His Daughter

Chapter 2

The sun felt just right on Greg's skin, as he laid on the beach towel with his eyes closed. The gentle warmth sipped into his bones lulling his head to sleep as he listened to his daughter splash in the nearby water. He sighed readjusting his sunglasses before a shadow covered his face, blocking the sweet warmth of the sun.

- Are you even watching her? - Gabbie asked, a smile clear in her voice. Greg laughed quietly as her hands ruffled his hair. He opened his eyes to his beautiful wife standing over him, her shining brightly in the wind. She looked much happier and younger, her hair tad shorter and her skin tanned like back in California.

- What are you looking at? she giggled playfully as she sat next to him.

- Is that your old dress? Haven't seen it since what, college? - Greg asked, propping himself on his elbows. Indeed, that was the famous dress, the one she has been wearing when they first met. A cute white sundress with tiny lemons littering the fabric, making Gabbie look like an angel walking among the mortals. He had to admit, that the second he saw her on the beach that day, she had him enchanted and addicted.

Gabbie chuckled, smoothing over the fabric.

- Yeah, wanted to see if it still fits. Sooo, how do I look? - She sent him a shy smile. Greg's grin widened as he grabbed her hand.

- Like the most beautiful woman in the world honey. - Hearing these words Gabbie's face want scarlet as she lowered her gaze slightly.

- God Gabbie, I love yo- Before the man could finish his sentence a blood-curling scream ripped through the silence like a sharp knife. Jenny was flailing her hands in the water, coughing and screaming as the water tried to swallow her whole.

- Dad! Dad! - She cried from the water as her little limbs struggled to keep her above the surface. She cried and screamed, reaching her arms out towards Greg begging him to come as the sky darkened colouring the beach in the shades of grey. Greg jumped to his feet, feeling a scream build up in his throat.

- Jenny! - he screamed as he begun to run towards water, but before he could make even a few steps a hand gripped his forearm, digging nails into the meat of his arm. Greg's neck snapped as he looked back at his wife ready to scream for her to let go, but the sight that awaited him extinguished whatever noise was bubbling in his throat. Instead of that happy and warm woman he met that day on the beach, there sat a frail wreck of a woman. Gabbie's greasy hair framed her pale sharp features, making the eyebags under her eyes even more prominent in the dark. Her body was sunk in as her skin stretched over whatever muscle mass; she had left clinging to her bones. She stunk of sweat.

Gabbie raised her sunken, swollen eyes at him and released a strangled whisper.

- Don't go...- her eyes went wider as the tears begun to stream down her cheeks. She gripped his arm harder.

- Don't go... I... Don't leave me... I-I... I can't anymore- She... She won't stop crying Greg... I need her to shut up... I can't- Greg please...- she whispered hysterically, digging her nails through his skin. Greg looked at her bewildered, before ripping his arm away from her and sprinting towards the water. The black liquid splashed, sending chills down his spine as he stormed through the water, reaching his arms towards his daughter.

- Daddy! Dad please! Somethings pulling me down! - Jenny screamed. Greg grabbed his daughter, trying to pull her towards him, but whatever had her was pulling hard, attempting to yank Jenny out of his arms.

- Let her go...- he heard a whisper behind him, his wife's bony hands gripping his shoulders as she leaned in to whisper into his ear.

- It's for the better Greg... Trust me love.... - He could feel her hands gripping his neck, as his daughter was pulled from his arms. He watched as jenny was plunged into the black water, only a couple of stray bubbles being an indication of her ever being there. Greg could hear Gabbie chuckle behind his back as she pressed her swollen belly onto him.