Playing on the darkside…

Keithcr at MorgueFile.com

Playing on the Darkside

Traci Kenworth

 

 

The beach party noise escalated. A group of us sat around the fire. Cassandre leaned

forward and whispered, “Ever hear the legends about this beach?”

I shrugged.

“Where do you live, Eliza! The history of Rockfield Beach is rich.”

“I just don’t pay attention to hauntings and such.”

“Well you should,” she said. “What they say about it is true. Mark and I have seen some

gruesome sights.”
            “Of what beer bottles broken on the rocks?” Dave laughed.

            I snuggled closer to him.

            Cassandre shook her head. “We saw a girl about our age dragged off the rocks over there and devoured by a pack of humans.”

            “Why didn’t you go to the police?” I asked.

            “We did,” Mark answered, “Nobody ever found a trace of her.”

            “So why come here again?”

            They glanced at each other. “There’s nothing like the thrill of defeating death.”

            I shivered. “You two are lunatics.”

            Cassandre tapped her bottle against my knee. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Oh, and don’t take any long walks on the sand.”

            “Ignore them, bumpelkins, they’re just messing with our heads,” Dave said.

            Mark and Cassandre looked at each other and laughed.

            “We’ll see,” she said.

            The fire began to die down as the night wore on. Other couples left, some to search for seclusion, some to their cars. Noise filtered down to the crack of the flames. Cassandre and Mark held hands. From the far side of the beach came screams.

            The two started. “This is where it comes,” they chanted. “Get ready to run.”

            Dave and I glanced at each other.

            “It’s just some party out of control,” he said.

            Cassandre and Mark readied for flight. “Any minute now.”

            I smiled at Dave who took his arm from me. We stood. A running figure came into view alongside the shoreline. There were people chasing her. One such human jumped her from behind. Screams were cut off by the sheer numbers of her pursuers as they wrenched her between them.

            Shadows appeared on the beach to our other side. Closing in.

            Cassandre and Mark started to run but we held them back.

            “Don’t be in such a hurry,” I said.

            Dave grinned. “Time to meet the family.”

            She opened her mouth to a, “But—” 

            Mark finished for her. “You were one of us.”

            I smiled. “Don’t you two know you can only cheat death for so long?”

            The others circled the two, their human teeth ripe with flesh.

©Copyright September 25, 2010 tlc.

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