I remembered the smells of sea and sand, perspiration and night, the grip of fear and anticipation, the unknown. But the sounds of that night so many years ago, I remembered them best of all. The wind rushing in over the dark ocean, crossing the sand, crawling up along the dunes and through the trees, hissing like a snake as I ran directly into it, its touch searing, its embrace enveloping and devouring me.Despite my growing nausea and weakness, I did my best to keep up with Caleb. As we left, the paths cut through the dunes and ran down onto the open beach, he was still a good distance ahead of me but plainly visible in the moonlight. I focused on his long and powerful strides, hoping they might inspire me to press on through thick sand.Somewhere far from the parking lot, far from stretches of beach more heavily traveled, the sand took me, pulling me down into it as if something hidden beneath had tripped me, cut me off at the ankles. As I fell, I thought about how I’d lived in town all my life but had never been this far down-shore to this lonely section of forgotten beach.I watched the ground rush closer then crashed into it face-first.
