Ghost in the Storm

I took my flashlight and turned it on. The fog made it cooler than it normally would be, I zipped up my jacket. Even though it was dark at least it wasn’t raining. The whole beach seemed like a graveyard, and the moon made the fog look like a ghost could appear out of it. It was high tide. I knew that because you could tell from the smell. I had accidentally gotten my shoes wet, so I took them off and carried them the rest of the way.

I shone the light around and saw a bunch of shadows. It really freaked me out. A cold rush of air had just passed me. Looking back, I was worried that my grandma might check in on me because of that worried look she gave me earlier. Something in the trees moved, but there wasn’t even a shadow. I shone the light again, toward where I heard whatever it was move. It was gone.

I turned around, walking fast. Twigs snapped. “This was a bad idea, Jena,” I said under my breath. I walked even faster; it sounded like something or someone was following me. I was in full run now, and whenever I went faster so did that thing. Stumbling at almost every rock my foot touched, I reached for my flashlight. I tripped as it started to drizzle.

“Shoot!” I mumbled. My flashlight is missing and now it was going to rain. I lay there, probably frozen. I felt like I couldn’t move. Someone was coming toward me. He bent down only a few feet away from me and picked up my flashlight. “Hey, that’s mine,” I said. He stood up holding the flashlight, “I know.” I still couldn’t move. He was taller than me and sounded like he was fourteen, at least a year older than me.

I had positioned myself against a rock, but was still not standing up all the way. He walked toward me, holding out the flashlight. I swear, I stared right at his face, but I still couldn’t see what he looked like. “You gonna take it or what?” he said. I reached out and he put it in my hand. I was going to turn the light on but he stopped me. “I wouldn’t turn it on if I were you… someone might see it,” he said, pushing the light away from him. I don’t think that was why he said not to turn it on. He looked up at the sky. There were a bunch of storm clouds, and I saw lightning. “You might want to go home,” he told me.