Kristal Shanahan is from Oklahoma and now resides in Kansas with her husband of nearly 20 years, with their two daughters. She has loved reading and writing since early childhood. As a tween, she read Firestarter by Stephen King which ignited her love of the horror genre.
A career in education seemed a natural fit for Kristal. She is a high school English Language Arts teacher, instructing freshmen and juniors and hoping to instill a love of reading and writing in the younger generations.
While Kristal has not attempted to publish any of her works, it is a dream that someday her historical fiction novel she is currently writing and then an anthology of horror inspired short stories will be published in the future.
GHOSTLY WAVES
by
Kristal Shanahan
Avery and Derek walked hand in hand across the bluff. The grass was sparse, the dirt dry, and the cliff was now visible. The ocean below looked inviting, but Avery was a little apprehensive about jumping. Something didn’t feel right. Their summer goals included cliff jumping, and this checks off the last box before they head back to college to start their sophomore year. Avery looked over at Derek, he looked completely relaxed and happy, oh how I love him, she thought. Maybe it’s just me.
Standing at the edge of the bluff and peering down at the blue endless depth below, the young couple felt empowered by what they were about to accomplish. The waves were calm and they knew the water was at least 15 feet deep. They look at each other and Avery notices behind her two ghostly shapes coming towards them. “Derek, look behind us, what is that?” “I don’t see anything. Are you trying to back out now?” He didn’t even attempt a glance behind them. Avery stated in a defensive manner, “No, of course not.”
They edged as close as they could to prepare mentally and physically to jump, when abruptly something shoved them both over the cliff. They screamed as they hit the water. They finally surfaced gasping for air and coughing violently. Derek looked at Avery, “What the hell was that Avery? I thought we agreed to count to three and jump?”
“Derek, I didn’t do that I promise!” Simultaneously they looked up shielding their eyes from the sun, seeing two ghostly figures walking away.
As they tried to swim away towards the waters edge, they couldn’t. They swam in place and were unable to move forward as if invisible restraints kept them where they were. Panic struck them at the same time. The water swirled around them in a hypnotic manner, and continued until they both were disoriented and nauseous. Several feet below in the water, two ghostly figures were slowly rising up to join Avery and Derek; they would soon realize that their lives would forever be altered.
Derek felt it first. A tingling sensation that grew into a pain that was beyond his comprehension. He then felt something clinging to him and slowly climbing up his body. He looked at Avery with sheer terror and she looked completely confused and then started to become fearful of what would happen seeing Derek’s face twist in obvious agony.
Not quite human looking, a ghostly figure with tattered bloody like sheets over its form, hollowed holes where eyes should be, a mouth with two upper razor sharp fangs made it to the surface and face to face with Derek. Warm water lapped around them and coldness overtook Derek as the ocean ghost enveloped him in an embrace. Escaping was impossible as he was forced to look into the face that was clearly terrifying and represented death. The ghost in one smooth quick motion embedded its fangs in Derek’s neck, avoiding the cardioid artery and tore through his flesh from his neck all the way to his thighs. Starting back towards his neck the ghostly figure began to eat the insides of Derek in a methodical and unhurried manner. He soon began to lose consciousness and looked at Avery for the last time with fear, his eyes then became dull and his light was extinguished. After the ghostly figure devoured Derek internally, it then sucked out his eyes and Avery thought she heard a quiet moan of pleasure from that thing that had to be from Hell. After it was done with Derek, it slipped inside his skin which looked eerily similar to what she initially thought was dirty sheets covering its form, but now she knows that human skin is what envelops it and she is scared to think what it looks like without the skin. It then turned and faced her.
She felt a tingly sensation then a sharp unbearable pain while looking down into the depth of the ocean as bubbles were forming around her. Suddenly facing her was another version of the ghostly figure that devoured Derek and she knew her fate.
Afterwards, the ghostly figures both looked up at people laughing and carrying on at the top of the bluff. The two ghostly ocean dwellers that can survive briefly out of water, began their journey towards the bluffs.