So, I am going to start posting my personal stuff here, mostly short short stories and flash fiction and all my numerous personal opinions on various things, for lack of someplace better… however, I will not be posting first drafts or anything, so it may be weeks between posts. Feel free to comment on the stories if available. Have fun

March 17th, 2014

Last Night
By Levi Stepanov

My family used to love to go camping on the beach. Growing up on the ocean and around boats, we were always around the water, so when dad suggested we go spend the night on the island, we were all very excited about it. We spent about 30 minutes getting our stuff together and headed out to the dock behind the house to meet up. Mom and Dad got the food and camping supplies together, while my brother Jon and I got our swimsuits and some extra clothes and then we all met out on the boat around, I think, 10 in the morning.

The island we usually go to was only a couple hour boat ride from home, so we got there just in time to set up a picnic and have lunch. It wasn’t anything fancy, just sandwiches, fruit and some sodapop. I love sodapop. Anyway, after eating we then went to set up camp, we had that all done within an hour and then we all went fishing for a little while, next to where the boat was anchored, hoping to catch something special for dinner. We had mixed results.

Mom and Jon each caught big groupers, Dad and I didn’t get anything, but due to the size of the couple fish the others caught, we managed to make due, and could save the rest of our sandwiches for breakfast.

I was still hoping to get some swimming in before dark so after we cleaned the fish, I quickly got changed and off I went, snorkel in hand. Sometimes Jon will swim with me, but he got a sunburn earlier and didn’t feel like going, so I was alone this time. My swim was pretty short and uneventful. I didn’t see anything especially weird, there was one really big jellyfish that I almost swam into though, but that was it. When I finished my swim, I cleaned up and changed, then we ate dinner and watched the sunset.

I then asked Jon if he wanted to take a walk with me down the beach, he actually agreed, which surprised me a little, I mean, since he didn’t want to swim, which he loves to do, I never imagined he would want to just walk around… but he did.

So, the two of us were walking along the beach, the sun had just gone down not too long before, the sky was still a mix of orange and blue. It was a pretty quiet night, no crickets or anything on the island, so all I could hear were the waves lapping gently against the shore a short way off to my right, while Jon was going on and on about this girl he met at school, I think her name was Stacy, to my left. To be perfectly honest, I was looking at the stars coming in and I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to what he was saying, Jon talks about a new amazing girl he met in school every other week.

As we walked farther and farther, I realized that we were no longer close to camp, in fact, I don’t think we had ever been this far from the inlet before. Suddenly, I was startled by a dark shape moving towards me, from the opposite direction. I stopped walking and called out ‘Is someone there?’; but there was no reply. Starting to get nervous I called out again ‘Is anyone there?’, as did Jon, now noticing the object as well… still no response. I am not sure what Jon was thinking, but I was really getting worried at this point, since the shape kept growing larger and larger, as if it was coming closer and closer. We looked at each other and seemed to agree that it was time to head back, so we turned around to head the other way when all of a sudden there was a loud crash from the direction of the dark shape. I don’t have to tell you that now we started to retrace our steps back to camp really fast.. I broke into a jog as the fear built within me. Moments later I could begin to make out the light of the camp and began to feel at ease, so I slowed down to take a look behind me and see if Jon had kept up… and to make sure there wasn’t anyone, or anything, else back there. As I turned around, I thought I could see a slight shimmer out of the corner of my eye at which point I heard Jon cry out and everything went dark.

That’s all I remember of that night.

When I awoke. I was here, in this bed. The doctors tell me the events of that night were over 50 years ago, I tell them that is impossible, it was yesterday, I am only 15 years old. But they insist they are correct. One of the nurses gave me a mirror earlier. I wish I knew her, this old, grey haired woman who stares back at me when I look into it, but I don’t. I can’t recognize her and I have no idea who she is.