The Beach

The family made good time on the highway and arrived at the beach before a crowd could form. On a long weekend, the father and mother wondered if it was smart to take their boy and girl out to their old hangout; the place where they first met, fell in love, and continued to think about as a couple with responsibilities and little free time.

“You kids are gonna love this.”

“Yeah, dad. You said that already.” His daughter never looked up from her phone as she spoke.

“We met here when we were about your age.”

“Yeah, mom. We know.” Her son looked out the window at the open farmland.

“And when you see the water…”

“‘We will be able to look straight to the bottom.’ Yeah, you told us.” At least they spoke in unison; good chance that they might actually get along.

“Crystal Beach.”

“Cristal?” The boy perked up.

“No, Crystal. Not Cristal. You are not drinking it. You are living it.”

“Right.” He leaned back, looking back at the passing scene. They had already been in the car for an hour and he felt the heat on the vinyl that burned his neck and legs. “You are living it.”

“What?”

“Go back to your boyfriend.”

“Shut it!”

“What boyfriend?” Her mom was not going to let that one pass.

“He’s just… He’s just someone from school.”

“Your favourite...”

She punched her brother’s arm before he could finish.

“Favourite?” Her dad was genuinely curious about this.

“It’s nothing. Nothing!”

Her brother cleared his throat.

“Mom, dad…”

“Shut it!”

“At school, the girls have made a list of the boys they like, love and…”

“Don’t…”

“…Lust for.”

Their father looked in the rearview mirror for a very long time. Their mother turned and smiled at the two.

“Small world.”

“Yep, it really is.”

Their kids could not speak.

“You really think that it’s anything new to make those kinds of lists? You really think you guys aren’t on someone’s lists?”

“Umm…we just…”

“Kiddo, your mom had me on a list.”

“And I had him.”

They were smiling at each other and avoiding the stares from the back of the car.

“Get used to it. Maybe you will be on someone’s good list.”

“And what was that again? ‘Love, Like and…’”

“Oh, God!” She looked for her earphones and her brother began to regret the whole reveal.

“Being on someone’s list. Never changes.”

The rest of the car ride was filled with the laughter and memories of parents over the silence of their children. At least they could see the water in the distance, the boy thought. Hope that water really is clear, all the way to the bottom.

*

“Is this place beautiful, or what?”

Their dad ran ahead of them as they began to unload things from the car. She really wanted to say “What” to him, but she had to admit that it really was a beautiful spot. The water was blue, the beach unattended, and the weather perfect for once. The only thing that bothered her was the buildings that were abandoned on the edge of the piers and sand.

“What was that?” She pointed at the looping and rusting metal behind them.

Her mother stared up at it, shading her eyes as she held a basket in one hand.

“Rollercoaster. That was ‘The Monster’.”

“Lame.” Her brother had already taken out his phone and was trying to see if there was any Wi-Fi available.

“No, not lame.” She handed him a cooler, almost forcing him to drop his phone. “Dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?” His sister really did want to know. It loomed over the whole site and seemed made to fall into a mass of rusted metal piping and fencing.

“There’s a reason why the place no longer has it running.”

Their father was back. “Are you guys coming or what?”

“Just telling them the story.”

“Oh.” Their father almost looked disappointed. “You could have let me tell it for ya.” He took out a blanket and some towels.

“Either way, I wanna know what happened.”

Her brother just stared at her. “Don’t you want to spend time on your list?”

“Shut. Up. Dork.” She looked at the decaying mass. “Spill, mom.”

Her mother smiled and led them to water after slamming the trunk.

“Well, when your dad and I were in school, that ride was really popular. It was the only real place nearby where you could ride a rollercoaster with a date. Or on your own.”

Her daughter was starting to fidget.

“Anyway, one day the place was shut down for a week because some kids got hurt.”

“Honey,” her husband was staring past her. “You said you would tell them the truth.”

“Yeah…The kids on the ride got killed.”

Their kids were paying more attention now.

“Killed? On the ride?”

“Where else, dummy? Go finish your list.”

“Shut it! Mom, what…?”

“The thing went off the tracks and landed on the beach. About five kids got killed, seven injured. Some people on the beach also got hurt. More deaths.”

No one was speaking. Their dad took over.

“So, not long after, they shut it all down and decided that the beach could stay open but no more rides. A real shame, I think.”

No one spoke for a moment. The boy dropped his phone. The girl stared at her parents. Someone had to speak.

“Golly, dad…”

His sister snorted and looked at him.

“Golly? Really, you just said…”

“What else could I say? They brought us to a death trap.”

Their mother looked upset about this. The beach towel she held snapped in the air as she set it up on the ground.

“Not a death trap. It was an unfortunate moment that changed everything.”

“Yeah, for the whole beach.”

Their dad spoke and the kids wondered what he meant.

“The beach?”

“Yeah, for the whole place.”

“But, the beach…?”

“I mean, people stopped coming out here. ‘The Monster’ was dismantled. I lost a job.”

The girl blinked at her dad.

“You never said you worked here.”

“Sorry, I should have.”

There was a moment she could not let pass.

“You were here when it happened.”

Her father set up an umbrella to shield them from the beautiful sun.

“I think I need to rest for a moment. Your mother, too.”

They both took to the shade as their kids looked at them with new thoughts in their heads.

“You wanna take a walk?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Don’t go too far. We’re gonna eat around four.”

Their kids walked on the edge on the water, avoiding the breaking waves.

*

“So, what do you think?”

He looked at his sister as the waves tried to touch their feet. They had managed to walk far enough to make it to the pier. It rose up several feet and seemed solid and held firm against all of the decay and damage that surrounded it. Plumes of algae lapped at the darkened wood and seagulls landed on top, calling to each other with intent. They could not see any way of climbing up to get a better view of the water. He thought about this as he waited for his sister’s response.

“About what?”

“About what they said.” He pointed at their parents on the blankets. They were setting up some plates and food under the umbrella and their laughter was still clear from a distance.

“Not really thinking about it.”

“Bullshit.”

“No, I’m not. I just…” She looked at the pier that cut off their walk. “I just wonder why they took this place.”

“Yeah, me too. I mean, I know they got memories of the place, but that story would just make me not want to see this place ever again.”

“Right. But still…it is nice here.” She looked around at the water and the expanse of beachfront.

“Yeah, I wonder about that, too.”

“What?” She took out her phone again; still no Wi-Fi available here.

“Where is everyone?”

“Um…they might just not be free…”

“On a week-end? In the summer? The weather is perfect and no one’s here. That’s just fucked up.”

She looked around.

“Maybe they know about this place, too.”

“Right.” He turned to head back.

“Wait for me.”

They had a bit of a walk to their parents and they both shared a thought that they never spoke out loud: for such a quiet place, it had the most beautiful sand they had ever seen. Their parents had taken them south to Florida, the Caribbean, even one week-end in Hawaii for their father’s business, but they had never seen sand this clear and white and undisturbed. They never mentioned this to each other as they walked back. There seemed to be no point to it.

“You hungry?”

“Strange, but yeah.”

They looked ahead.

“Race ya!”

They both ran up to their parents.

*

It had been a beautiful day. The barbecue they set up had been a good thought for the day and they enjoyed their hamburgers and hot dogs. They were just sitting there on the sand now, waiting for the sun to sink into the beautiful blues and reds around the golden sunset.

“You guys were right. This place rocks.”

“Does it, young lady?” Her mother was packing things away into the basket.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, she isn’t even thinking of the loves she loves…”

Another hit on her brother’s arm, but this was much gentler.

“Really?” Her father did not seem convinced. “You should be honest with the boys and say what you really feel if you are making those lists.” The barbecue grill was still cooling down.

The girl yawned. “Well, yeah. You’re right, dad. And…some of them know already.”

Her mother perked up. “Great! About time you showed some interest.”

“Mom, you’re gonna get her in trouble with that! ‘Like’ is okay; ‘Love’ is too much…”

“But ‘Lust’ is bad?”

He could not believe that he was having this conversation with his dad. He was feeling tired, too.

“ ‘Lust’ is just… Well, we are teenagers. What do you expect?”

Both of their parents laughed at that. And he wondered why this was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable.

“Looks like your sister is already out for the count.”

He looked at the other body on the blanket. Her phone fell out of her pocket and he could see that there were no bars. And again, he wondered… Something was bothering him.

“Damn! Mom, Dad… We never really got to see the water! We never went in for a swim…”

His parents looked at each other with something hard and cold behind their stares.

“We know.”

Their son yawned once again, finding it difficult not to lie down beside his sister on the large beach blanket. The cooler and basket was packed and the barbecue was ready to go. A lone seagull was calling out by the pier. He looked at his parents once more before their voices seemed to be calling to him from so far away.

“You are so ready for this.” His mother walked away to the car.

“You deserve this.” His father carried the grill back to the vehicle.

*

He awoke in the dark, feeling heavier and more sated than he had ever felt in his life.

“You up?”

He looked around to see who was speaking.

At first, he was not sure what he was seeing. The sun had gone down and there were distant street lamps on the other side of the pier. But he had to be dreaming as he stared at the figure in front of him.

A pale blue figure was pointing at him in the dim light. It was dressed in shorts and a golf shirt and seemed to be smiling at him, but it was not a smile he wanted to see. Black mucus and filth spilled out of its mouth and nostrils as it spoke a second time.

“You up?”

He tried to speak, wondering how his bladder was remaining so strong in the moment. Then he realized that he wanted to know what his sister was up to; he wanted to see her.

“Don’t bother.”

It was another voice, this time a young girl on his left. She looked exactly like the first figure, but she was now holding his sister in her arms. He could tell that she was turning into one of them (amazing how well the eyes adjust in the dark). He could also see that she was about to scream. A filthy arm wrapped around her head, filling his sister’s mouth with the same black mucus he was already trying to forget.

“Thank you. We could not bear another summer without you. Please come with us. We have so much to show you.”

He finally found his voice and screamed for his parents.

The first figure began to laugh.

“They brought you here, as promised. We are the ones who were lost to the beach; the ones who will not rest until there are others who can take our place. Your mother and father did a great thing. Now, please…” It pointed at him and stepped forward.

It was probably silly to run to the pier. He dropped his phone on the way and did not look back as he heard all of the collected voices behind him screaming inside his head to return to the beach. And the water was too cold to really help him on that night. Their parents had already reported their children missing and would be chastised for allowing their children to go off on their own on a long weekend, but they could take that. Their son’s last thought was about how he should have stayed out of the water, but also about how he wished he had swum earlier. Was it really crystal clear all the way down?

Strange and strong fingers and hands grabbed him and he was pulled under.

He would soon find out.