Soul Tides

FOUR || the riptide.

After seeing her mother off to bed, Dylan went into the kitchen to finish washing the dishes. Old contentions between them had remained dormant during dinner earlier, but now weighed heavy on her mind. As she put the last plate away in the cupboard, she caught a glimpse of movement through the window along the dark beach below. Squinting through the screen, she flipped the sink light off to let her eyes adjust to the night.

A pale figure stood along the shore, silhouetted by the nearly full moon hanging directly overhead. Waist length hair blew off to the side, waving like a flag in the wind to reveal a slender, nude body. With no hesitation, the woman walked straight into the lake until she disappeared beneath the surface. Fifteen seconds passed and she hadn't re-emerged. Then thirty. Sixty. Worried for the stranger, Dylan grabbed a throw blanket from the couch and ran out the back door, down the hill towards the water.

Loud rock music blared from the cottage next door where a dim light illuminated the bedroom that faced the lake, but no shadows moved inside. From east to west down the shore, the beach appeared to be just as vacant. As Dylan panned the horizon, she searched for any sign of the woman, but nothing broke the surface of the water. The sparkle of the moon refracting in the gentle waves was all that could be seen along the lake.

Maybe she hadn't actually seen anything at all, Dylan thought to herself. After a twenty-four hour shift at the hospital, the couple hours she'd spent half-asleep on the train were hardly sufficient. And it wouldn't be the first time she'd hallucinated. A familiar image in her mind of a veiled stranger taunted her with deja vu as she tried to brush off the vision. Once more, Dylan looked out across the water where she thought the woman disappeared, but still there was nothing.

As she turned to head back, a scream bounced off the rocky hollows of the cliff, followed by the growl of an indiscernible voice. Tossing the blanket down, Dylan sprinted towards the cove.

With careful steps, she scaled to the top of the ridge as her heart hammered in her chest, but the braying of a horse halted her fast. Within the cove, a dark figure reared up in front of a man and a young girl.

Every rock on the shore seemed to tremble as the weight of the creature hit the ground in between them. The man stumbled back, falling into the sand as the horse reared again, barely missing him as he rolled out of the way. Springing to his feet, he scrambled over the sandbank to the other side of the inlet, swallowed by the night.

The horse slapped its tail against the sand in satisfaction as moonlight shimmered along its hide, emulating the fractals of light across the lake. Something about its silhouette seemed odd, but from the distance it was difficult to distinguish. With cautious steps, the young girl below approached the horse, stroking its nose as it nuzzled towards her, both seemed to be unaware of Dylan standing on the ridge.

Allured by the creature herself, Dylan remained fixated on the horse as she stepped down the jagged limestone path. Halfway down the ridge, loose rock shifted beneath her feet and clattered to the bottom. She quickly regained her balance, but it was too late. The horse jerked its head away from the startled girl and took off towards the water. With every gallop, rhythmic claps of thunder crescendoed into the night until it reached the surf, and then with a graceful transition into the lake, the horse glided across the water.

Both Dylan and the young girl watched the animal as it emerged from the depths, appearing to stand on the glassy surface. Dylan knew the sandbar was there, but the illusion was captivating regardless. The horse turned its head to look back towards the shore, staring directly at Dylan; a turquoise glare reflected from its eyes. Following its eerie gaze, the girl looked up at Dylan along the ridge and began to back away.

"Wait!" Dylan called out to her, sliding down the path.

As the girl stumbled backwards, she glanced at the horse once more before whipping around to run for the wooded area in the distance.