The Affair

Chapter 17.1 - Blood in the Sand

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CONTENT WARNING: violence - ⚠️🦝
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Monday, July 4, 2022, 00:00am

William awakens to a dark room with lines of red and orange light projecting onto the walls from the space between the curtains of the patio door in their bedroom. He sits up in bed and stretches his arms. Looking to his right, he sees that Fallon was missing from her side of the bed. He grabs his phone from the nightstand by his side of the bed to check the time, it read '00:00' and he becomes confused by the abnormal time display.

"What the hell? I never set this to military time.", William thinks to himself, "Stupid phone...". He scoffs as he sets his phone back down onto the nightstand.

Dressed in only his boxer-briefs, he stands from the bed and makes his way into the immediate hallway that led to the living room area. He is caught off guard by Fallon's stuffed wolf that was curiously positioned in the middle of the bedroom's doorway, upright and facing in towards their room.

He picks up her wolf. "What is she up to?", he thinks to himself as he tosses the stuffed animal onto their bed.

Walking out from their bedroom and into the living room he notices that the sliding patio door along the southern wall was ajar and could see some kind of light off in the distance towards the beach. William calls out for Fallon.

"Fallon...? You out there?".

Hearing no response, he curiously walks out of the open patio doors and onto the patio's deck. Towards the shore he could see that the source of light was coming from the beach, and he walks towards the stairs that lead down to the sandy pathway behind the house which would then lead directly to the shore. He looks out ahead and sees that the light emanating from the beach was actually a burning fire pit.

"That weirdo.", he thinks to himself amused and confused, "She must be out there. But there's no way that girl can light a fire on her own...".

As William steps down the stairs and onto the sandy path, he becomes perplexed by the lack of natural ambiance around him. There were no birds fluttering, no bugs buzzing within the brush on each side of the path, and no wind blowing from the shore. Only the gentle sound of the waves crashing ahead could be heard as he traces the pathway. He then notices that there were no clouds nor stars, the sky was completely clear and boasting an impressive full moon positioned in the sky directly ahead of him. He continues along his path towards the beach; he grows nervous as he looks upon the moon, feeling as if he was being drawn towards its direction.

The sandy path then curves around a section of tall brush from the dune, William follows along the path and begins to hear the faint crackles of burning wood coming from the fire pit now just 10 yards away. He calls out for Fallon as he walks around the tall brush and into the fire's glow.

"Fallon!", he calls out towards the beach, "Where are you, hon!?".

William again receives no response; he cautiously continues to step forward and closer towards the burning pit of fire, the scenery began to feel unnatural and uncomfortable. He is then drawn to something in the sand that appeared to be some kind of driftwood wrapped in netting about five yards out. From his perspective, the object in the sand was indistinguishable as the fire's light ahead was casting a shadow across the sand towards his position, leaving only the object's silhouette defined by the light.

"What is this?", he mutters, taking slow and cautious steps closer to the object.

Just a few more steps closer, the object in the sand becomes visible. It was a child's body, a little girl, face down and covered in a combination of sand and blood. The sight elicits an immediate panic, and he drops to his knees to investigate the extent of her injuries. Lifting the body from the sand, his eyes fall upon the bloodied, lifeless face of his daughter.