J. A. Heath resides in Greenville, South Carolina, under the guise of a pen name. There, he lives with his partner and their three beautiful children. When he’s not caught up in his next story, you can typically find him out tending to his garden.
Previously, J. A. Heath has been published by Bewildering Stories and in the forthcoming in The Horror Zine’s: Book of Monsters.
Want to see more from J. A. Heath? You can find him on Facebook right HERE.
AN UNFORGETTABLE VACATION
by
J. A. Heath
The heavens parted, and the sun began to shine brightly through the hotel window. Jim looked out to the ocean. He could feel the warm summer rays piercing through the glass and warming his soul. On a promise of a good time, he had traveled with his wife to disconnect from their everyday lives.
The water called to him a deep and mysterious blue. The sounds of waves crashing against the coast sang a sweet melody. The next few days were planned to be spent with one another as a last attempt to rekindle a dampening flame. They had agreed that if this step didn’t work, the next would be divorce.
His wife called to him from the bedroom, “Jim, are you ready to go down to the beach?”
Her faint voice was just enough to break the spell of their new paradise. “Yes, dear. I’m ready if you are.”
“Grab the room key, and let’s go. I’m ready to get my toes in the sand.”
Jim gathered his beach towel and book. He had fallen in love with the stories of Lovecraft and found himself devouring story after story of the ancient text. A love that Jim hadn’t realized had begun to replace his wife’s. He hadn’t meant to let it, but it was slowly decaying the connection between them.
He had found himself drawn to the ancient texts— called is probably the better word. And found a believer in the cosmos and all its secrets of which it contained. Something he felt she wouldn’t understand. The ocean, in a way, is much like the cosmos— a deep dark unending body. They are both ones that could be explored for eternity and still never even have their surface scratched in understanding. The couple met at the door.
Jim’s toes were soon met with the feeling of warm sand between them as they tried to locate a place to sit and enjoy the beach. He relaxed into his chair as his wife walked to where the sand meets the sea. Seeing she had gone away, Jim began to read. The book spoke of the Old Ones and how they lay dormant, waiting for a time to rise again.
Looking up from his book, Jim could see his wife returning to join him. He quickly tucked his book away and smiled as her face met with his.
“It’s a beautiful day today. Isn’t it Jim?”
“Yes, dear, it is.” He said, trying not to seem annoyed that she had interrupted the spell that Lovecraft’s story had placed on him.
“Please, come to the water with me. I want to spend some time with you.” She pleaded.
Hesitant but also obligated to hope of rekindling their marriage, Jim agreed. He rose from his chair and followed her to where the sand meets the sea. The cool water washed against him. Like an electrical current, the feeling of purification ran through him. He stood as a sinner washed in the lamb's blood as the waters ran over him. He felt a fire burn deeper in his soul, one he had never felt before. And that’s when it all began.
They looked out toward the horizon as the sun shined down on the sea, trying with no avail success to pierce the darkness it contained. Bubbles began to rise in a violent torment like a witch's cauldron, its spell almost complete. The ground started to shake, and the earth’s crust cracked with horrid fissures. The ocean’s waves grabbed and crawled onto the sand, searching for sustenance to calm its hunger. The clouds formed from vapors within the air and darkened a sinister smile. A wind kicked up a hurricane like no man had ever seen, and the disaster raged on.
Jim looked out to the horizon as a mass began to emerge from the swirling torrent of the sea. It wasn’t until it had utterly risen out of the dark abyss that he could understand what his eyes could see. The Great Chthulu had awakened from ancient slumber here to usher in the coming of the Old Ones.
From his research, Jim knew what this meant. Aside from the end of him and his wife, it was the end of all humanity. He dropped to his knees and prayed to the god before him. He asks for mercy, but there is none to give. In just a little time, he won’t be here to remember this vacation that was to be one worth remembering. No, only the cosmos and its gods, with their vast knowledge of time and space and things which we cannot comprehend, will be left to enjoy this time that was meant to be unforgettable.