Untouchable

Chapter Two

Meg

"Meg!"

"What, Dad?" I replied.

"I still need some help in here with these boxes. They aren't going to unpack themselves now, are they?"

I sighed and got up from my chair on the front porch. "Didn't we already unpack all of the important stuff? It's not like we're in a rush or anything."

I stepped inside and was surprised to see my dad and my little brother Marcus standing beside the dinning room table. There was a cake with three candles on it.

"Happy birthday!" they yelled together.

"Oh my gosh, guys that's so sweet of you!" I said with a smile. "Thanks so much!"

"Well you're turning 17, one more year and your out of here!" said Marcus with a grin.

"Shut up, Marcus," I said with mock anger.

"Alright guys, cut it out so I can cut up this cake," said my dad.

While my dad went to grab a knife, I grabbed a plate from the table.

"Birthday girl first!" I said to Marcus.

He just looked at me indifferently and nodded.

***

We had just cleaned up when I asked my dad about going to the beach.

"Hey, Dad, can I go visit the beach? I'd like to see it since we haven't really been out of the house since the move, and - "

"As long as your brother goes with you," my dad interrupted.

"But Dad - " I whined.

"No buts," he said. "Oh, and can you look out for seashells? There should be plenty of them for my collection."

This was the first I had heard of this. Although I wasn't surprised. My dad was a collector of many things. "Well why don't you just get some yourself, Dad, since you don't appear to be doing anything important at the moment."

"Ok then, you and Marcus can just stay here then and watch the house while I got look for seashells," said my dad.

"No - no, it's ok, I'll look for them." I really hated unpacking all of his crap.

"Great. Don't be gone long," he replied.

***

"Hurry up, Meg, you're so sloooow." Marcus said, with a droning voice.

"Well I'm not exactly a fan of running like a maniac up and down the beach, stupid," I countered.

"Ugh, you're so boring sometimes." He ran ahead even farther.

I sighed. Crazy kid. He's definetly Dad's ADHD son all right.

As I walked in bare feet, I looked on the ground for shells. I had brought along a little bag to hold them in, and I had found a few in the minutes we were out here. I guess it was low tide, since we were pretty far out and there was still beach sand. Our new house was just far enough away from the super high tide to survive, but not too far. I had watched the water go in and out and in and out the first couple of days of unpacking, and I had wanted to walk on the ocean floor myself. It was really cool.

I drifted closer to the edge of the water. It was a bit murky, but i could stil see the bottom for a few feet. I picked up one of those giant snale shells. It was white, the spiral getting darker until the middle looked almost black. I put it in the bag and continued walking in the shallow water.

Then I saw something odd. It was like a shimmer, a shadow in the water, not five feet from where I was standing. I had thought it might be a fish, but then realised it was too big a shadow to be a fish. It was almost human sized.

The shadow moved towards me at a slow pace, until it stopped right in front of me. I bent down to get a closer look when my head hit something soft. It was so surprising I backed away fast and fell away onto the sand.

I looked up, but there was nothing there.

I squinted my eyes, and I saw the shadow in the water move away. Then something extrordinary happend.

The shadow moved onto the beach.

My mouth fell open in shock. It was in fact human shaped, and from this angle it looked like a very tall person with long hair. I couldn't tell if it was a girl or a guy at this point, but understand, I was freaking out.

Then I saw footsteps on the sand where this person, if he/she was real, would have been standing, and I saw the shadow's arms move towards me. I crawled backwards, a silent cry in my throat. The shadow came closer and closer. And then I felt it. A hand, a big hand, grabed my arm and pulled me up. Or what felt like a hand, since there was NOTHING THERE!

That's when I screamed.

In the distance, I could see Marcus running back full tilt. I was slowly backing away from the mysterious shadow. I could see Marcus's worried expression on his face when he got closer. He was running so fast that nothing would stop him.

Which was a problem, since he was heading straight for the shadow's owner.

"Wait, stop!" I yelled, but it was too late.

He slid to a stop, right through the place where the shadow's owner should have been.

"What's up?" asked Marcus. He looked up at me.

"Wha-, did you not see that?!" I said, pointing at the shadow. When I said it the shadow started backing away.

"See what?" he looked right at the spot I was pointing at, then back to me. "Are you OK Meg?"

"That, the shadow on the ground, RIGHT THERE!" I said impatienly, pointing to the now retreating shadow.

"Meg, there's just sand there. And a piece of kelp. Is that what you're yelling about?" he asked, incredulously.

"But... Oh nevermind," I replied tiredly, taking one last glance at the retreating shadow. "Let's just get out of here. I've got enough shells for Dad anyways."

"Fine, weirdo," he mumbled.

So we headed back to the house.

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Yay, second chapter!  

Finally we meet the girl.  

Let's see what Adam has to say about this.