Nobody But Us

1. The Storm

Chapter 1 - The Storm

I was sat on the bottom step of the decking, my feet buried underneath the soft sand. I clasped my hands together and rested on my knees. The sky was turning a dull grey, and I could hear the distant rumble of thunder. Sighing, I looked up to the sky and saw the rain droplets begin to fall. I closed my eyes as the warm water hit my face, soaking me in seconds.

I’m alone and I’m just exhausted. I couldn’t think of before, of home. It just made me cry, so I blocked it out, as best as I could. But tonight, I wasn’t going to. I lowered my head and tried to look out at the waves in front of me, but it was dark, and the only light was from the house behind me.

I was drenched now, my hair clinging to my face and neck, and my baggy t-shirt gripping to my flat stomach. The rain water was pouring off of me, like it was bothered that I was in the way of its fall from the sky. I stood up and walked out towards the waves, stopping when I was in between the water and the steps.

Tears were streaming down my face now, mixing in with the rain water. If it wasn’t for the violent sobs that were beginning to break out of my chest, I probably wouldn’t even have known I was crying.

I missed my home, not here on the beach in Florida, my real home, back in England. I couldn’t even go back there if I wanted too. Being the only person in the world has its limitations, and since I can’t fly a plane, I am stuck in the US. Which to some people might be a good thing, but I just wanted to go back to England.

I looked up to the sky as a streak of lightning flashed through it. The thunder that followed was so loud that I felt it rumble through the air. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I threw my arms out and screamed up at the storm. The scream was fuelled by burning anger and grief, by the sorrow that I felt when I woke up and I remembered that this was real and not just some nightmare. It was filled with the emotion that words simple can’t describe.

I stopped screaming and fell to the floor. I just lay there, in the middle of the storm, rolling in the sand, trying to vent the last of my anger. I looked over the right and I saw the most puzzling thing. There was a ball of light, bouncing up and down. It was far away, I could see that, but it was becoming brighter and bigger as it got closer to me. I was mesmerized by it, it was so peculiar. I lifted my head slightly and tried to focus on it, it was shining onto the sand a couple of metres in front of it. Funny, it looked like a…torch.

I scrambled up off the wet sand, my hair now matted to the side of my face caked in sand; the baggy t-shirt became itchy as the sand that was clinging to it was scratching against me. I started to run towards the torch like light, my thoughts now irrational.

What if it was a serial killer and this was the end? Oh who cares, I’ve been alone long enough and if I was murdered then so be it. I was in hell already. As I ran I saw a dark figure as the storm light up the sky. My steps faltered and I fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Shit. Oh my god he’s getting closer. I’m going to die, oh my god. He’s a serial killer or something, oh god why did I even run towards him. I looked at the ground to the right of me. The sand was lit up by the stream of light that was coming from the heavy duty torch. I tried to swallow my fear and with shaky breaths I pushed myself up from the ground.  As I put weight on my left foot pain shot up my leg, and it crumpled beneath me. But before I hit the ground the stranger caught me.

“Whoa! Careful” He said his voice surprisingly soft and gentle, he wrapped his arm around my waist, supporting my weight. I shied away from him, fear rippling through me once more. “No, don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you” That’s what they all say.