For the past few months, I have had this strange yearning for the sea. I'm not sure what it stemmed from, but this desire also brought on this underlying feeling of dread, like something bad was about to happen, and I was not the one in control of the outcome.
The dreams started after a few weeks, always the same. I was standing on the coast, the icy northern California waters nipping at my ankles whenever a wave would break. I felt calm, relaxed. Everything was finally right.
As the months progressed, so did the dream. After a few days, I began to notice a figure walking along the beach in my direction, a dark mass hovering above the sand. Seeing this caused my fear to return, which then would end up waking me.
Still, the dreams progressed, until I was certain the figure approaching was a woman, with flowing coral green locks, piercing ocean blue eyes, and skin as white as the sea foam. Seeing her brought me comfort, but also caused the horrible feeling to sweep over me once more.
The morning after this dream, I learned terrible news. A friend of mine had passed. This left me heartbroken. It was not until the service, however, that I was truly affected by it.
I was approached by a mutual friend. She seemed distressed. The reason for her unease became apparent when she spoke of the dreams she had been having...
She was having the same dreams as I was, right down to the strangely haired woman, whose mysterious comfort was only rivaled by the dread that came with it. She told me about how our mutual friend had approached her, telling her that he was also having them.
She was scared. The way she described it, the woman in the dream was already within arms reach from her.
She was able to make out her features, and told me about how sunken in her eyes were, the dark shadows beneath them, and the filthy fangs that were revealed when she opened her mouth to speak, though she could not recall anything she had been told.
I admitted that I too was having such dreams, and that if it would bring her comfort, she could sleep in my guest bedroom for a few nights. She agreed, and I was finally met with the first night of restful sleep in over two months.
When I awoke the next morning, the house was eerily silent. The guest room looked as if no one had slept in it the night before, the blankets and sheets folded neatly across the bed. Could she have left before I had awoken? It didn't seem like something she would have done.
I searched the town fruitlessly, knocking on every door I even thought there was a chance she could be hiding behind.
Alas, the only useful information came from the town drunk, who had seen her drudging down the road toward the coast before sunset, like the lone member of the saddest funeral procession there ever was. My heart dropped, and I returned home. It was too late...
I had no more dreams until last night.
Like all the times before, the woman glided above the sand toward me, getting so close that I could smell the salty darkness of the sea radiating from her icy flesh.
A shiver ran down my spine as she opened her mouth, revealing her jagged, bloodied fangs. The sound that she emitted will be scarred into my mind for the rest of my life, though I cannot even begin to recall the words she spoke.
The dread was finally gone, replaced with an acceptance of what was to come.
She would take me like she took my friends, and we would dwell in the silent cities of the ocean floor, lying in wait, the faint blue glow of the sun the only reminder of an existence we would have long since forgotten...
