Prologue
"By the way, (Y/N), why were you crying so loud last night?"
You toss the small lantern to Marcy while typing away at your smartphone with one hand. You feel your cheeks tinge pink a bit at the fact that your best friend heard your sob fest last night. With a wide smile you clutch your phone and bounce on your heels.
"The Addict music video got released! I told you about it for like an hour yesterday, remember?",you squeal with excitement as your twitter notifications ding over and over. You let out a faux sniffle and wipe away a nonexistent tear,"It was beautiful."
Marcy furrows her brows while putting the sunscreen into the bag and shoving it into the trunk of the car,"Isn't that from that one cartoon that was like really controversial last year?" You frown at your friend and she laughs softly while loading the last bag into the car.
"What? Thats all I can remember about it. Oh aside from the characters and their short backstories because you wouldn't shut up about it.",Marcy teases you once more with a quick fixing of her black hijab. You laugh softly then give a faux pout as you make your way into the passengers seat.
Putting your phone on silent you buckle your seatbelt and you turn to your best friend,"Shut up its my comfort show and I'll have you know that you found their backstories interesting." Marcy shrugs with a rolling of her dark brown eyes before starting up the car.
"Whatever, ready for the beach?"
You both arrived at the beach a few hours later and were exhausted from the long drive from your apartment. Yet the nearly empty beach with the darkening sky was a sight you both were relieved to see.
Even if you weren't suppose to be there.
"So why is it closed off?",you inquire with a soft "oof" when your feet land on the warm sand. You pick up the bag you had tossed over the fence and begin to make your way down the cool beach with Marcy at your side.
She looks around and her eyes fall to your tired looking eyes and slightly pinched together brows. Your lips are already pressed into a thin line with worry. She thinks back to the exhausting all-nighters you've been pulling for classes and your recent loss. She sighs internally and slight guilt prods at her.
//It can't possibly be true...we'll be fine.//
Marcy rubs the nape of her neck nervously while laughing softly,"I don't really know. Something about the waters being too cold. But I think we'll manage." You turn to Marcy with a soft smile and nod, happy to learn its nothing serious you continue on to find a good spot to lay down your blankets.
Your eyes fall to a pathway up to a high cliff just a bit away you turn to Marcy with a soft grin,"I found a perfect spoooot!" You're careless to the DO NOT ENTER yellow tape blocking the path.
"Are you sure you wanna be so...",Marcy glances over the edge with a slight frown as she lays down the blanket,"...high up?"
You inhale softly and look over the horizon. The moon has come out and the water is illuminated by its beautiful rays. You smell that nostalgic salt water scent and bask in the sounds of the ocean. You slowly nod and Marcy smiles gently.
"This is really great.",you turn to Marcy and sit down on the blanket while pulling out the snacks from the bag,"Thanks for convincing me to come."
Marcy nods slowly while taking a chip from inside one of the baggies and plopping it into her mouth, her dark skin glowing against the soft light of the lantern you had brought.
"No problem, you've been so focused and busy on school lately I was afraid you'd pass out from exhaustion.",she comments with a bit of a worried tone. You nod slightly while pulling your phone from
the pocket of your light washed mom jeans.
Truth be told there was a reason you had dived so deeply into your school work. And Marcy knew this reason too. But neither of you wanted to speak it out loud. As you were about to speak once more Marcy gasped softly while digging through the two bags.
"Whats wrong?",you question while furrowing your brows and Marcy facepalms.
"I forgot the car keys on top of the trunk!",she groans and you make a raspberry noise with your lips. With a soft laugh you stand up.
"I can go—",Marcy shakes her head while laughing softly. She grabs the pepper spray from the bag and shakes her hand at you.
"I'll go. I'll be right back and you better not eat all the pretzels!",before you could protest Marcy is running down the steep hill of the cliff overlooking the ocean. You smile gently as you watch her fade. With a shrug you turn back to the ocean and cock your head gently.
"It's quite peaceful here.",you speak softly to no one. Making your way to the edge of the cliff you sit down, your legs dangling over the edge. Pulling out your phone you look down and snap a few photos of the strangely beautiful sight.
After that you hold your phone on your lap and glance up to the sky,"Happy New Years, mama." You smile sadly while clicking your phone open and watching as the time changes.
//11:59 p.m
January 1 2020
12:00 a.m
January 2 2020//
You feel tears begin to sting your eyes and you sniffle while glancing around once more. With furrowed brows you think back to the strange look and demeanor Marcy had when you asked why the beach was shut down.
It was a pretty popular beach you had never heard of yet Marcy brought up its beauty a week before you found out about the shut down. Despite your protests she convinced you to sneak in when all guards would be busy. But it was strange for such a supposedly popular beach to become deserted.
Marcys cold waters story was sounding like bullshit the more you thought about it.
Feeling a bit bad about showing distrust towards your friend you opened Noodle and began to type into the search bar.
//York Beach shutdown//
You really should have looked this up ahead of time.
//More people determined missing, last known locations York Beach
Published May 19 2019
Where are these sudden and traceless disappearances in York Beach leading to?
Published March 17 2017
Missing girl washes up on York Beach after missing for twenty years.
Published October 31 2019//
Your eyes were wide and hand covering your mouth as you scrolled through the results until pressing on the most recent article published. Yet it didn't lead to an article, it led to a NewTube video.
You felt chills run up your spine as you played the video and turned it up. You held it closer to you when the ocean began to grow louder for some reason.
You listened closely as the blonde news reporters voice rang in your ears.
// "And today we come to you with a very important update on the York Beach disappearances. Fifteen year old Emery Burns was found washed up on the beach twenty years after her disappearance! She was found wearing clothing she had no disappeared in and had tattoos she did not have before. There is still little to no updates about this young woman but police are telling us as of now she has no memory or recollection of where she disappeared to nor how she came upon her strange tattoos and midevial attire." //
Your hands began to shake as you scrolled through the comments that were most recent. With furrowed brows you dropped your hand from your mouth and felt more chills run up your spine.
//PINNED
morton commented:
dude apparently she kept said she lived in a weird kingdom and was a royal guard in a strange old timey place and she was put in a psych ward...she's still there and they say she refuses to give up her story...//
You hear the soft crunching of shoes on sand and you slowly rise to your shaky legs. The winds have grown harsher and run through your hair. Your eyes look to a smiling Marcy as she shakes the keys.
"Thank god they...woah (Y/N) you're really close to the edge...",Marcy looks at you with concern and you hold up your phone. Despite her being unable to see it she can already tell what it is by the fearful and frustrated look on your face,"(Y/N)..."
"Are you kidding me! People went missing here and one girl was washed up not too long ago and she is in a mental hospital because of whatever happened here and you brought me here!",you shout at Marcy while furrowing your brows.
Her eyes are wide as they look down to your sneakers which are dangerously shaking so close to the edge.
"I'm sorry (Y/N) but please step away from the edge...",Marcys hands are up in front of her and she slowly steps towards you. With a scoff you shake your head.
"What the hell Marcy! You have any idea how dangerous it is for us to be here.",you scoff and feel angry that she would put either of you in such danger. Running a hand through your hair you put your phone in your back pocket.
Marcy looks down and her eyes widen further,"(Y/N) don't-"
You cut her off,"Whatever lets pack up and leave before once of us is kidnapped and wakes up in the Pogwart's or something." You shift your weight and step forward. You flinch when you hear a cracking beneath your shoes.
"(Y/N) stop!",Marcy shouts as the ground beneath you gives in and you fall. You feel the harsh winds hit your back as you plummet towards the icy waters, screaming your hands reach up and the last thing you see before hitting the water is Marcys horrified face.
When you hit the water you strangely enough don't feel anything but the cold liquid. You feel no pain, if anything you get the urge to fall asleep. Your mind is panicked yet body relaxes as you sink deeper into the water.
A bright red glow surrounds you and the next thing you know you're unconscious.
But that only lasts what feels like a few seconds.
You eyes open and you cover your mouth when you realize you're still in water. Although you can't help but look around and notice the waters are red. A dark red.
Feeling your breath run out you swim up towards the light with hurried movements.
You gasp for air as you rise up from the water. Your entire chest and shoulders are heavy with imaginary weights. You slowly crawl out of the water and cough and sputter up more of the red water. Your tongue is dry and tastes of saltwater.
As your fingers grasp at the sand your eyes widen at the pinkish tone it takes on. While blinking back you look up and notice the dark red shade the sky is, your eyes widen especially when you notice the strange dark lines in the sky.
//W-Wha....//
You hear a loud scream and turn to meet an eye.
An eye. Singular.
You scream just the same and jump up to your feet. The small child thing runs to a tall woman with dark red skin and horns where her ears should be. Your eyes are wide as you slowly back up and look around.
The mother turns to where her sobbing child is pointing and she gasps,"A-A human!"
When the mother turns to you you notice she only has one eye at well. Then you look around to notice an array of creatures and things staring at you. They are all still and wide eyed. You brush the sand off of you and brush back your wet hair and do what you can only think of.
You run.
As you run through the sandy ground you hear chatter and shouts behind you. You rub your eyes as you look around and notice the different buildings surrounding the area you're in.
//Everything looks so familiar but where am I?! And-And—oh my god...//
You stop short on the pavement as you look up to the tallest building.
WELCOME TO HELL!
//N-No there's no way...there's no fucking way...//
"Daddy! That lady looks funny...",you turn to see a small imp holding a mans hand and he turns with a loud sigh.
"Baby its rude—AH WHAT THE FUCK!"
He shouts loudly and you look around once more to notice people are yet again looking at you as if they've seen a ghost. You grab your head and run down the pavement, shoving and pushing many demons and sinners out of your way.
//No theres no way...not a fucking way in hell.
I was just at York Beach now even a few minutes ago...how did I manage to land in—in...//
"C'mon Vaggie there has to be someone who is a bit more...promising than Angel."
You still as you hear that voice. A voice you found comfort in so many times when you rewatched the pilot that still had yet to air another episode.
"I really don't...",Vaggie trails off as she steps out of the white limo and her eye locks with yours. Your eyes widen and Vaggie smacks Charlies shoulder hard.
"U-Um, h-hon...",Vaggie stammers and when your eyes meet Charlies you feel your heart is about to burst out of your chest. Coughing up more red water you pass out once more, the last thing you bare witness to is a wide eyed Charlie running towards you.
«»
"We're going to do everything we can Miss Reynolds...",the officer assures Marcy as she sits on the bench and watches teams begin to wade through the deep waters and around the cliff.
She clutches the blanket around her body tightly as the sun rises in the horizon and tears roll down her cheeks. The lump in her throat suffocates her as she shakes her head.
//I should've listened to the articles...//