Down by the Sea

Chester Springs was a quiet village to say the least. The extremely small population meant everyone knew each other, and if anything out of the ordinary occurred, everyone knew about it. That also meant that any strangers coming through the town were instantly recognized as such. In addition to being a small quiet village, Chester Springs had the benefit of being right on the coast, which meant the majority of the economy was a result of fishing. There were also farmers, and most of the women could sew and spin fabrics, so despite the size and distance from other towns, the village thrived.

The village was nestled into its own little hole away from the rest of the world. Of course, anyone could easily drive to the bigger towns and cities, but most of the people in Chester Springs were content with where they were. Until the strangest thing happened: one of the fishing boats came back empty. The boat ran aground overnight, only to be discovered in the morning by the police constable, Henry Alpin. “Anyone in there?” he called out, hoping for an answer. He marched around the boat, shining his flashlight towards the railing. The sun had only just started to rise, and the sky was still a dark gray. He squinted his eyes, noticing the deep cuts along the side of the boat. Had something happened to it? he wondered. He couldn’t recall there being a storm the night before.

As Henry searched for a way to board the boat, a small crowd started to gather around him. “Stay back, everyone, please, police duty,” he called out before climbing his way aboard. From inside the boat, it definitely appeared to be empty. No, he thought, its been abandoned. Fishing nets and buckets were strewn carelessly across the deck. Henry continued to shine his flashlight through the shadows as he took mental notes of the mess. Those same deep gouges that appeared outside the boat were dug randomly across the deck as well. And was that blood on those ropes? Henry got closer, picking up the pile of ropes and examining the dark stains closer. A metallic odor mixed with the salty sea smell, and his nose wrinkled. He dropped the ropes and went to check the cabins. Those too were empty, just as he had expected they would be.

Henry climbed down from the boat and approached the still-growing crowd. “Constable, what’s happened?” one woman asked, curiosity filling her voice.

“There’s nothing to see here,” he assured everyone. “The boats empty. Some sailors must’ve gotten a little too sozzled and beached their boat. I’m sure they’re home sleeping off their hangovers now. Everyone go on, clear out of here.” Henry gestured with his hands for the crowd to shoo as he started back up the beach himself. To say he was confused was an understatement. He spent the day trying to convince himself that the blood he saw was a stain from something else. Or maybe he was right, and the fishermen aboard the ship got so drunk one of them had an accident, or maybe they even got into a fight with each other.

However, the village of Chester Springs quickly came to the realization that the boat had shored itself on its own, and its sailors were missing. A few days later, a body had washed up on the shore. Henry was called down to the beach to investigate. When he got there, a crowd had gathered around the body, and he could hear the whispers and murmurs as everyone gossiped about what terrible fate must have fallen on the sailor.

“Alright, everyone,” Henry bellowed, pushing his way through the crowd, “Go home, there’s nothing to see here. Coroners have been called, now clear out.”

He watched as the disgruntled villagers made their way through the sand, back up to the grassy knoll. Sighing heavily, Henry turned to examine the body himself. He grimaced as he looked over it. What was left of the guy was swollen and waterlogged. The sailor’s skin was missing in spots, torn to shreds in others, and grey where it was still attached to the body. It took everything Henry had not to vomit from the sight. He wasn’t used to this kind of thing.

When Henry had taken the constable position in Chester Springs, he had thought he’d have life easy. Most of the time, it was. His days were primarily spent filling out and filing paperwork. He’d get an occasional call from a nosy complainer worrying about a neighbor’s dog barking. Sometimes he’d have to pick someone up from the local diner and throw them in the drunk tank over night. His job was never difficult though, and he never had to worry about things like dead bodies washing up.

When the coroner finally arrived from the next town over, Henry left him to it. Ready to have the body removed and forget about the whole tragic ordeal. Of course, the villagers weren’t going to let him forget about it. It seemed as if every time he turned around Henry was being questioned about the body that had washed up. “It was an accident, I’m sure,” he answered over and over.

That answer wasn’t good enough for the villagers though. They’d pry more and more. “How though? What happened to the sailors on that boat that turned up?” asked the grocer.

“I don’t know yet, I’m sure they’ll turn up.” Hopefully alive, he thought. Maybe another boat picked them up, and they were in another village, unable to get home yet.

“What happened to that guy that washed up?” asked his neighbor when he arrived home for the evening.

“I can’t say for sure,” Henry would answer. “He must’ve fallen overboard.”

“Those gashes though,” his neighbor would start, “What could cause that. Do you think a shark got him.”

“No,” Henry would shake his head, not wanting the people in his village to worry. He knew how gossip spread in such a small place. “He must’ve got cut up on the rocks, or maybe some coral.” Henry wasn’t even sure he even believed his theories, but it quieted the village’s concerns for a few days.

A few days passed, the village tried to get back to its normal routine, but there was a lingering feeling of doubt amongst them all. The tiny bit of security they felt was soon wiped away when another fishing boat returned from sea.

The sailors were crazed and frantic, rushing to get off the docks and away from the water. They hadn’t brought back any fish with them, and a couple of them were missing. They went straight to Henry, telling him all about the living nightmare they had experienced. “Monsters!” the sailors claimed, “There were monsters in the water. One ate Jack right in front of us, torn him to shreds!”

“Calm down, calm down,” Henry interrupted, having a hard time believing anything they were saying. “Now, one at a time. What are you lot going on about? Monsters? Preposterous!”

“It’s true,” one of the younger sailors, Robert spoke up. “I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. They climbed aboard in the middle of the night. We all woke to Jack’s screaming, but it was too late. There was nothing we could do for him.”

“You’re expecting me to believe sea monsters got ahold of your missing crew?” Henry asked, his eyebrows raised.

“It’s the truth, we swear it!”

Henry looked over each sailor, the same fear that was in Robert’s eyes was shared amongst the crew. Maybe there was something to their story after all. It was just too hard to believe. “I think you all should go home,” Henry finally said. “Wash up, eat, have yourselves a good night sleep.”

“You don’t believe us, do you?” Robert asked.

“To be quite honest, I don’t know what to believe.”

Henry had assumed-or hoped more than likely-that things would calm down after a few days. He had no answer for the fishing boat that had shown up on the beach, or for the apparent attack on another group of fisherman. He hoped that if everything calmed down, the villagers would just move on from this nightmare. That didn’t happen though. As more people began to vanish mysteriously, more questions were raised. A woman’s husband and son never came back from a fishing trip. Another fishing crew was attacked by ‘monsters.’ Teenagers went missing from the beach.

The only thing Henry could do was close the beach to everyone until further notice. Even the fishing crews were not allowed to go out until things could be investigated more thoroughly. Most of the town was appeased by this. Parents told their children to stay off the beach and away from the water. The fisherman searched for temporary jobs until they could head back out.

Margaret, Dorothy, and Hazel were only twelve years old when strange things started to occur in their little village of Chester Springs. Their parents relayed Constable Alpin’s warnings to them, reminding them daily to stay off of the beach.

The three best friends chatted about the mysterious happenings regularly. “So what do you think it is?” Hazel asked. “What’s wrong with the beach?”

“I heard there were sea monsters,” Margaret answered, matter-of-factly.

“That’s crazy,” Hazel returned. “There’s no such thing as monsters.”

“How do you know?” Margaret arched her brows. “We should go find out.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dorothy warned them. “People have gone missing from the beach. We shouldn’t go down there.”

“Oh, come on,” Margaret rolled her eyes, “What are you so scared of? I guarantee there’s nothing to worry about.”

As the girls planned a secret trip to the beach, an uneasy feeling grew in the pit of Dorothy’s stomach. No matter how much Margaret assured her everything would be fine, she couldn’t help but to think otherwise.

After school, while their parents were still at work, and the girls were certain they wouldn’t be caught, they marched down to the beach. They walked along the grassy knoll until they were far out of sight from anyone in the village, and climbed down the rocks to the sand.

“I’m still not sure about this,” Dorothy said. Worry was etched into her face, and she hugged her arms around her chest, eyes darting around at the empty beach. Even the atmosphere seemed to have changed since the last time she’d been there.

“Stop worrying so much!” Margaret told her. We’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, come on.” Hazel reached out, forcing her hand into one of Dorothy’s and pulling her along the beach towards the water.

Dorothy reluctantly followed after her two friends. Hazel let go of her, and ran to catch up with Margaret, who was approaching the shore line. Dorothy stopped, eyes wide when she saw the others in the water. “Guys!” she called out, but her friends ignored her. What appeared to be a man and a woman were moving quickly through the water towards the girls. As they got closer, Dorothy could see their skin was the same color as the sand, but it shimmered in the dying sunlight, as if they were covered in silver fish scales. Their mouths were impossibly wide, and their big round eyes were the same dark grey as the ocean. Stringy black hair hung down, covering the seaweed that wrapped their bodies. “Guys!” Dorothy screamed this time.

“What?” Margaret shouted back, annoyed that Dorothy was such a worrywart.

“I think you should get out of the water!”

Margaret and Hazel ignored her.

“I mean it!” she yelled at them, “Look!” She pointed behind them. The shimmery couple were closer now. The two girls turned to look out to the sea. “Come on!” Dorothy screamed again. Her friends seemed to be frozen in place. Dorothy was frightened and unsure of what to do. Finally the thought popped into her head: she needed to get help.

Dorothy turned and ran. The sand slowed her down, but she pushed through it regardless. She slipped on the rocks, scraping her knees and the palms of her hands. Dorothy never looked back though, terrified that if she did, one of those things would be right behind her. She didn’t know what they were, but she knew they weren’t human.

Once she finally got to the grass she jumped up and ran for the village as fast as she could. Dorothy did her best to block out the dying screams of her friends until she could no longer hear them. She wasn’t sure if it was because they could no longer scream, or if it was a result of distance. She didn’t stop to check, and she didn’t look back until she was in the village.

When she got to her home, she burst through the door, panting and frantic. “Mom!” she cried, fear filling her voice, “Mom, they’re out there!”

“Calm down,” her mother told her, coming out of the kitchen. Concern filled her eyes when she seen the state of her daughter. “What’s the matter? Calm down and talk to me.”

“Its Margaret and Hazel!” her voice cracked as she spoke, and tears reached the corners of her eyes. “We went to the beach. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.” As she spoke, the tears started to fall.

Her mom pulled her into her arms, “Hush now,” she told her, rubbing her back. “You’re okay. You’re safe. Now, tell me, what happened on the beach?”

“There were monsters in the water, they got them.”

“Monsters? Are you sure they weren’t just playing a trick on you?”

Dorothy nodded, “I’m certain, I watched them come up out of the water. I heard their screams.” The girl shuddered in her mother’s arms, crying into the woman’s shoulder.

Once Minnie Webster had gotten her daughter calmed down and into bed, she called the constable, telling him everything that Dorothy had told her. A town meeting was called, and it was decided that the village had lost enough people over the course of the week. It wasn’t worth the lives of anymore people, nonetheless children. The fishermen would find new jobs, or travel outside of the village for work, the beaches would be closed indefinitely, and the harbor would be destroyed. The village had to be protected.

The village decided not to tell the children what was going on. There was no need to frighten them. They’d come up with excuses to keep them out of the water and away from the beach. It didn’t matter what, as long as the children listened. For the most part, they did. Every now and then there would be a curious child that wanted to know why they couldn’t go down to the water, but they listened. It wasn’t until forty years later when Dorothy Webster’s niece, Nina, went missing, and a rowboat washed up with her personal belongings that they realized not everyone was going to listen, and the threat was still out there.