Ghouls

I next woke up, curled against the passenger side door of Cam’s SUV, the late Californian sun warming me cheek. I heard the click of the radio turning off and keys being taken out of the ignition as Hudson barked outside, I guess Jade had already gotten out and taken him out of the boot.

“Aaaah, just in time,” Cam spoke. I twisted to look at him, groaning and going back into my position against the window.

“Come on, Lau, we’re here!”

This enticed me to sit up fully in my seat, my body aching as I did so from sitting in the same position for so long, “really?”

“Yep, check it out,” Cam motioned to the view beyond the windscreen.

“Oh my gosh,” I was completely taken aback. The view was to die for; the ocean was the flawless aqua blue and the sand was a brilliant beige colour I’d always imagined it’d be. The beach up here near Cam’s home was practically empty (which I found staggering considering the beauty) but I guessed just a few minutes down the coast was the main boardwalk where I could just about make out people along the sand.

“Well, come on then! Come on in!” Jade spoke as I looked out to the shore.

I opened the door and was immediately met by the overpowering heat of the west coast but it was nice; living in England my whole life meant that it never got very warm but now it was time to join the rest of my family in the good life; Cam moved over here 4 years ago now and Mikey had moved all the way over to Australia (which upset the whole family; he was always the one that kept us all together. He was my real ‘big brother’ figure; although Cam was my big brother, I was him more as my best friend, my twin.)
As I turned around to face the coast again, to my left was a huge beach cabin, sat in the dunes.

“Is this yours?!”

“No, it’s the evil sea monsters, we just live here as a form of payment for sacrificing the imbeciles of this Earth to him.”

“Your sarcasm hurts, Cameron.” I scowled at him but him, being the smartass he is, just smirked at himself. I swear, he could be such a goof.

I followed him into his house after Jade and Hudson had gone in, the entrance was huge; it was all open plan and the living room/dining room area looked out through huge, floor-to-ceiling windows that led out onto a huge balcony and onto the beach.

“Lauren, you hungry?” I heard Jade call from my left which I soon found was the kitchen.

“D’you know what, I really am,” I said kind of meekly; I loved Cam and Jade and I knew they were happy to house me while I was here but I still felt a little awkward; I’d always had a problem with feeling like a burden to people and this was just what I was afraid of.

“Okay, well, there’s a barbe-“ Cam was cut short, his phone ringing, “- sorry, girls, I’ve gotta take this... hello?” Cam walked to the other side of the entrance hall as I turned to talk with Jade.

“So, what do you wanna do on your first night?” Jade asked.

“Well, I am pretty tired but I don’t know, I’ll might just have a little something to eat now, maybe then we can walk Hudson down the beach, feed him, feed ourselves then I might just sleep, if that’s okay with you guys,” I told her, still a little nervous.

“That sounds ace!” Jade smiled.

Cam came back and groaned, “Jade, baby, we’ve gotta go. I’m so sorry, Lauren, do you think you can look after yourself for a few hours?”

“Uh-“ I started to answer, a little taken back that he was leaving.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are we going? We can’t leave Lauren here on her own!”

“Yeah, you can, guys; this seems important. You go, I’ll be fine here,” I said, not wanting to be a bother at all.

“See, Jade? She’s fine now, please, we’ve got to go; it’s Maxi...” Cam trailed off; Maxi was Jade’s little Jack Russell, Cam had told me she’d had to be taken to the vets shortly before I arrived.

Jade’s facial expression dropped from angry to worried, “oh, okay, Lauren, are you sure you’ll be okay? I feel bad leaving you on your own on the first night,” she said, concern evident in her face.

“Yes yes yes yes yes, I’ll be fine, you just go and make sure little Maxi’s okay!” I said, re-assuring her I’d be fine.

“Okay then, we’ll be back as soon as we can, there’s a spare key in the biscuit tin on the island’s counter just in case you want to go and explore,” Cam said, taking his keys and Jade as they both passed through the door, “we’ll see you later.”

I walked them the rest of the way to the door as we said our goodbyes and I closed the door behind them, I turned around to see Hudson looking at me curiously; I don’t imagine he was very used to his new surrounding so I decided I’d go out and try and make him a little more comfortable.

“Walkies!” I shouted, Hudson immediately bounded towards me, almost knocking me clean off my feet, “okay, okay, okay, Hud, let me get the keys!” I made my way to the biscuit tin on the side, manoeuvring around a leaping, 200 pound, oaf of a dog. Then, seeing Cam had left my bag and Hud’s stuff just by the door, grabbed Hud’s lead and ball as I lead him out the door, finally finding a pair of radiators from the side and putting them on.

I decided not to take him too far; the sun was setting and to be honest I just wanted to sit and watch it so, I sat on the dunes ahead of Cam’s porch and threw Hud’s ball off towards the water as the sun dipped below the waves on the horizon. The sky was a beautiful array of oranges and pinks and purples, I looked up towards the candyfloss clouds, laying back in the sandy grass and closed my eyes, drifting into sleep again in the warm sun.

When I woke up it was way into the night; the sky was black but clear, allowing for the thousands of stars above to shine bright. Hud was curled up next to me with his ball under his head, probably trying to keep warm; I got a sudden chill, suddenly realizing that a small, white Motley Crüe vest top and short black shorts was not an ideal outfit to be in when out at night. I shivered again and stoop up, waking up Hud, I began walking back to the hut, the path illuminated by the superb moon that shone so bright it was creating shadow, with Hud in tow, carrying his ball.

I got to the door, slowly unlocking it; I wasn’t sure Cam and Jade were back yet but I still aimed to keep quiet, just in case. We got in and Hud stopped right in front of me, making me trip over him. He was nuzzling the pile of stuff in the doorway, moaning slightly; he was nudging his food bowl. I cursed myself for forgetting, I picked up his food and water bowl, making him get excited and start huffing and jumping, only to realize I didn’t actually have any food to give him. I cursed myself again for not bringing any god-damn food so as a final resort I text Cam, hoping he could answer:

L: Hey, Cam.. is everything ok? Do you mind if I borrow some of the little ones food; ive forgotten to bring any of H’s x
C: Yeah, everything’s fine...well, kind of; Maxi’s still really ill but I’ll explain later, we should be heading back soon, we can’t stay here all night –and of course you can, help yourself to anything x
L: Aww okay, thanks Cam x

I picked myself up from leaning on the counter in the kitchen and started fondling around in the cupboards, looking for some of Maxi’s food; I felt terrible Cam and Jade had to be there and not at home but at the end of the day, I knew little M would be fine; he was a fighter; he proved that when he was hit by a car and immediately got back up and started barking at the owner.

I found the biscuits and poured some into Hudson’s metal dish along with some water and placed it on the floor for him. Seeing him eating suddenly made my stomach growl so I proceeded to search through Cam’s cupboards looking for some food for myself. Finding a microwavable burger and some chips, I cooked up my food, grabbed a root beer and headed over to the couch, sitting down and turning the TV on.

After eating my food and watching several episodes of LA Ink, I got a text through from Cam:

C: Hey, L, just texting to say we’re on our way home x

I didn’t bother texting back; my eyes were getting heavy and I could feel myself falling back to sleep again and I couldn’t move; Hudson had fallen asleep on my lap and there was no way I was even going to attempt to move him so instead, I curled up next to him and fell asleep myself thinking that despite everything, my life may actually be getting better; I could recover here. I’d like to recover here. It was a little piece of heaven.

Notes