EXCERPT:
When she glanced up at the policeman again she caught what she thought was some kind of fear in his eyes, then a shuttered look filtered over his face and his eyes revealed nothing. It had been so fleeting that she thought that maybe she imagined it.
"Yes, it will. Just keep following to the next street over that goes the same way this one does, then make a turn on Cobblestone Court after ten blocks. Follow that street until you leave the outskirts of Chesapeake. You'll find yourself in Necro Bay, if that's what you really want."
"Yes, I want-"
Lisa watched as he turned about face and left her. With a sigh, she rolled the window back up and did as he had instructed.
She had decided to move to this part of Virginia because of its reputation for peace and quiet. To free herself of her nightmares. Least that's what her psychiatrist, Dr. Tomson, told her back in L.A. So far, things weren't. A movie being filmed here just like back home, then its director found dead, possibly murdered. She admitted it was the next town over from her final destination, but still closed enough. She had quit her job back home in California and had moved across country to Virginia, spending all her money on a house by the ocean. A house with its own private beach, in fact. This move was for her health and even more important, her sanity. Unlike Virginia Beach and even Chesapeake, Necro Bay was supposed to be a small town, maybe more like a village. Unlike bigger Chesapeake, it was supposed to be idyllic.
She saw that the road had left Chesapeake and entered Necro Bay by the signs. Not completely countrified, she noticed that the place's main street held a tiny drugstore, a small grocery market, a real estate business and a few other stores there. Not a name brand company anywhere. Sidewalks marched along in front of the stores, showing how nice it would be to go for a stroll on them. She caught sight of two different doctors' offices. One was her future psychiatrist, Dr. Emeritus's. The other a G.P. She passed a nice-looking park. It had a playground for kids, and she saw quite a few benches scattered around, along with a basketball court. No children playing there now, though. But she remembered it was a school day and a good reason for no kids. The houses all looked uniform in style, white clapboard with colonial-blue shutters and slate-grey roofs.
Just your average American seaside town. Charming.
Once upon a time in her life this kind of place would have never attracted her. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she embraced the crazy lifestyle of noise, partying at nightclubs, and all that it embodied until the unfortunate incident of the nightmares that started a few years ago. Suddenly, small-town life Mayberry style seemed the right choice.
She caught a glimpse of the ocean. A sparkling blue, thanks to the sun, mild waves of foam rolled along on it. The sight grew larger and larger until she found herself at her new home, the ocean behind it. It was the only place around, surrounded by empty lots. There were other homes, but they were much farther back up the street. Parking the car in the small concrete driveway, she shut off the engine and climbed out. She heard the sound of waves crashing from the ocean behind the house and the screams of gulls that soared in the sky above. Locking her car door and leaving her purse, luggage and boxes in it, she followed the yard around to the back of the house and came upon the beach. No one else was on it. Just a mile of empty sand either way. The sea stretched out endless blue until in the distance she caught a speck and realized it was a boat. She sighed, contented.
I'm alone.
Perfect. Just her and the house and the ocean. Oh, the real estate agent that Dr. Tomson knew, who sold her the house by email, guaranteed a phone in the house, connected to Verizon, and that the electricity would be on, thanks to Virginia Power. So she would have a way to communicate to the outside world.
Just as she turned around to head back around to the front a slight odor drifted to her nose. Indistinct at first, it grew until she smelled decaying fish, with something else underneath it.
Lisa sniffed.
What is that odor? I recognized the fishy smell, but that something else….
Rank. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she quickly walked around the side of the house. She lost the odor finally when she got to the front yard. Relieved, she unlocked her car. Then she went up to the house, unlocked the front door, and grappled around to switch on the light. Light flooded the front room and with a quick glance, she saw that she had the furniture and even a television set inside. Now that was nice. But then, the real estate agent had mentioned that the former owners hadn't wanted any of their stuff. She went back out to grab the rest of her stuff and moved in.
She forgot the weird odor, and it wasn't until later that night as she settled on the couch, watching the six o'clock news and eating a bowl of ice cream that she had picked up at a Food Lion in Chesapeake, that the same rank odor suddenly filled the room.
"What is that awful smell?" she murmured to herself.
Like a cross between dead fish and rotting seaweed, to something even worse hidden beneath, she flung open all the windows downstairs, hoping to flush the nasty smell out. Then she put her bowl and spoon in the kitchen sink and began to sniff around the place, trying to find the source of the offending scent. She couldn't find it though. And instead of taking out the smell, the opened windows appeared to make it worse. Lisa rushed around, closing the windows. At the last one in the kitchen she glanced through the darkened glass and saw something in the moon-silvered sea.
A full moon rose high into the sky and lent a coat of bright enough glow over both the beach and the ocean. It lent a fey-like quality to everything, and looked enchanting in the night. Except she swore that whatever swam through the water, heading toward the beach, didn't fit the scene at all. Dark and very large, it filled her with unreasonable terror. What scared her further, the strange smell had worsened, filling the house like an over pungent invisible fog. She slammed down the window and dragged the curtains together across the window, then made sure both the back and front doors were locked before she bolted upstairs. She streaked into her bedroom and jumped onto the bed. She laid there, trembling.
What is the matter with me? If what I saw was real, then shouldn't I grab my purse, stuff all my things back into my suitcase, and get in the car and drive away?
The only thing keeping her from doing what she thought was the fear that it was nothing more than her own imagination. At least she hoped so.
She huddled on the mattress, shaking, her face hidden in her crossed legs. It seemed that time crawled though she knew that only minutes went by, and finally she slipped off the mattress and on knees and hands, inched over to the bedroom window. She peered over the window ledge and stared out.
Nothing. Nothing in the water. Nothing on the beach. Maybe she imagined a shadow on the waves, and she turned it into something monstrous. It might have even been something, like a dolphin coming to the surface. Maybe she was crazy in the head too.
Flinging open the window, she couldn't detect the awful smell either. Maybe it had never been there, just like the shadow. Obviously, she wasn't over her problem. She still saw things. Terrible things. Now outside of her nightmares though. Uncurling her limbs, Lisa climbed to her feet, shut the window, and left the bedroom, entering the bathroom. She picked up the bottle of prescription pills off the sink counter and popped the top, taking couple of them with some water. She sagged against the sink, gripping the edge. Staring into the mirror, she saw the reflection of her face, a pale ghost of itself, sweat beading all over the reflection's skin. Deep shadows under her eyes, full of shadows themselves, haunted her. With a shaking hand, she covered the reflection, not wanting to see how bad she really looked. Turning away, she slipped to the floor and began to cry. Crying relieved her and after wiping away the tear stains on her cheeks, she rose to her feet.
Really, she had to get over these delusions. Dr. Tomson was right. She'd contact that doctor he knew in town first thing tomorrow morning and get on that special herbal remedy of his. Time to take charge of her problems and banish them. Lisa undressed and slipped on a nightgown, then crawled into bed. The medication helping, she fell to sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
****
A shape detached itself from the room's dark shadows and moved to stand by Lisa's bed. At six foot four, it was a man. Tanned, with eyes of obsidian, he stared down at Lisa, a strange smile on his lips. With a gentle hand, he reached down to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. She sighed, and rolled over onto her other side away from him. The blanket slipped down, revealing an enticing ass even under her granny nightgown. His slight smile shifted into a wide grin of sharp, white teeth.
He had been alone here for far too long. Good thing he had followers all over this world. He needed the right female for his child. He'd be lying if he said their coupling would be just for a baby. No, he couldn't wait to fuck her. In this form, and the other one too. But he needed it for survival. His, and the other Deep Ones'. But he was glad she was the one.
With a grin he entered Lisa's dream.
