by Jamie Loeak
light grey eyes. Her skin was bronzing already, and Kate chose to wear a light coat of mascara and drown her lips in chapstick. She wore a flowing auburn sundress that showed off her long, lean legs.
When her parents called her downstairs, Kate grabbed her cell phone and pushed it into her small clutch. She walked out the door, following her parents as they headed down the long sidewalk and into the empty street. The restaurant was pretty close so they decided to walk. As they approached the restaurant, properly named The Beach House, the southern charm of the old mansion lifted everyone’s spirits. Large columns held up the second-story balcony, and loose sand littered the wide deck. An intricately designed glass door served as the focal point of the building; it was as inviting as it was beautiful, and Kate couldn’t take her eyes from the swirling details. However, the slight breeze shook the palm trees that framed the upstairs windows, and Kate looked over at the fresh coat of paint that shone on the white exterior. Next to her, she heard her parents talking about how the locals loved The Beach House; her mom said that a few of her coworkers claimed that it served the best shrimp scampi in Dolphin Bay. The idea of real food made Kate’s stomach rumble, and she eagerly followed her parents as they walked up to the wide, wooden porch. The planks were painted a dark, romantic green that matched the shutters upstairs, and a large metal chandelier swung precariously in the salty breeze.
“This was a fabulous choice, Aaron. I’m so excited to be here with both of you,” Blaire said as she squeezed her husband’s arm. She looked up at her husband, stars shining in her eyes. It made her look younger, the way she smiled up at him. She turned to smile over at Kate, but the pull of her lips wasn’t as large, as real as it was before.
Kate nodded in answer and followed her parent’s into the wide, double doors. The golden sunlight trickled in, shimmering on the dark floor around them. When the door closed behind them, Kate had to blink to focus her eyes.
In contrast to the bright exterior, the interior was dimly lit. Antique oil lamps served as centerpieces that sat atop ruby tablecloths. The furniture was white, the carpets dark to hide stains. Kate marveled at her mom and dad, Blaire muttering to herself about what to get, and Kate’s dad analyzing the freshness of the ingredients; it was embarrassing, the way the waitress had to ask the family twice if they were ready to order their meals. Each time, she was sent away with the suggestion of coming back in another moment. When Kate’s parents were finally ready to order, they kept asking question after question, grilling the waitress about the seafood being served that night. The couple asked about the woman’s preference, and, in the end, decided to choose the shrimp scampi instead; it was the meal that Kate ordered, and the one thing they didn’t pester the waitress about. Kate’s shock and embarrassment soon faded, leaving her mortified. The entire meal was spent in an oddly normal silence that was accompanied by the clinking sound of metal against glass, of ice against crystal.
When the long dinner ended, the small family chose to sit on the deck out back. Kate ordered a smoothie and gulped it down while her parents sipped martinis. Her anger and embarrassment had lifted, and she sat contentedly, listening to the whispered conversation of her mother and father. They discussed their first day at work, her mom talking about her new boss and her dad talking about the case he was assigned to. They both seemed happy about the move to Dolphin Bay, and it made Kate happier about it too; she loved seeing her parents happy about a new home, especially her dad, since he was the one that was forced to move. Kate didn’t mind moving as much. It gave her an excuse to be a loner, and there were never any explanations or questions about her loneliness. It was normal for her to be the new kid, and they never stayed anywhere long enough for her to make real friends. Good thing, too, because Kate wasn’t great at making real friends.
Out at the water’s edge, the sunset shimmered, captivating the admiration of the other dinner guests. The sky was painted in a range of purples and oranges that Kate had never seen before, and as the family walked along the beach later that evening, she looked over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the rainbow sky.
“Don’t stray too far, Kate!” Blaire’s voice echoed down the beach. She turned around, her hand in her husband’s, as she called out to Kate. Her fair cheeks were pink from a mixture of the summer heat and the martini, and Kate shook her head at her parents. The couple always held hands, fingers intertwined, and laughed like they were still in that young phase of love. Kate’s parents always did that; they always made people jealous with the intensity that they loved each other with. Kate found it comforting and hoped that she would one day find what they had been lucky enough to find.
As the sky turned to grey around them, Kate’s parents drifted closer to the water’s edge. Kate could hardly see them now; their figures were dark silhouettes against a darkening sky. She walked along in silence, humming to herself, distracted by her thoughts of love. She was too consumed by her musings to notice the dark figure approaching. Still, she continued to meander through the darkness, using the sound of her parents’ laughter as a guide. She hoped that she wouldn’t pass their cozy beach house and almost thought about joining her mom and dad by the water’s edge. However, something kept her where she was, walking along the black outlines of her neighbors’ homes. When the wind changed course, swirling around her instead of just passing by, Kate knew that something was off. She stopped immediately and turned around. She stepped forward and smacked into someone, and as she tried to back up, the stranger moved closer, stepping on Kate’s foot and covering her mouth as she began to scream. Kate panicked, flailing her arms and legs out, wishing that she had stayed with her parents, wishing that she had gone to find them moments before.
A deep, rough voice whispered in Kate’s ear, telling her to calm down. Kate struggled even more, overcome by fear when she began to feel her strength waning. She was terrified by this man’s strength. She couldn’t move at all. The weight of his muscles was crushing her body, pushing against her ribcage with the force of a punch. When the man began to walk backward, dragging Kate with him, all hope vanished, pointless like tears or protests. The man pulled her until they stepped underneath a deck, and complete darkness shrouded their presence. Shadows from the supporting beams crossed the smooth sand, reaching out like desperate fingers. Kate could feel her heart giving up even though her body continued to struggle against the man’s powerful hold on her. She couldn’t breathe; she couldn’t think; she couldn’t cry. She just kicked and pushed with arms and legs.
“She’s quite a fighter,” Kate heard the man growl, and she grew more frightened, wondering how many men stood there. “You should have stayed with your family, girl. They would have kept you safe and sound. You should learn not to wander off when it’s dark outside. Didn’t you learn that in school?” The man chuckled in Kate’s ear, and in a moment of sheer adrenaline-filled panic, she slammed her head against his, as hard as she could. The man let her go, disoriented for a moment, and even though Kate saw stars she knew that she needed to run away. She just hoped that another man wouldn’t catch her before she made it far enough away to scream.
As if on cue, a low grunt escaped another man’s throat. He lunged forward and reached out, grasping the ends of Kate’s hair in vain. She forced her left elbow into something soft, and felt stronger when she heard the new man fall back into one of the supporting beams, slamming against the wood and making the structure shake. She couldn’t help but turn around before she pushed forward and stumbled through the deep, soft sand. What she saw alarmed her; three more men stood around, waiting.
Kate heard someone standing up somewhere behind her and fear pumped through her veins. She pushed her legs as hard as she could and began to call for her parents, for anyone. She staggered forward and felt the softer sand dissipate, the hard and wet sand taking its place. Her parents answered her calls then, and she could feel, rather than hear, her pursuers giving up. Kate followed the sound of her parents concerned voices; she knew that her own voice was fil
led with desperation and fear. However, when she found her parents a moment later, relief was the only sensation left. There was no evidence of her near-kidnapping, other than the frantic beating of her heart and her erratic breathing.
“Honey, what’s the matter?” Blaire asked, catching her daughter in an embrace. “Kate,” she added as she ran her hands up and down Kate’s upper arms, “you’re freezing. What on earth happened? Did you fall in a freezer somewhere?”
Underneath Blaire’s concern, Kate could feel a hint of laughter. Blaire wasn’t really serious about Kate’s scared voice, and Kate made up her mind in that moment. She was going to lie. “Nothing,” she said in false calmness. “I just got scared of the dark is all. And I’m pretty sure I’m still cold from that smoothie,” she added, confused. She didn’t feel cold at all, but her mom wouldn’t have said that she felt cold if she wasn’t. Her mom was at least reasonable.
“Okay,” Blaire dragged, her voice skeptical. She pulled Kate into a half hug and held her next to her, rubbing her upper arm as they turned toward their
