The Boy Who Walked to the Sun

“Hey Arthur! Back again I see, are you going to the beach today?”

Arthur lazily strolled through the familiar aisles of the corner store before he made his way to his usual spot on the shoreline; a secluded inlet that really wasn’t very hard to find, but given its proximity to the beach was no real surprise why it was his little secret. He picked up his Coke and Clark Bar and meandered over to the counter to greet George the same way he had every other day he’d gone to the beach that week.

“Yes sir I do believe I am daddy-o! The water is true blue and too good to pass up, especially with how hot its been the last few days.”

“Well son, I won’t argue with you there. The report says it’s supposed to be a scorcher today and even hotter tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well I’ll keep ya in mind while riding the waves George. Don’t you worry about that!”

Arthur winked and nodded as he left a smirking George at the store counter. He hopped back in his Bel Air coupe and headed down to the beach front. Once he got there it was only a short walk to the inlet and he could enjoy the sun and peacefulness of the water without the distractions of tourists and surfers trying to impress the local girls. Arthur had always been attracted to the seemingly infinite nature of the ocean. The way the water ebbed and flowed. One of his favorite things to do was wait for a wave to break on the rocks and try to follow it for as long as he could as it would retreat back into the ocean until it became just another part of the water. He had found his secret spot by accident when he first moved to Vallejo as a child; some kids had been chasing him and hid in the treeline just off the inlet’s banks Even then he loved looking out onto the water and imagining himself walking to the horizon line and never been seen again. People would tell the story of the little boy who walked into the sun and never came back. Then all of the kids who made fun of him would be jealous. They would grow old and be forgotten but he could be remembered forever.

He would often look back at childhood and the way things had turned out. He grew up in Hawaii but when his father left he and his mother moved to California for a fresh start. At that time it wasn’t easy to be the child of a single parent. Struggle wasn’t the word to describe his childhood. Although Vallejo was much more progressive than the rest of the country it was still a victim of its time when it came to working single mothers. He was bullied at school for being poor and not having a father. He was told that his mother was a whore and that this was the reason his father abandoned the two of them. No, struggle wasn’t the word to describe his childhood, hell was.

Arthur had grown a lot since then though and now found solace in the place that he once used as a hideout from the neighborhood kids who were so cruel to him. As he laid there soaking up the sun and reminiscing he realized that it had gotten much warmer since he first arrived. He knew it was supposed to be hot that day but he hadn’t realized it was going to get this hot; the worst part was it wasn’t even midday yet. He took out his Coke and bottle opener and looked around the inlet for a somewhat shadier spot to move to. After a few moments of scanning he noticed a cave that he hadn’t before. In fact, in the fourteen years since he had been coming to that spot he had never seen that cave before. He didn’t like the idea of sitting too close to a cave without knowing what may be living in it. Though, during the time he was trying to decide whether or not he should go sit in the shade provided by the cave’s overhang, the droplets had begun to role down his cheek and drip onto his hand mixing with the condensation from his Coke as it too began to sweat in the smoldering heat. The mixture of his drink getting warmer by the second and the sun continuing to beat down on him convinced him that it was worth the risk to sit in the cave’s shadow.

After finding a comfortable spot to lay down he began to doze off in the heat. Just as his eyes were feeling heavy though he heard the sound of stones shifting in the cave behind him. Immediately he jumped up and readied himself for what he feared may be a lion’s den. As he was frantically searching around for a rock or branch to try and fend off the animal he noticed something…. or rather nothing. There was no lion. In fact, the more he looked the more he noticed just how empty the cave was. He had completely overreacted. The stone had simply shifted and there was no need to panic or get ready to defend himself. He thought about going home, after all he had been at the beach for a few hours now and his Clark bar had melted to the point that it was more of a Clark soup. He began to walk towards the far shoreline, that connected to the main beach, but as soon as he crossed the line in the sand where the cave’s shadow ended his feet immediately began to burn and the heat was almost unbearable; it had to be well over one hundred degrees now. He never wore shoes or a shirt when he came to the beach and it had never been an issue before, but he also couldn’t remember a day that was this warm either. This was dangerous heat. The kind that he could dehydrate in quickly if he wasn’t careful. So, with no clear way of leaving the inlet until sunset he decided to just laugh the whole thing off, chalk it up to an overactive imagination, and go back to relaxing in his spot. He was determined to make the best of the situation.

He began to doze off again until he heard another sound coming from behind him but this time it wasn’t a shifting stone or anything else he could pretend not to be put on edge by. It was clear and distinct. A low, gravely voice whispering his name. He sprang up clenching both fists and ready to attack whoever the voice belonged to. He was a very private person and most people in the area didn’t even know who he was. He was very good at going unnoticed and he preferred it that way. So someone knowing his name, where his secret spot was, and being in the cave at that exact moment was far more than coincidence could account for. After a few moments of silence he called out to the cave, probing for the voice to answer back and identify itself. When he got no response he began to think that maybe the heat was getting to him. He hadn’t brought any water with him, only the soda, and that had been gone for a few hours now. Just as he began to unclench his fists, ready to chalk up the whole incident to dehydration, the voice echoed through the cave once more.

“You know who I am”

Arthur was now sure he was not imagining the person speaking to him. Someone had followed him to the beach, watched as he went to the inlet, and somehow made their way into the cave without him noticing. The voice sounded somewhat familiar to him but he couldn’t place it.

“Oh yeah, I know who you are? Then why don’t you step out of the cave and show your face. Believe me when I tell you I am not someone you want to mess with.”

“I do believe you” the voice replied. “In fact that’s exactly why I’m here.”

Arthur was trying to look around for something he could fight the man with once the inevitable confrontation began without the voice noticing. He decided that the longer he talked the more time he would have to find something to fight with.

“What do you mean that’s exactly why you’re here” Arthur asked stalling. By this point the sun had shifted and it was getting even hotter. He could see the line in the sand moving closer to him and feel the heat beginning to burn his neck, pushing him more and more towards the cave. He look up briefly at the sun and was taken back by what he saw. It was as if the sun had begun moving faster once the voice had said his name. By where it was in the sky it should be the late afternoon and be cooling down but his watch said it was only 1:30pm. Just as he was checking his watch the sun shifted further and the light magnified from the lens face heated up until it suddenly burst while he was looking at it. He quickly ripped of the watch off his wrist and trained his eyes back on the cave; realizing that he had been distracted for far longer than he realized. He still needed to find something to defend himself from whoever was in the cave so kept talking to the void that was shadowy hole in the cliff side.

“If you know me so well than what’s my mother’s name?” He knew this should buy him a few minutes until he could figure out his next move.

“Bernice” said the voice almost smugly.

“Ok, so you know my mother’s name. Doesn’t mean much. She’s pretty sociable, you could’ve met her anywhere. What’s my father’s name then? He didn’t move here with us so let’s see you manifest that since you’re all knowing” Arthur said sarcastically.

“Your father is Ethan. Why don’t you come closer so we can have this conversation like friends. After all I have always been there for you.”

Arthur wasn’t sure what to do. He knew that the person in the cave was dangerous and trying to get in his head but he didn’t know why. What had he done to this man? Why was he doing this to him? Almost on cue the sun began to shift again bringing the heat that much closer. He looked back at the quickly approaching shadow, a literal line in the sand. He could either face the man in the cave or succumb to the unnatural heat chasing him further and further from the safety of the shoreline. Before he could make up his mind the sun did it for him and he stepped into the entrance of the cave.

“Did you think you could run from me?”

At this point Arthur knew there was no point in playing coy. He was trapped in the cave with the man and if something was going to happen he would rather it just happen and get it over with. “Why don’t you just come out face me like a man! Why are you hiding in the shadows like a coward?!”

“I am not hiding. I’ve been waiting.”

“Waiting for what?!” Arthur replied in a demanding tone. He was absolutely done playing these games. “Look, whoever you are, I can’t go anywhere and at this point neither can you. I told you not to pick a fight with me but you decided to anyway so why don’t quit hiding and come out already!”

“On the contrary Arthur, you are the one that has been hiding from me since you were a child.”

“What are you talking about?! Since I was a child? This is first time I’ve ever met you. You’re fucking sick. What are you planning on trying to do to me?”

“What did you want to do to them?” the voice replied in its slow, thoughtful tone.

“Them? Who are you talking about? I just came to the beach to relax and you started to messing with me!”

“Arthur, there is no reason to lie. I’m not here to judge to you, quite to the contrary actually. I am here because of you, as I said before”.

Arthur’s mind was racing now; who was this man? What did he want?

“Do you remember the children that would make you feel so sad. So bitter. So angry at everything and everyone? Do you remember when you first found my cave?”

What was he talking about? What did he mean by the first time, he had never even noticed the cave before today. Arthur thought back to the shoreline and his Bel Air. Heat or not he could survive the run back to the beach and his car wasn’t too much further. He counted down from three in his head and on one he spun to make his escape but stopped as soon as he turned around. He couldn’t see the shoreline anymore. The inlet seemed to go on straight into the ocean all the way to horizon. How was this even possible? Bewildered, his gaze was broken by the sound of stones shifting beneath the weight of someone moving closer to him. He turned back around and could see the figure of a what looked like a man standing just far enough back so that Arthur couldn’t clearly make out what he looked like. From what he could tell though the man was large and imposing; a stark contrast from his slender, compact frame. At this point he didn’t know what else to do; he couldn’t run, he couldn’t go forward, he was completely out of options. Almost in tears Arthur asked the voice, “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”.

“Arthur, you know who I am.”

Just then Arthur felt a searing pain in his chest and his vision began to blur. He looked down on the hand clasping at his heart and noticed that it looked old and worn. Not the hand of a twenty one year old. He blinked rapidly and when he looked down again his hand was his own again. He was looking for something to attack the voice with and remembered his Coke bottle. He quickly grabbed it from the cave floor and held it out in front of him threatening the man.

“Please, no! Oh my god! Please don’t! Ahhhhhh” Arthur heard a shrill scream from a young woman coming from inside the cave. Confused he looked down and noticed a blood stained Luger 9mm in his hand instead of the Coke bottle. He felt warm, thick droplets dripping from his face and a surge of power and exhilaration rush through him. Terrified he dropped the gun and stumbled backwards. He looked down again and saw the Coke bottle, now broken from landing on the rocky cave floor.

“What…. what is happening to me?!” He was beginning to feel the heat again, knowing it would soon overtake him. At that point the man would be able to do whatever he wanted and he would be helpless to stop him.

“Arthur you know what is happening. You knew eventually we would have to meet again.”

Arthur was still reeling from the pain in his chest when it struck him again. His left arm went numb and when he looked down it too seemed to belong to an entirely different person. Like his other hand it looked old and foreign. His vision was going in and out and in between the flashes of pain and blurriness he could see a dimly lit bedroom that he didn’t quite recognize.

“Please...what...is….happening...to…me” Arthur said through strained gasps of air. Between the heat and flashes of pain he had been brought to his knees and was faintly reaching out into the void for help that he knew would not come. As he was doing this the figure began to step forward until his face was illuminated just enough for Arthur to clearly see who he had been speaking with.

It was himself. Only much older and menacingly more powerful. It was as if he was seeing himself possessed. He looked into his eyes and simultaneously felt an icy chill and the burning sun now filling the cave, making everything around him hot to the touch.

“You’ve always known this would end in fire Arthur. All those people you hurt. The letters you wrote. I was born in your hell and now you will die in mine.”

Arthur blinked and was back in the bedroom. He got out of his bed, stumbling to the en suite bathroom and flipped on the light. Frantically trying to splash water on his face until he felt a sharp pain once again in his chest. He was dying. His right leg gave out from the pain and he fell, putting all of his weight on the sink, ripping it from the wall as he landed hard on his back. He opened his eyes and he was in the cave again staring up at the his own, strange face looking down on him.

“Did you think walking into the sun wouldn’t burn Arthur?”

Arthur could barely keep his eyes open at this point and knew that his time was imminent.

“Don’t worry, I made sure they’ll remember you.”

Arthur Leigh Allen died on August 26, 1992.

But the Zodiac lives on.

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