CHAPTER 23 A PAIN IN THE NECK

Billy walked alone through town the next evening.

Fog floated low and thick over the street, hiding Sandy Hollow behind a misty white curtain. It pressed in on Billy, closing him inside his own private cloud.

He rubbed his sore jaw. His thoughts were bitter.

No one believes me, he told himself. Everyone thinks I’m crazy. I’m totally alone.

Something cool and damp grabbed his foot.

It oozed around the straps of his thongs.

Billy glanced down in surprise. Wet sand. He had reached the beach without realizing it.

Pulling off his thongs, he went barefoot, enjoying the feel of the sand as it squished up between his toes. The waves crashed against the stone jetty somewhere off to his left.

Flapping.

From behind him.

Billy spun around. This time he would be ready for the bats. But he saw only one. It swooped past him and continued on its way, a black speck in the fog.

Lost in his own thoughts, Billy drifted along the beach.

Now he heard another sound.

Behind him.

Someone following him!

He spun around.

No one there.

I’m letting myself get spooked, he concluded. There’s no one here but me.

Billy took another step. Stopped.

A shape stood in front of him.

Shimmering in the fog.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“Just me,” Kylie replied, stepping into focus.

“I—I didn’t see you come up. What are you doing out here?” he asked.

“I didn’t feel like being home alone. Mind if I walk with you?”

“No. Of course not.”

They strolled along the beach, surrounded on all sides by a misty white wall of fog.

Kylie grabbed his arm. “Listen. Hear that?”

“A foghorn.”

“I love that sound, don’t you?”

“It’s sort of mysterious,” Billy replied.

Kylie stepped in front of him. She reached out and slipped her arms around his neck. “I love the fog,” she whispered. “No one can see us.”

Billy gazed into her eyes, thinking how beautiful Kylie was. Beautiful Kylie. Her perfect face framed by all that red hair. Her eyes seeming to shimmer even in the fog.

She kissed him. Long and slow.

I have no time for this, Billy thought. I have to find April. I have to save Jay.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 662