Just Another Day at the Beach

The water lapping at the once white sand barely enters my ear. The caw of the sea gull circling lazily above sounds so distant, so unreal. My skin baking in the golden sun is the only truly real sensation. My eyes cannot focus, but I know I stare down at my hands, curled and tense as claws. A scream echoes over the sea gulls own - I can tell the difference only minutely; it is the blood curdling scream of purest fear and agony stretched long then suddenly ended in a noise all too wet.

My chest aches in tough tight spazms, spontaneously as if my heart would leap forth from my breast and as if it edged to cease beating all together. I gasp for breath, though my mind tells me not why. A crease forms in the furrow of my brow as I force my mind to focus. Suddenly, almost too quickly, the waves crash upon the shore, more screams fill my ears - carried over heavy panting. A sea gull screams and it all quiets to the norm of reality.

My eyes focus on my once porcelain hands now coated in a baked on brown red I know too well, but my mind will not let me recall the name of. I look up to see the splashes of red decorating the white sand in oddly memorizing and beautiful designs. I know what the red is as well, but the word escapes my grasp as I clutch for it. The sudden urge to stand over takes me and I am on my feet, spinning in lazy distracted circles to view the surreal scene of my surroundings.

Bodies, disassembled and disemboweled, are scattered everywhere for the length of my vision. The surf foams in pink puffy froth where the water has begun to drink of the devastation. Gulls and other scavengers settle up pieces of carnage further away from me than I could make in a single lunge.

I look down to my hands, still curled and opened - readied to work again. Noticing for the first time since my world focused once more, the caked blood does not end at the wrist, nor even the forearm. I twist and turn to examine the extent of my coverage to find not a porcelain patch nor piece of clothing left untouched. My fingers tremble as I touch my face and feel the patterns of splatter covering my smooth face and matting my blond locks into place. My lips part in a gasp as my fingers find their way to their skin. Though now drying, the new color on my lips holds them together until I draw in the breath. The sudden hit of the salty air to my tender pallet renews the metallic taste.

A small quiet part of me overrides my sane mind's wish to regurgitate the contents of my stomach. I wish I were horrified when my eyes fall upon a nearly whole corpse and my stomach growls. The quiet small part of me wishes I find a new place, somewhere far from this beach and these cold bodies. I find my legs moving before my sane mind can comprehend. My stomach requests more sustenance in another angry growl.

I nod my head, at first a stiff motion then more fluid as my sane mind finally agrees with my true mind. I need to eat and I wouldn't be eating these cold corpses. I looked back at the sea and walked into it, the warm water lapping at my skin until I finally dive under. The blood once caked to me dissolves in the salty water, flowing away and leaving me cleaned when I depart. For I needed to be cleaned of blood if I would be eating again. No one would expect the devastation about to be brought forth when I found my new hunting ground.