Chapter 1 – Chap 1

I’m writing this shaking from the comfort of the 3rd floor. I can hear the noise outside. Waves crashing on the shoreline, wind howling against the building. Louder than usual. Covering for something. I’m not sure what it is. Or what they are. Or what they want. I can hear them if I listen. It sounds like the rapid clicks of an insect, but intentional. If you listen closely, you can hear the reply. I’m not sure what their intentions are. Or if they’ll come to me, but if you see this, do not come to Costal Virginia.

My wife’s grandfather owns a beautiful condo in a small town on the coast of Virginia. It’s a small coastal town flanked on either side by the ocean and the bay. If you go further south you will eventually hit a wildlife refuge and a State Park. If you go down all the way, you’ll make your way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The area is nestled between the sea and the bay. From the balcony you can see the ocean to your left, and the bay to your right. Between the fog from the bay and the spray of the ocean, you can see maybe half a mile or so down the road before all vision is lost.

The condos themselves are a pretty recent build, only a few years old. There are a few hundred units in total, with underground garages, a swim up bar, a recreation area, and most of the amenities you would expect from a place where the least expensive of the condos are 2 bedrooms for around 400k. On the outside they are all painted a different pastel color, on the inside they feature granite kitchen counters, and marble in the bathroom. We went pretty late in the season this year, opting to avoid the large crowds during the health crisis. Most of the people there are either locals or are doing the same thing we are, and either way, would prefer to be actively avoided. Which is fine with us as we are seeking a similar arrangement.

Another couple is staying with us, our friends Carl and Deb, as well as our new puppy, Fen. The condo is the perfect size for two couples featuring a master bedroom, a second bedroom, and a second bathroom. When you enter, you enter in a small foyer which branches either to the kitchen, or you can keep going and end up in the dining room and living room. It is peppered with hand crafted nautical art, and hand painted scenes of Sandbridge. It also features two balconies, one off of the living room and one off of the master bedroom which both face south. It is the ideal getaway late in the beach season. At least before this.

The first day here went off without a hitch. We arrived around noon with Carl and Deb, took a grocery store trip featuring dinner items which would allow us to show off our budding culinary skills gained from YouTube, Tasty, and The Great British Bakeoff. We spent the vast majority of the first day on the beach searching for horseshoe crab shells, and anything else of interest, although the majority of the time was spent removing sand from Fens mouth. The beach was almost empty. A few familiar faces of locals we had met in the past, and a few fishermen on the nearby pier. but that was about it. Carl and I decided to take a walk while the girls played with the puppy.

The waves were heavy today, and the spray was heavier than usual. The air was thick with salt, and the briny smells of the sea. However, it was still nice to be on the sand.

“Beach is almost empty today”. Carl looked ahead and kicked at a small shell. Carl is a tall guy, of Puerto Rican descent, jet black hair and a quiet demeanor. Carl and I originally bonded over our love of video games.

“Yeah, late season.” I replied

“Still though, figured there would be at least a few more people.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t surprised. This place emptied out quickly after Labor Day and I wasn’t about to jinx the peace and quiet. I spotted half a horseshoe crab shell poking out of the sand. I grabbed it. Broken. Damn. We made it back to the girls.

Samantha and I walked to the water with Fen. Most puppies I have had in the past have loved the water. Fen, not so much. He sniffed at the briny water, dipping his long, hound ears in it by accident. He sneezed, and thought better of the whole escapade, turning his very short attention to a nearby piece of driftwood. But then, he stopped, and just stared at the sea. The cloud cover had made the sea a steel gray, and the previous days storm had kicked up a bunch of sand close to shore. It was an endless, angry blanket of dark water, still being antagonized by the storm which had since moved out. I noticed dozens of sea birds next to the water. SandPipers, seagulls, even a pelican or two, but not a single one on the water. Not even flying above it.

Fen just stared into the abyss. Suddenly changing moods, howling and snapping at his leash, which he had never done before. I thought a crab had pinched him or he had bit a shell, but even after picking him up, he howled angrily. I took him back to our area, where he hid underneath of my chair. Whimpering softly until finally falling asleep.

“Is he ok?” Deb asked, obviously concerned. Deb and Samantha met while working a part time job during college. She also had long dark hair, and a mild demeanor much like her husband. She loves animals despite being deathly allergic to almost all of them.

“He’s fine. It’s just his first beach trip, doesn’t know what to think.” Samantha explained. I wasn’t overly concerned either, but his behavior was odd, as were the birds. Despite the angry ocean, it was quiet. It was almost like this little part of the world had suddenly taken a sharp inhale.

We headed back to the condo and decided to go across the street to a small restaurant called Cove for dinner. Cove had been in the town almost as long as people had. It looks as you would imagine a small coastal diner would look. Dark wood on both the floors and walls, thick, aging timbers stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Nautical décor littered the walls. Fiberglass models of fish, brass monoculars, flintlock pistols, and fishing nets told the history of this place.

Cove was mostly empty as well apart from the bartender we knew fairly well, and our favorite waitress, Bethany. Samantha and I ordered our usual fish tacos, Deb and Carl ordered fish and chips. Nord, the bartender looked at us quizzically. None of us have ever really been sure if that is his real name or just a nickname, but it fit him well.

“Late in the season for you guys isn’t it?” Nord is the kind of guy who was born a millennia or so too late. He was a very large ginger man with a thick beard. Nord looked like he should be raiding monasteries with a broad axe, not pouring $25 shots to gullible tourists. Norse tattoos snaked up his arms ending at his neck, on the bottom of his beard hung a few pewter decorations braided into his red beard. Nord’s family had owned this place for generations, ever since his great great great grandfather opened it after sailing on Blackbeard’s ship.

“Trying to avoid the plague” I chuckled. Nord didn’t laugh.

“How long are you here”

“Just till next Saturday” I said, taken aback by the lack of his normal, cheerful demeanor. Nord just continued working.

No customer came in while we were there. Nord and Bethany talked quietly at the bar. We ate our food, left a tip, and left. I was last out the door and realized I had left my wallet on the table. I went back in to grab it. Nord was waiting with it at the bar.

“Thanks man, sorry about that” I reached for the wallet. Nord didn’t move.

“Listen.” Nord’s deep voice was almost a growl. He looked at me and paused. It appeared that he was very carefully choosing his words. The wind howled outside. Sand tapped against the windows, making it sound like rain. He shifted uncomfortably where he was standing and started slicing limes with a large knife he kept on his waist.

“There have been some strange things happening lately, so just be careful at night, and don’t swim out too far, even during the day.” He looked like he wanted to keep going but stifled his speech by clearing his throat. Bethany leaned against the doorway to the kitchen.

“Strange?” I asked quizzically. Nord didn’t respond.

“Like crime?”

“A few disappearances, some beached animals, missing pets. Nobody is quite sure why, but..” He didn’t continue, he just kept chopping limes.

“Just be careful, here’s my number, let me know if you need anything” He stopped chopping for a moment, wrote his number on a napkin, and handed it to me.

“I appreciate it man, I’m sure we’ll be fine though.” He nodded and said bye. I could see him watching me very closely as I left in the reflection of the door.

We walked back to the condo without incident and decided to play board games. I poured a few drinks and we played a few rounds of Betrayal at House on the Hill. It was around midnight when we decided to call it a night. I grabbed Fen and started my trek down to the dog park. This involved walking down the hall and taking an elevator to the ground level. The elevator empties out into the parking garage. I held Fen in my hands as I walked from the elevator to the exit.

The garage smelled terrible, a low spot in the ground where the smells from the bay and the pier could congregate into a thick miasma of salt and fish and rot. The lights were sparce leaving gaps of dark on the walk to the door. Puddles of unknown liquid splashed underfoot making me grimace at the realization that I had on flip flops. I got to door and pulled out my key fob to scan. I swiped it across the pad. Red. I tried again. Red. Once more. Green. The door opened and I set Fen down on the grass, connecting his leash to his collar with a satisfying snap.

I looked toward the ocean, all I saw was black. The usual lights at the edge of the beach were out. The only illumination was the single light in the small dog park and the light from the street, which was all the way down the building. The alley to get to the road was flanked on one side by the building itself and on the other by sand dunes, thick with sea grass and a myriad of cactus and other thorny plants. But at night it was just darkness with a small light at the end of the tunnel.

Fen pulled me out of my trance. He was staring down the alley. Normally this area was deafening with insects at night, however tonight, there was nothing. No crickets, no katydids, nothing. Just Silence aside from the crashing waves behind me. Fen, out of nowhere started crying. And not barking in the way that puppies often do but howling as if in pain. He hid behind me bekoning me toward the door to the garage. I continued to stare. I saw nothing. Heard nothing, no movement, no sound. Fen continued to cry, my heart started to pound, the prehistoric part of my brain screaming against all common sense to run or prepare to fight, my inner animal convinced it was in danger. An ancient 6th sense that has protected us across time.

“Hi!”

A voice rang out from the alley. I froze. My eyes darted to neighbors’ balconies and down the alley frantically searching for the source of the greeting. My heart pounding out of my chest. Something about the word put me on higher alert. There was no tonal change, no follow up, nothing. I stared and waited, hoping to God for a follow up conversation. But none came. About 20 seconds passed that felt like an hour.

“Hi!”

The same voice, no tonal change. My instincts told me that something was wrong. It didn’t sound like a person saying hello, it sounded like something imitating speech. Like a parrot regurgitating sounds that had been repeated to it.

Very soon after the second greeting, a figure flashed from the dunes to dark cover of the building at the end of the alley. I could see nothing except that it was bipedal, and at least as tall as a human. I wasn’t going to wait around to figure out what it was. I snatched Fen and headed back into the door. I ran through the garage staring the entrance on the other side sure that whatever headed through that door would be my end. I made it to the elevator with Fen still screaming.

I made it back to the condo. Samantha was sitting inside, looking worried. Carl and Deb were out on the balcony watching the ocean. There were several boats with flashing lights going by, and what sounded like a helicopter overhead.

“Are you ok?” Samantha left her seat, startled at the haste at which I entered the room. I ignored her and ran to the room to find Nord’s number, leaving my wife in the dining room. I called him.

“This is Nord”

“Hey, this is Logan, I saw something at the condos, I saw it for just a sec…” I didn’t realize how fast I was rambling. My hand was shaking so fast it threatened to release my grip on the phone. Nord cut me off.

“Did it talk” He didn’t say it as a question. His voice was calm.

“Did it try to sound human”