Dark"
by Katharine Guthrie My childhood took place in a stereotypical, small beachtown named Port Driftwood. I remember my town as being close knit, woven in a net of tradition. Everyone knew everyone. I, along with the other children of Driftwood, spent our days baking in the sun, splashing away our cares along the shoreline. Some of my earliest memories are intertwined with the cries of gulls and the sweet aroma of salt air. I lived with my mother, a small, silver haired woman who was born and raised in Driftwood. Although vertically challenged, she had a fierce, strong spirited personality that she obtained from working on the water all her life. She was, like most of the other adults raised in Port Driftwood, a very traditional woman, who stuck to the superstitions that were held by the town´s generations before her. I look back, now fondly, on memories of being scolded for opening an umbrella in the house or breaking a hallway mirror. Most of these seemed to be wives´ tales, conjured up by old townies in an attempt to cure their boredom. |
But there was one belief in particular that my mother was exceptionally strict about. I can still hear her yell after me from the kitchen, a threatening wooden spoon in her waving hand.
¨William! Ya´ll make sure to get your hind ends off that bay before it gets dark out!¨
That was always an unspoken rule among the children, and a rule that the adults always enforced.
Never stay on the beach after dark.
I questioned my mother about it from time to time, but she would never give me a reason as to why the town had set this rule. I concluded that it was just because we may get caught in a current or something, and it would be too dark for others to see us.
I remember the day that started the disappearances distinctly.
The town was filled with the kind of hot air that makes you wish you
were bald and naked in a pool of ice water. The sounds of mothers´ clippers echoed across the town that morning, and by afternoon, boys´freshly skinned heads could be seen bobbing around the shore. Mother had shooed me out the door that day with her threatening wooden spoon, so that she could get some cleaning done in peace.
I, along with the rest of the townie kids, made the trek down to the ocean to escape July´s sweltering gaze. There was a small group of kids huddled on top of one of the sand dunes. At first it was hard to make out what was happening, but upon moving closer to the gaggle, I saw that the focus of the group was around three boys. Two of those boys were Timothy and Willie Mason. Redheaded twins, they were the town´s designated hooligans. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that their mother didn't know her way around a pair of clippers too well, as they looked like a pair of naked clams with their new buzzcuts. The third boy was Tyler Stabler, a lanky, dark haired, mousy kid. He was one of the town´s designated punching bags.
One of the twins smacked a chunky hand onto Tyler´s sunburned shoulder blade. Some of the bystanders winced, and Tyler clenched his jaw, not speaking.
¨All ya gotta do,¨ chortled the other twin ¨is yell uncle.¨
Tyler rubbed the scarlet handprint now branded on his shoulder.
¨Naw, I ain't no sissy.¨
I leaned over toward one of the onlookers, Maddie lowrey.
¨What´re they doin´?¨
She beammed a smiled and cupped a hand to my ear, her golden hair curtaining over my shoulder.
¨The Masonses said Tyler was a sissy cause´ he can't swim-¨
¨He can't swim?¨ I furrowed my eyebrows.
Maddie pushed a shimmering lock behind her sunburned ear
¨Naw, he's always been too chicken to go past his ankles¨ she snickered ¨He thinks the water spirits´ll grab him or somthin´.¨
¨But why are they smacking each other?¨ I poked.
Maddie´s evergreen eyes squinted as they scanned across the beach before she leaned back in.
¨Cause´ they made a bet. Whoever says uncle first is a sissy, and has to do a dare.¨
¨What's the dare?¨
Her eyes drew serious, glinting like sea glass in the sunlight. She leaned in closer.
¨Whoever loses has to stay on the shore after dark, when everyone leaves.¨
I felt my eyes widen in disbelief.
¨I know,¨ Maddie beamed again ¨Ma would have my tail.¨
I turned my attention back over to the boys, still in disbelief, Maddie still grinning.
One of the Mason twins took a step closer to Tyler.
¨It's yo turn.¨
Tyler pulled back a scrawny, burgundy arm before swiftly colliding his palm to the side of the other boy´s fat, clam head. The smack echoed across the dunes, and knocked the twin on his bottom, his eyes bouncing around in their sockets.
As the boy got back to his feet, the sight of Tyler´s newly stamped handprint on the side of the twin´s pale, bald head sent Maddie and some other bystanders doubling over with laughter.
¨I ain't no sissy¨ Tyler repeated.
The twin´s cheeks flustered with embarrassment and anger as he toppled onto Tyler, his weight giving him the advantage. The twins began to pummel him, leaving red welts all over his scrawny torso. I was afraid they were going to knock his chest in, but I knew the consequences of interfering. One of the twins collided his fist to Tyler´s nose, splattering blood across the sand.
Maddie´s face went from pink with laughter to completely void of color, her eyes gawking.
¨AGH!!¨ Tyler muffled under the wine red liquid spewing out of his nostrils.
¨UNCLE!!¨ Tyler squawked, his voice cracking ¨UNCLE, DAMMIT!!¨
The twins rolled off of Tyler, faces glowing with pride. Tyler shot up and cupped his now geyser of a nose, tears glinting under his mop of brown hair.
The twins congratulated each other while the rest of us swayed back and forth uncomfortably, not sure of what to do.
¨Ya´ll cheated¨ Tyler crackled, audibly holding back sobs. His eyes trekked around the faces of the bystanders, begging for someone to take his side. We all stayed silent.
¨Naw¨ one of the twins grinned, rubbing the fat handprint on his clam head ¨You're jus a sissy.¨
Tyler snuffed and wiped his swollen, purple nose across his arm, leaving streaks of red.
¨Hain't fair.¨
Despite whether what the Mason twins did was fair or not, Tyler stayed behind as everyone began to flock back to town that evening, so as not to be seen as a sissy. I remember looking behind me as I ran back home, seeing his gangly body crouched on a dune, his atlantic blue eyes uneasy and longing to return home with the rest of us.
That night was when the dreams first started.
I was on the shore, the sky was dark and bruised and the water chopped and tangled within itself. I spun around, trying to find the trail to my house, but the sand was entirely surrounded by ocean.
¨William.¨
A voice came from the waves, singing to me. Beckoning me.
¨William.¨
I whirled my head back around towards the direction where the voice was calling from, and caught what looked like a head pop out of the ink colored sea. The head drew closer and closer to shore until it became the whole upper half of a woman. The woman gilded slowly, effortlessly towards me, unaffected by the wave´s wrath.
¨William¨ she urged once more.
She was now on the sand, only a few feet of space between us. Her white gown fluttered behind her, along with her tangled mass of dark hair. Her skin glowed as if it were made of moonbeams, her pale, expressionless eyes reflected lighthouses in a thunderstorm.
She stretched a gnarled, slender hand towards me, imploring me to join her in the water. Something about her presence calmed me, and I slowly took a few steps toward her yearning hand. As I did, a familiar gangly silhouette appeared from the waves.
It drew closer, until it was right beside the woman. I took another step towards them, and realized that the nostalgic figure was Tyler Stabler. His once burned skin had become pale, almost translucent. Dried blood streaked across the underside of his nose. His eyes were cloudy, void of all emotion like those of a dead fish. His joints cracked and popped with every advancement towards me.
¨It wasn't fair, y´know¨ he rasped.
CRACK.
POP.
Tyler creaked closer.
¨They-¨
CRACK.
POP.
¨Cheated¨ He exclaimed, his voice grating.
CRACK.
POP.
POP.
The waves began beating harder against the shore, sending vibrations up my spine.
CRACK.
Tyler closed the space between us, reaching for my face.
¨IT'S NOT FAIR!¨ He bellowed, lunging towards me.
CRACK!
I sat up in my bed with a start, heart pounding against my ribcage. I remember my bedding and I being soaked head to toe in seawater, a pool accumulating on the floor beneath me.
¨William!¨ I heard my mother shout from downstairs.
¨Getcho hind end down here now!¨ she squalled, nocking my floor with her broom tip. My heart still threatened to explode as I reluctantly made my way downstairs into the den. My mother stood there with a bucket held to the dripping ceiling, the carpet squelching with each footstep.
¨You mind tellin´ me why your bedroom floor is soaking wet?!¨ she fired, a threatening broom in hand.
She spun around towards me, her face a concoction of dumbfounded anger.
¨You´re soaked, boy! Why do you look like a drowned rat?!¨
I braced myself for the blow of a broom handle upside my cranium and tried to stutter up an explanation. I myself had no clue as to why I was drenched, and had no idea what to say to her.
CLONK CLONK CLONK!
A banging at the door caused me to nearly jump out my skin. My mother huffed and barreled over to answer it, pointing a threatening handle in my direction as she passed.
¨You keep your tail right there, I ain't thru.¨ she snapped.
A moment later, I heard the door creak open, and the screen door pull back.
¨Gmornin´ Missus Stabler. What can I do for you?¨ my mother's words boomed and bounced around the walls.
I could hear frantic echos from a voice outside, but couldn´t really make out what was being said.
¨Hang on just a minute¨ my mother replied before calling towards the den.
¨William! C´mere!¨
¨Yes, ma´am!¨ I called back frantically, knowing it was a bad idea to make her any more mad than she already was.
As I made my way to my mother's side, I was met with the hysterical wreck that was Mrs. Stabler, standing in our doorway, out of breath.
My mother offered a chair for Mrs. Stabler to sit in, but she swiftly declined.
¨William,¨ my mother studied my face carefully ¨Missus Stabler says her boy never came home from the bay last night. You went swimmin´ yesterday, did you see him?¨
My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach like a bag of rocks down a well.
¨He didn't come home?¨ I choked.
¨Na, he didn't.¨ She prodded.
¨Well, I-¨ I muttered
My mother fixed her gaze with a look that if you saw, you would know meant ¨I know when you're lying, and if you lie to me I´m gonna to knock you sideways.¨
The silence crept around us as I tried to gather a voice, only broken by the shakey rasping of Mrs. Stabler and a faint knocking of windchimes in the distance.
¨I don't really know anything.¨ I focused my attention on a scuff in the corner of the door frame.
¨A-are you sure you don't remember seein´ him at all? Or hearin´ anything?¨ Mrs. Stabler's eyebrows pulled together, her eyes glazed in worry.
¨No, ma´am.¨ I felt a wave of guilt topple over me, spewing seawater into my lungs.
Mrs. yanking me into a riptide.
¨William! Ya´ll make sure to get your hind ends off that bay before it gets dark out!¨
That was always an unspoken rule among the children, and a rule that the adults always enforced.
Never stay on the beach after dark.
I questioned my mother about it from time to time, but she would never give me a reason as to why the town had set this rule. I concluded that it was just because we may get caught in a current or something, and it would be too dark for others to see us.
I remember the day that started the disappearances distinctly.
The town was filled with the kind of hot air that makes you wish you
were bald and naked in a pool of ice water. The sounds of mothers´ clippers echoed across the town that morning, and by afternoon, boys´freshly skinned heads could be seen bobbing around the shore. Mother had shooed me out the door that day with her threatening wooden spoon, so that she could get some cleaning done in peace.
I, along with the rest of the townie kids, made the trek down to the ocean to escape July´s sweltering gaze. There was a small group of kids huddled on top of one of the sand dunes. At first it was hard to make out what was happening, but upon moving closer to the gaggle, I saw that the focus of the group was around three boys. Two of those boys were Timothy and Willie Mason. Redheaded twins, they were the town´s designated hooligans. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that their mother didn't know her way around a pair of clippers too well, as they looked like a pair of naked clams with their new buzzcuts. The third boy was Tyler Stabler, a lanky, dark haired, mousy kid. He was one of the town´s designated punching bags.
One of the twins smacked a chunky hand onto Tyler´s sunburned shoulder blade. Some of the bystanders winced, and Tyler clenched his jaw, not speaking.
¨All ya gotta do,¨ chortled the other twin ¨is yell uncle.¨
Tyler rubbed the scarlet handprint now branded on his shoulder.
¨Naw, I ain't no sissy.¨
I leaned over toward one of the onlookers, Maddie lowrey.
¨What´re they doin´?¨
She beammed a smiled and cupped a hand to my ear, her golden hair curtaining over my shoulder.
¨The Masonses said Tyler was a sissy cause´ he can't swim-¨
¨He can't swim?¨ I furrowed my eyebrows.
Maddie pushed a shimmering lock behind her sunburned ear
¨Naw, he's always been too chicken to go past his ankles¨ she snickered ¨He thinks the water spirits´ll grab him or somthin´.¨
¨But why are they smacking each other?¨ I poked.
Maddie´s evergreen eyes squinted as they scanned across the beach before she leaned back in.
¨Cause´ they made a bet. Whoever says uncle first is a sissy, and has to do a dare.¨
¨What's the dare?¨
Her eyes drew serious, glinting like sea glass in the sunlight. She leaned in closer.
¨Whoever loses has to stay on the shore after dark, when everyone leaves.¨
I felt my eyes widen in disbelief.
¨I know,¨ Maddie beamed again ¨Ma would have my tail.¨
I turned my attention back over to the boys, still in disbelief, Maddie still grinning.
One of the Mason twins took a step closer to Tyler.
¨It's yo turn.¨
Tyler pulled back a scrawny, burgundy arm before swiftly colliding his palm to the side of the other boy´s fat, clam head. The smack echoed across the dunes, and knocked the twin on his bottom, his eyes bouncing around in their sockets.
As the boy got back to his feet, the sight of Tyler´s newly stamped handprint on the side of the twin´s pale, bald head sent Maddie and some other bystanders doubling over with laughter.
¨I ain't no sissy¨ Tyler repeated.
The twin´s cheeks flustered with embarrassment and anger as he toppled onto Tyler, his weight giving him the advantage. The twins began to pummel him, leaving red welts all over his scrawny torso. I was afraid they were going to knock his chest in, but I knew the consequences of interfering. One of the twins collided his fist to Tyler´s nose, splattering blood across the sand.
Maddie´s face went from pink with laughter to completely void of color, her eyes gawking.
¨AGH!!¨ Tyler muffled under the wine red liquid spewing out of his nostrils.
¨UNCLE!!¨ Tyler squawked, his voice cracking ¨UNCLE, DAMMIT!!¨
The twins rolled off of Tyler, faces glowing with pride. Tyler shot up and cupped his now geyser of a nose, tears glinting under his mop of brown hair.
The twins congratulated each other while the rest of us swayed back and forth uncomfortably, not sure of what to do.
¨Ya´ll cheated¨ Tyler crackled, audibly holding back sobs. His eyes trekked around the faces of the bystanders, begging for someone to take his side. We all stayed silent.
¨Naw¨ one of the twins grinned, rubbing the fat handprint on his clam head ¨You're jus a sissy.¨
Tyler snuffed and wiped his swollen, purple nose across his arm, leaving streaks of red.
¨Hain't fair.¨
Despite whether what the Mason twins did was fair or not, Tyler stayed behind as everyone began to flock back to town that evening, so as not to be seen as a sissy. I remember looking behind me as I ran back home, seeing his gangly body crouched on a dune, his atlantic blue eyes uneasy and longing to return home with the rest of us.
That night was when the dreams first started.
I was on the shore, the sky was dark and bruised and the water chopped and tangled within itself. I spun around, trying to find the trail to my house, but the sand was entirely surrounded by ocean.
¨William.¨
A voice came from the waves, singing to me. Beckoning me.
¨William.¨
I whirled my head back around towards the direction where the voice was calling from, and caught what looked like a head pop out of the ink colored sea. The head drew closer and closer to shore until it became the whole upper half of a woman. The woman gilded slowly, effortlessly towards me, unaffected by the wave´s wrath.
¨William¨ she urged once more.
She was now on the sand, only a few feet of space between us. Her white gown fluttered behind her, along with her tangled mass of dark hair. Her skin glowed as if it were made of moonbeams, her pale, expressionless eyes reflected lighthouses in a thunderstorm.
She stretched a gnarled, slender hand towards me, imploring me to join her in the water. Something about her presence calmed me, and I slowly took a few steps toward her yearning hand. As I did, a familiar gangly silhouette appeared from the waves.
It drew closer, until it was right beside the woman. I took another step towards them, and realized that the nostalgic figure was Tyler Stabler. His once burned skin had become pale, almost translucent. Dried blood streaked across the underside of his nose. His eyes were cloudy, void of all emotion like those of a dead fish. His joints cracked and popped with every advancement towards me.
¨It wasn't fair, y´know¨ he rasped.
CRACK.
POP.
Tyler creaked closer.
¨They-¨
CRACK.
POP.
¨Cheated¨ He exclaimed, his voice grating.
CRACK.
POP.
POP.
The waves began beating harder against the shore, sending vibrations up my spine.
CRACK.
Tyler closed the space between us, reaching for my face.
¨IT'S NOT FAIR!¨ He bellowed, lunging towards me.
CRACK!
I sat up in my bed with a start, heart pounding against my ribcage. I remember my bedding and I being soaked head to toe in seawater, a pool accumulating on the floor beneath me.
¨William!¨ I heard my mother shout from downstairs.
¨Getcho hind end down here now!¨ she squalled, nocking my floor with her broom tip. My heart still threatened to explode as I reluctantly made my way downstairs into the den. My mother stood there with a bucket held to the dripping ceiling, the carpet squelching with each footstep.
¨You mind tellin´ me why your bedroom floor is soaking wet?!¨ she fired, a threatening broom in hand.
She spun around towards me, her face a concoction of dumbfounded anger.
¨You´re soaked, boy! Why do you look like a drowned rat?!¨
I braced myself for the blow of a broom handle upside my cranium and tried to stutter up an explanation. I myself had no clue as to why I was drenched, and had no idea what to say to her.
CLONK CLONK CLONK!
A banging at the door caused me to nearly jump out my skin. My mother huffed and barreled over to answer it, pointing a threatening handle in my direction as she passed.
¨You keep your tail right there, I ain't thru.¨ she snapped.
A moment later, I heard the door creak open, and the screen door pull back.
¨Gmornin´ Missus Stabler. What can I do for you?¨ my mother's words boomed and bounced around the walls.
I could hear frantic echos from a voice outside, but couldn´t really make out what was being said.
¨Hang on just a minute¨ my mother replied before calling towards the den.
¨William! C´mere!¨
¨Yes, ma´am!¨ I called back frantically, knowing it was a bad idea to make her any more mad than she already was.
As I made my way to my mother's side, I was met with the hysterical wreck that was Mrs. Stabler, standing in our doorway, out of breath.
My mother offered a chair for Mrs. Stabler to sit in, but she swiftly declined.
¨William,¨ my mother studied my face carefully ¨Missus Stabler says her boy never came home from the bay last night. You went swimmin´ yesterday, did you see him?¨
My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach like a bag of rocks down a well.
¨He didn't come home?¨ I choked.
¨Na, he didn't.¨ She prodded.
¨Well, I-¨ I muttered
My mother fixed her gaze with a look that if you saw, you would know meant ¨I know when you're lying, and if you lie to me I´m gonna to knock you sideways.¨
The silence crept around us as I tried to gather a voice, only broken by the shakey rasping of Mrs. Stabler and a faint knocking of windchimes in the distance.
¨I don't really know anything.¨ I focused my attention on a scuff in the corner of the door frame.
¨A-are you sure you don't remember seein´ him at all? Or hearin´ anything?¨ Mrs. Stabler's eyebrows pulled together, her eyes glazed in worry.
¨No, ma´am.¨ I felt a wave of guilt topple over me, spewing seawater into my lungs.
Mrs. yanking me into a riptide.