Wait! Wait! Wait!

Wait! Wait! Wait! Excuse me, but are you--? You are! It’s been ages, how’s it going? I can’t believe I’m running into you! See, I had this dream the other--

What do you mean you-- Of course you know me! I mean, sure, we probably weren’t THAT close, but we’ve kept in touch, right? Social media? We have! At least I have. So, how’s Sandra?

What do you mean “she’s gone”? You didn’t-- did you? I can’t believe you let her go! She was the one, man, she was! The two of you: match made in--

Oh… Oh, you meant… I’m sorry. What was it? Cancer, right? Was it cancer? Her mother died of cancer, I remember that. I remember her funeral.

No, no, no! Wait! Wait! Wait! I have to tell you about my dream, you were in it. You were! Out of the blue, well… I don’t know how, or why, I got no idea how dreams work, but… thing is, you were there. You and Sandra. Except, of course, she was alive.

I’m sorry. When did she--? I shouldn’t be bothering you with it, I can imagine it’s still painful, please forgive me… It’s just, the news shocked me, you know? Hit me over the head like a mallet. I mean, here I am, all giddy and all because I ran into you after all these years, and just after I had this dream with you and… and now… Do you want to talk about it? I’m a good listener.

No, no, I’m sure… I’m sure you’re right. Sorry again. It’s just… if there’s anything I can do to help. Anything at all. I can only imagine how tough it's gotta be for you. You wanna get a, a beer or something? Coffee? There’s this place right around the--

Wait! Wait! Wait! I know you’re in a hurry and all, but please hear me out… I mean, the dream! It can’t be a coincidence, right? Right?

Ok, so here goes. I’m on this-- that is, we, we are on this beach, ok? You, me, Sandra, a couple others. Brenda, too. Even Kyle was there. Kyle! Kinda stocky, reddish hair, glasses? Anyhow, it’s like six or seven of us, we’re all on this beach, see? Like the old days, back in school? We were talking about… I don’t know, a Million things, it’s not like… well, you know how you can’t remember EVERY detail of a dream, right? But we were talking. There was conversation happening. But that’s not the important thing, see? What made this dream so creepy, I mean, what woke me up in the middle of the night, was the seaweed.

I know! Totally! ‘Cause, you know, every time the waves hit the beach, like every single time, they brought bundles of seaweed with them. And the seaweed just stayed, see? Like when you sweep the floor and dust and hair and crumbs and fingernails and dead cockroaches and all that stuff gets bungled up and forms like a mini barrier wherever the broom leaves it? Just like that, except it was the waves that were sweeping seaweed. I mean, TONS of seaweed. Of course, at first, we didn’t notice anything, I guess we were too busy talking and laughing and dancing, there was music there, too, I guess… having beers and all-- ‘cause we had like this icebox that was always full to the brim with cold brewskis, you know? Now, THAT part of the dream I liked! Imagine: an icebox that stays full, no matter how many beers you take out of it? Whoa, man!

Anyway, back to the thing. So we’re having fun, Sandra’s taking in the rays, we’re goofing, like in a general sense… And the waves keep bringing in this seaweed and dumping it next to us. I guess we first started noticing when there was like a dike made from it all along the beach, see? Like a little wall of seaweed, maybe a foot high? I mean, you gotta imagine it to get a full sense of how strange this was. Can you imagine it?

So we’re like “whoa, man, this is weird,” and someone turns off the music and we stop talking and start looking at this thing made of seaweed… And it keeps growing! Like in front of our eyes. You could still see the waves dumping and piling more of the stuff all along the beach. But more than that, it sorta starts to grow on its own now, and before you know it, it’s like kinda scary. Sandra’s all “let’s get out of here,” and Kyle, you know, nerdy Kyle goes “we should call the police or something,” but you and I, see, we look at each other and immediately we know what we’re going to do. You turn to Sandra and say “stay here” or something. We leave our beers in the sand and go take a closer look.

I don’t know why, we just do, you know? Like we were detectives or something. Like in the shows? So, we get really close to this wall of seaweed that’s like six feet tall by now, and still growing. And you can smell the thing, it’s like rotten fish and it makes you wanna puke and all, but we’re like, “we can do this”. Plus, I guess, we know everybody’s looking, right? We wouldn’t want to lose face… So, we get next to this thing, and it kinda pulses, you know… like if there’s something inside, like a… I don’t know, a THING. Like the vein on your forehead, when you’re stressed and it pops and you can almost see the blood pumping inside? Like that. Like there’s some kind of fluid coursing inside this mesh of seaweed. And it’s like… I don’t know how to describe it… But it’s calling us.

Not by name, of course, nothing like that, I mean it’s not like the wall of seaweed just starts talking or something… But still, it’s calling us. Like… telepathically?

That’s enough to freak even me out, see, but you just keep looking at this thing that keeps on growing, this wall of seaweed must’ve been like twelve feet tall by now, and who knows how wide, right? No way to see the sea on the other side, and now that I think of it… no way to hear it, either… It was as if I had gone deaf, see, like this presence that was calling us cancelled out all other sounds.

And then, you stretch out your hand. No surprise there, right? You were always like the go-getter, the one that took whatever was his… I guess you still must be, I mean, look at you! Pinstripes and that watch on your wrist. Man! That’s gotta be worth like, what? Twenty grand?

Anyway. You stretch out your hand. You try to touch this thing in front of us. But you don’t. Like, you chicken out at the very last second and you don’t touch it. Just like that time back then at Brenda’s party, remember? You'd gone with Sandra but she disappeared, and you went searching everywhere. Looking, asking, nobody knew where she was, until you were standing in front of Brenda’s parents’ bedroom, and you didn’t dare to open the door?

What do you mean, how do I--? I was at the party, of course I know about that! But that’s not the point, see, I was just trying to… trying to get you to really feel what you felt in my dream in front of this… this CREATURE made from rotting seaweed. ‘Cause there’s no doubt in my mind by then that this thing in front of us is alive, and I can tell from the look on your face that you thought so, too.

No, no! Wait! Wait! Wait! I’m just getting to the really creepy part. See, we’re like paralyzed in front of this thing, looking at it, then at each other, right? By now there’s nothing else in the dream, no beach, no Kyle, no Sandra, no icebox full of beers, no nothing. Just you, me, and IT.

And then you make your move.

You grab my arm and hurl me towards the wall of seaweed.

I immediately start to feel ten Million tentacles slinging and strangling every part of me and I feel them pulling me inside. I know that this creature, whatever it is, is going to eat me. I try to scream but my voice freezes when I see your face, just before seaweed closes in all around me.

You are smiling.

I know! But you are. Smiling like you had just scored the winning touchdown homecoming game. And that’s the last thing I see before I wake up, shivering and sweating like a pig.

Well, yeah! That’s exactly what I want to ask you! Why were you smiling? I mean, I told you: it’s no coincidence, me running into you after having this dream, right?

Wait! Wait! Wait! See this gun? You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why you were smiling.

Of course it’s my dream and not yours! But you still gotta know, see? ‘Cause I’m not dumb. I know you know, just as I knew back then that you knew. Back at Brenda’s? In her parents’ bedroom? You knew. That’s why you didn’t open the door, right? You knew Sandra was in there with--

So, what happened to her? Wasn’t cancer, of course, and it wasn’t an accident, like you told the cops. You probably opened the door to another bedroom and saw her, right? That’s why you hurled her from the balcony, right?

I’m not an idiot, see? I can google. I can piece stuff together. I read what happened, the official story, your story… And that very night I had the dream. I knew at once what you’d done.

I looked you up. Tracked you down. Wasn’t hard, you being this fancy attorney or whatever. I got this gun. I stood close to your car. I waited. See, I’m not gonna let you hurl me into the seaweed.

Wait! Wait! Wait! If you run, it’ll just hurt more, ‘cause I’ll have to shoot you in the legs first. Stay still. That’s it. Paralyzed. Cowardly. Like on the beach. Like in front of the bedroom door. Don’t even breathe. Time to wake up.