 It's been almost eight years since I've sat down to retell this story. So forgive any, I don't know, stumblings and clarity on my part. Even now, sitting in front of my laptop, a lit joint burning closer to the filter in my right hand, and a bottle of whiskey just beside me on my left. Half of both already consumed. As I recall the events of that day, I can feel the familiar tremor starting in my hand. One that I know will only grow more pronounced and difficult to stifle as the memories are brought to the surface. Still, I've spent enough years battling with a decision to share what happened and more than that dealing with the consequences it can have. And ultimately, I know now the decision to share my story is the right one. I believe people have the right to know what's out there. And if there's a possibility that I can stop anyone else from going near that place, from going near the shores of Crappers Bay, I can perhaps prevent that thing that took my brother from hurting anyone else. The fact that other people have fallen victim to the evil of that place, that anyone else has met the same fate as my brother lingers with me, haunting me nearly as much as the final seconds I saw him and ultimately saving lives means more to me than the perspective ridicule this may garner or the pain reliving it will cause. I suppose I should start lest I manage to convince myself against it or fall apart before I complete the story. I've got a job to do now, a warning to give that I wish my brother and I had had when playing near the shores of our beloved lake house. If ever you find yourself in the area, beware the shores of Crappers Bay and do not be lured by its strange phenomena, those shores teaming with little arthropods, for they are little more than an omen of something far darker. Beware the cloaked woman who wanders along the shore. I call top bunk. No fair. You got it last time. It's my turn. Dad said, gonna have to beat me to it then. My brother Ryan said breaking into a full sprint from the front door and up the stairs before he'd even finished speaking. Ryan was the younger of the two of us by a year, though you wouldn't be able to tell given our appearances or dynamic. He was always the more outspoken and brazen of the two of us and paired with the fact that he was unusually big for his age and in more cases than one finding himself in scraps with and beating some of my bullies, all of whom like me were a great older than him. By the time of our final trip to the lake house, though he was only 11, he stood taller than me and had grown into a pretty brazen kid, never one to want to back down from any challenge and seemingly goaded by the idea of risk. I suppose because of his size and how he was often treated as a kid much older than he truly was, Ryan felt the need to be the tough kid to be my protector, even though I should have been his and because of that he's gone and I'm here when it should have been the other way around. It was mid August and the end of summer was hurtling closer, evident by the waning hours of sunlight and the subtle creep of the winter chill in the air, most apparent at night and our mother and father decided that we ought to take advantage of the rapidly fading benefits of summer, allowing my brother and I one last hurrah before school began and the unforgiving northeastern winter settled in. My brother and I had thrown our bags together, practically loading the car ourselves when our parents told us that we would be departing that night for our last lake house visit of the summer. The beach house had been in our family for generations, constructed by our great grandfather, who was also the first person to settle on the shores, the first member of the very community in which it sat, which became Fiddler's Grove, a small but wealthy little village built behind the cover of a thick northeastern forest that entirely hid the several acres of discreet private shore that would come to be known as Krabbers Bay. The reason for the name was simple, Krabbers Bay had a unique quark, a phenomenon really, that made it quite unlike any other and was responsible for the community that had grown around it. In the sunsets, the shores of Krabbers Bay become teeming with creatures of all shapes and sizes, utterly unlike anything you've ever seen. It was something of a tradition of our families ever since our grandfather had died to make the drive out to the house that our father had grown up in within Fiddler's Grove and appreciate the environment in a way he never had growing up. Before my brother and I, it was a time represented by one thing and one thing only, the beach. Our father had grown up with a father who was a kind man, but demanded respect and maintained one rule with which he was oddly strict that our father was not to be found anywhere near the shores of the bay, especially near sunset due to it being dangerous. Reportedly, our grandfather's warm and personable attitude would grow unrecognizably dark the few times my father was caught sneaking out to play near the shores when he was our age and the punishment that would follow was uncharacteristic. I suppose that's partly why he made such a point of allowing us that joy and we did find such joy in it. By the time we were passing the city limits of the small coastal town nearest the little village where the beach house was, my brother and I were practically buzzing with excited energy. The scent of sea salt was growing more pronounced, stoking the flames of our excitement even more as the wind whipped in through my brother's side window, opened only halfway at our parents request, our mom not wanting us to catch something due to the very present chill in the air. As we near the house, the side of the shore ahead and the large gray expanse of water beyond it disappeared behind the trees. And within minutes, we driven up the long winding driveway that coiled up the hill towards the house like a great stone serpent and into the shadow, the massive old colonial mansion parking the car under the archway extending between the house and garage. Within minutes, my brother and I had practically tumbled out of the car and after taking in a breath of salty seaside air mixed with the sweet smell of forest greenery that served as the signature scent of the area, we sped into the house falling right back into the same argument we had every time we arrived as my brother sped ahead to that bedroom that had once belonged to my grandfather and now served as our guest room. The old house seemed to groan its welcome as our arguing voices and racing footsteps across the old wooden floors and up the winding staircase echoed through those halls, which still felt so cavernous as a child inundating the sleepy, creaky old colonial on a hillside by the shore with a life it hadn't had since our last visit. My brother raced ahead of me speeding past hopelessly taking full advantage of his greater height and athleticism, nodding up the spiral staircase and down the stairs overhead, showering me with dust from the old light fixtures swaying under his footfalls. I cried out another complaint to the air he'd previously occupied quickening my pace while trying not to lose my footing scrambling up the stairs backpack in hand. I raced through the upstairs hall making such a sharp left into the first open door that I narrowly avoided running into the doorframe. The room was just as we left it with perhaps a bit more dust and the addition of my brother's stuff somehow already scattered messily around. Ryan sat atop the bunk bed nearest the wall and the massive window with a view of the gray shores below a smug grin of satisfaction prominent on his face as I trudged across the room making certain hand gestures at him as I threw my bag onto the lower bunk. Ryan leaned over the side of the bed holding himself up with one hand gripping the window frame clicking open the two locks on either side of the window and sliding it open with a grunt. A cloud of dust wafted from the signs as the window ground its protest at being opened for the first time in months. The familiar and ever present sense of saltwater and morning dew rolled in on a breeze transforming the thin white curtains on either side of the window into bed sheet ghost and filling the room I caught my brother's eye the same thought occurring to both of us as we breathe in the scent a swell of nostalgia and excitement rising within us the beachfront from our childhood the portion of shoreline behind our house has been my brother and I's playground on many a summer night and the setting of many of our best memories together as a child during the day it would transform into an imaginary battleground as we fended off legions of pretend pirates docking ships with massive black flags looming overhead all along the shore and during the evenings when the peculiarities of that particular beach became apparent and the sands became covered in legions of moving black things that seem to reflect the light off of slick shells blank crabs scuttling across it emerging from under rocks and shells and fallen branches and out of the water seemingly claiming dominion over the beach my brother and I could always be found out in our beach a tiger with sand buckets at our sides collecting and subsequently freeing the strange land spiders looking back through the always clear lens of hindsight I suppose the strange phenomena of our property should have been more daunting to us I've never seen anywhere as abundant with the creatures as our property would become when the sun began to set with so many of them so abnormally large if ever any one of us had chosen to dig deeper to peel back the layers of what we had so readily accepted as normal and understand just what it was that made these shores different just what drew these legions of animals here who knows perhaps somehow we'd never have gone back and Ryan would still be here we were just kids though and as curious as we were it had never truly occurred to us to question the nature of the shore that in the late evening grew teeming with crustaceans since it had always just been that way it became ordinary to us and it wasn't until the events of that final trip that we would be forced to face the horrifying reality without skipping a beat upon reaching the room we torn the bags open thrown on our swimsuits and grabbed our plastic beach buckets and we're out of the room in a blur racing down the hall just as we had moments prior Ryan running out to the lead as usual narrowly missed colliding into our father arriving with his and mother's luggage at the top of the stairs as we sped by Ryan reached the back door that opened up onto the patio first grabbing the plastic bucket we used to use for sand castles as children from the pile of beach toys kept near the door and after a few moments of fumbling with the locks we were racing down the stairs of the deck and down the path to the beach the sound of my brother and I clamoring down the wooden porch steps and our excited chatter filled the air along with a continuous whooshing sounds of the water against the shore as it approached and receded the beach was clear of any wildlife at this point with the exception of the lone seagull flitting through the sand or circling overhead not quite yet the time of day at which the namesake peculiarity of Krabbers Bay became apparent at that point in the day with the late afternoon sun still setting high above in the sky the beach was just like any other private beach and a quiet community and while we waited for the shores to fill with their namesake creatures the beach was ours and we would enjoy it as was typical for kids racing to see who could swim farthest out without passing the buoys flinging balls of mud and sand at one another and building and subsequently destroying each other sand castles that was how we spent the next hour watching the sun disappearing beneath the horizon painting the sky wondrous hues of yellow and orange until the time drew near I glanced at the sky taking note of the approaching darkness it was almost time that time in the late evening during which the odd phenomena of Krabbers Bay became apparent behind me Ryan splashed about in the water trying to catch some small fish that had wandered too close to shore by hand as I scan the beach front and the sandy hills leading up to the greenery spilling forth from the forest above searching for even the slightest sign of movement in the sand it's almost time my brother called from behind me standing with his face towards the setting sun hands cupped over his eyes for protection he trudged forward out of the shallows grabbing the plastic bucket from the sand in his right hand and cupping his eyes with his left until he was right beside me back turned scanning the beach just as I was race to see who finds one first he finished shooting me a grin with a familiar competitive glint in his eyes a smirk made its way across my face as I continued my visual search of the area for the tiniest shuffle of movement in the sand or flits of darkness speeding out of the brush of the forest spilling over the sandy sides of their hills towards the water hoping to spot one and accept the challenge all in one breath likely the only way I'd beat my brother in any sort of race I suppose this is the point at which the story begins to seem odd to you from my experience this is the point in the tale when the psychiatrist stop and mention never having experienced anything similar despite plenty of time on the beach my reply is always the same you haven't been to Krabbers Bay it was the very reason the community had come to exist a strange seemingly unexplainable phenomena of nature that happened to make those original proprietors the first fishermen and Krabbers who settled here supposedly stumbling over this goldmine of land by chance claiming this strip of shore and the surrounding forest as their own my great grandfather among them a generational wealth the stories of the original crew who discovered the bay always seemed to shift and change based on when it was being told my father himself admitting he'd never received a consistent answer but the basics were the same a group of Krabbers struggling to make ends meet set out for a day of work when a record breaking storm hits the area throwing them off course and nearly capsizing them on the rocky shores the storm would begin to wane as the sun started to dip below the horizon and as the men floated gently into a bay none of which had ever seen before and upon bringing up the nets to check for tears they found it overflowing with an abundance of crabs of a myriad of species turning their attention to the beach surrounding them jaws dropped and hearts skipped beats as they observed the beach seemingly overcome by legions of the creatures without any intention they'd stumbled onto a veritable goldmine and all the men on that boat that day swore a vow of silence to each other keeping the location and its phenomena a secret until they'd made a sizable fortune quickly becoming the most successful crabbing operation anywhere and taking them all from average crabbers and fishermen to quite wealthy men most of them anyway as lucky as it all seemed to be not everything was perfect it seemed with the discovery of the bay a dark omen seemed to follow and in the weeks and years following a few members of the crew would return to the bay alone and never return seemingly disappearing into thin air only traces of one would ever be found a shirt found floating just feet away from the shore ominous but ultimately inconclusive and far from enough to prevent the rest from taking advantage of the land's gift the rest of the crew all of whom were richer now than they'd ever thought they'd be go on to purchase the land developing a strange affinity for the place constructing the massive homes and manners that would become the neighborhood of fiddler's grove around crabbers bay crabbers bay is like most other private shores during most hours of the day quiet and calm silty shores along the green borders of the forest like any other massachusetts shore it's when the sun begins to dip disappearing behind the sea line and the sands and earth along the shore seem to shift in places with strange sentience and the crevices and spaces between the rock formations on either side of the shore seem to team with tiny forms and hundreds of spindly legs pouring forth that the place unveils its strange nature there by the time my head had snapped in his direction prompted by a shout ryan had already taken off in pursuit of something kicking up a cloud of sand for me to run through in his wake shit my eyes searched ahead while running settling on a fist-sized point of movement and color purple and black like a bruise reflecting the final rays of the setting sun scuttling forth from a freshly opened hole dug out of the sand a crab purple marsh to be specific had unveiled itself from its resting spot under the sand and began roaming the beach absentmindedly the first raindrop of a coming storm ryan had already covered more than half the distance to the thing which seemed to realize it was being pursued and veer off to the left towards the little sand slopes leading up to the forest land ahead then quickly scuttling off to the right repeating that pattern along the sand my brother remained in pursuit nearly losing his footing several times as the sand slid from beneath him but eventually managing to close enough of the gap to leap forward and drop the bucket over the fleeing crustacean gotcha you speedy little jerk he cried in frustrated triumph raising the bucket in grabbing the crab in one swift motion holding the creature under the armpits of both claws to prevent any pinching as we'd done so many times before i can't tell you why we did it or what we found so entertaining about it but it was sort of a tradition truly i've spent years asking myself damn near punishing myself for it solely for the events of that day but ultimately it seems like collecting small animals is just one of those things that little kids seem to do be it frogs from a nearby creek or fish in the local pond there's something intrinsically exciting about catching and collecting little animals even more than that it was tradition and something my brother and i loved nothing was as rewarding as a kid as the excitement of tasting the fruits of our labor when we'd rush back to the deck with full buckets to excitedly show our parents and dad would find a good blue or dungeness crab fire up the boil and we'd spend that night on the deck cracking shells and enjoying the fruit of our labor together listening to waves along the shore as our father regaled us in some familiar tale his father had told him of crappers bay ryan and i would take turns seeing who could fling their empty shells the furthest and standing there on the edge of the balcony the gentle song of the water in the distance eating our catch of the day we like to imagine we felt just like our great grandfather had when he was out on the sea i win again ryan whooped raising the purple and black cute crustacean overhead like an olympic medal before placing it in the plastic bucket he'd carried with him i hope we can eat this one it's huge this thing could feed the whole family with one leg the creature seemed to wriggle its legs with a mechanical slowness in protest before it was deposited into the buckets dismissively yeah yeah whatever i muttered dismissively at his victory leaving his question unanswered look it's almost time they're coming ryan followed my gaze to the tide rolling over the shore the water seeming to ripple and shutter with movement and disturbance beneath the shore as the waves recede into the sea leaving the sand which was usually clear say for the occasional dregs of seaweed broken seashells and rocks that would wash ashore was now littered with jagged shells in shapes from the deep at first glance it would appear that the tide had washed in a great heap of sea trash empty shells rocks in general ocean garbage but the longer one looks though quickly notice that the empty shells and rocks are making strange jerky movements they'll spot the myriad of spider-like appendages that extend from beneath them and watch as they scuttle away from the water with a speed and insectoid jiltedness for a lack of a better word and their movement pattern that's inherently disconcerting as they begin their ritual invasion of the beach quickly overwhelmed by their presence at the mouth of the bay small fist-sized portions of mud and sand began to move seemingly autonomously at first pulsing slightly with some minor signs of disturbance as though something was set to burst forth the points of motion quickly growing more pronounced and obvious as small clawed pincers of various types emerged from the earth shoveling away the mud and sand with a practiced quickness in a way that always reminded me of something out of a zombie movie all around us would appear to be hundreds of small stones left by the tide shifted the drift border of the water depositing more and more of the little six-legged creatures on the beach in small clusters of mud and sand parted to reveal all the Atlantic blue and purple marsh crabs that had embedded themselves into the earth around us come on let's go I've never seen some of these before Ryan cried out sprinting along the water dancing around the occasional crustacean emerging from the wet ground bucket held out beside him to avoid swinging around its occupant he stopped kneeling beside a particularly large purple marsh digging itself from its cover on a portion of the beach usually dry that was now affected by the rising waters of high tide all six of its legs splayed out to either side wriggling with a strange labored sort of motion jerky and odd as though it were mechanical or some poorly piloted marionette my skin crawled and a shutter ran down my back as interesting as I'd always found the creatures and enjoyed catching them I could never shake just how alien and inhuman they looked up close it was to be expected though my grandfather had always said the creatures were from another world evolving to survive both on land and life in the darkest depths of the oceans in conditions almost otherworldly comparatively watching as the tiny pincers like mouth of the crabs splayed open and shut its stalked eyes searching for escape I could almost believe it was really from another world wow look at that one Ryan dropped the purple marsh into the bucket and pointed a bit further down the shore at another crab scurrying forth from the edge of the water this one a fiddler named such for their having one giant claw that dwarfs the other like a man holding a fiddle the poor thing seemed to hesitate for a moment as if truly taking a second to take in its new environment on land until quickly taking note of my brother's approach as he barreled down on it and attempting to make a hasty retreat which was encumbered by the sheer size of its claw which it had no choice but to drag at its side all around us the shore that had once appeared untouched from a distance was covered in the creatures sand and dirt shifting under every movement of hundreds of emerging shells and legs scuttling forth from wherever they'd emerged crowding the beach like a flock of birds on their strange inexplicable schedule this was the phenomena of crappers bay the magic of the land as my dad said our great grandfather used to call it the very reason for fiddler's groves existence and the reason for the fortunes of the families who called it home even for us having grown up in the city outsiders of the community and ignorant to both the depths of their beliefs and the true nature of the phenomena there was a strange sort of reverence in which you held the place a feeling that there was something more at play there a strange otherworldly sort of atmosphere reminiscent of the way one felt standing outside in those quiet hours before morning when the world adopts an uncanny silence perhaps it was a result of how silent the shore was usually the canopy of the forest surrounding the bay muffling any outside noise leaving nothing but the sound of the waves most hours though when the sun began to set and the beach came alive with all the faint shuffling and movements of hundreds of moving legs it grew to something of a strange natural cacophony like the summer song of cicadas the hunt was on i wouldn't begin to realize it until the initial excitement of returning to the beach for the first time that year had stirred in me drowning out my other senses had faded that i felt it standing there as my brother observed his most recent catch another crab of unusual size my ears seemed to perk inexplicably the hair on my back rising along with it as i caught a glimpse of something farther along the shore of the bay at the far end of the beach where the shores of the inlet approached the forest and sand began to give way to patches of grass again i furrowed my brow squinting in hopes of better viewing the notably large shape on the other end of the shore something i was sure hadn't been there when we'd arrived on the beach my heart skipped a beat for reasons i couldn't explain something about seeing the unexpected shape sending a ripple of discomfort through me at first i took what i saw to be a massive deposit of seaweed another detritus of the sea given its strange shape and color perhaps washing up along with the crabs and the receding tide as it wasn't unheard of to have some trash wash ashore from the various bodies of waters that emptied into the surrounding ocean but even with that thought in my mind the chill i felt almost as soon as i laid eyes on it seemed to linger stubbornly my gaze brought back constantly to the dark shape at the far end of the beach ryan's excited chatter seemed to fade to background noise as he bucketed another crab my focus on the strange dark amorphous shape at the end of the shore i squinted as though to bring clarity to what i was seeing sure i must be mistaken it seemed to be moving rising steadily in its place a shock rippled through me at the utterly unexpected sight a strange electrifying side effect of the utter surprise at watching something i thought to be inanimate rise with a strange steadiness of the immediate flood of explanations and expletives that tore through my mind in that instant i began to settle in on the idea that it must have been the wind blowing what had to be a massive tangle of seaweed wrapped around something in a way that almost appeared to make the mass seem alive something in my mind unwilling to accept that the oddity at the end of the shore was anything to worry about unwilling to be distracted from my brother and i's fun on the beach yet the longer i looked utterly unable to break my gaze from the unidentifiable mass the greater the cold eerie sensation in me began to grow like the swelling tide and as it began its glacial approach my belief in the wind theory was destroyed as quickly as it had been formed r uh ryan i began my voice breaking slightly curiosity with an inexplicable hint of fear audible in my tone yeah he breathed sand all over his hands and his left cheek as he turned to face me one eyebrow raised as if to ask why i wasn't digging through the sand with him my stomach turned as the shape seemed to shuffle forward its movement slow methodical and uneven i could practically feel the gears turning in my head as my mind throughout suggestion after suggestion to identify just what i was seeing all of which seemed to fall flat only furthering the cold feeling energies within me ryan picked up on the hesitancy in my response his face shifting from excitement to a look of bewilderment and confusion until he followed my gaze along the shore his expression shifted quickly utter confusion giving way to curiosity and bewilderment in an instant what the hell he muttered rising to his feet brushing off the remaining sand from his knees what is that his question made something drop within me plummeting into a strange pit opening in my chest something about hearing what i was seeing confirmed eerily disturbing i nearly jumped out of my skin as i felt something brush along the top of my bare foot then again against my legs letting out a yelp of surprise as i leaped back finding what felt like the one clear patch of sand in the area as i fell narrowly avoiding stepping on the briny shell of a massive blue crab underfoot just one of a slow but noticeable trail of crustations flowing towards the opposite side of the shore from such a distance the shape of the thing approaching was indiscernible in my mind shot forth a myriad of suggestions convinced of each for only the couple of seconds it took to realize it was false shifting from a large dog somehow emerging from the water to a pile of sea debris carried strangely along with the breeze none of the suggestions my mind threw forth seemed to stick each theory as to what i was looking at having some glaring issue before settling on the only thing that made sense though for whatever reason it still felt off i i think it's one of the neighbors you know how weird they get around here i offered though i couldn't tell how much of that i believed and the tremble in my voice signaled a doubt i felt yeah ryan began eyes narrowed as he watched the slowly approaching figure there are a lot of weirdos around here but still don't they usually avoid us i knew he was right call it another quirk of this place but the community of fiddler's grove has always been a rather insular one likely a result of the days when the original fissures elected to keep it a secret morphing into an odd insular attitude and apparent unwillingness to even socialize with outsiders which i guess we were they always seem to watch us from a distance an unreadable but surely unwelcoming expression on their face as if they knew something we didn't it was far from uncommon for us to catch sight of a neighbor eyeing my brother and me playing on the beach from their porch or balcony a practically uniform frown carved into their expression who would respond to our friendly waves by turning their backs and disappearing into their home now here we were apparently watching one of those people shuffle towards us in such a way that made my skin crawl and raised my hairs on end whoever it was at the end of the beach they were shambling closer at that point any doubt i had about whether or not what i was seeing was just some pile of seaweed or trash held together ensuade by the wind faded as with every second it continued its approach moving with obvious intent let's just ignore them if they say anything or stuff gets weird we can go inside the suggestion seemed to satisfy ryan who gave the thing a final sideways glance before shrugging and turning his attention to a fiddler crab who'd been moving to join the strange trail of crabs moving down the beach giving chase as it broke away to avoid him a cold chill ran down my back and i could all but feel the person from the other end of the beaches approach an uneasy guardedness welling up in me as if any second a hand would clasp my shoulder that sensation grew until i could practically feel the clammy breath of someone at the back of my neck growing unbearable until eventually i turned my eyes looking back on whoever it was now halfway across the beach from us a strong breeze rolled across the water and onto land forcing me to shield my eyes from the sand it kicked up i could see the fabric whatever it was the person was wearing appearing from this distance to be a cloak of some sort with grass and seaweed and other plant life clung to it as it moved with the breeze creating an even eerie phantom like sort of appearance there's something about someone making a slow approach towards you that is deeply disturbing something about their feeling no need to move with any sense of haste or secrecy treaching forward uncaring of whether or not they're seen that can make you break into a cold sweat i tried to return my attention to my brother in our crab catch but the unshakable feeling of being watched and someone drawing ever closer was unshakable and i found myself muttering half-hearted responses to my brother's questions as i continued peering down the beach the person as shaky as that description felt for what i was seeing began to go from an unidentifiable shape in the distance and gain some recognizable form making it possible to make out certain aspects of their body beneath that unshakably odd cloak though its shape was strange the slight recognizable figure of a human woman by the look of it beneath all the strangely colored coverings was beginning to become somewhat clear at least from her lower half though there was something undeniably off about it that i couldn't quite place something i felt must be so obvious yet managed to evade notice there was one strange detail i noticed as it was impossible to miss and likely the reason i'd misidentified them is something else to begin with a hunch caused by something large and unwieldy on their back like a book bag beneath the cloak despite that the slow drip of unease like water from a broken tap was growing more intense the atmosphere on the beach seeming to shift in odd surrealism hitting me as though i were walking in a dream that sensation one gets typically followed by the question is this really happening as though my mind already knew something was deeply amiss ryan seemed to take notice of how distant i was quickly putting two and two together turning his attention back towards the figure growing nearer they're still coming huh he asked his brows furrowed looks like they're moving it looks like they're limping or something andrew maybe they're hurt and looking for help should we do something he hesitated when asking the last part and i could see that the strange shift in the atmosphere had gotten to him too a hint of anxiety breaking through his usual mask of confidence still the look in his eye was a familiar one i'd seen it many times throughout our childhood like just before he'd scaled the tallest tree in our neighborhood to retrieve the neighbor girl's cat after hearing her crying he fell halfway through his descent while i was left to watch from the ground in horror time seeming to slow as my brother approached the ground he never dropped the cat and though he broke his arm he smiled at the hospital proud of what he'd done ryan was always more than just a daredevil he was a sweet kid who would help someone in need regardless of how much his coward of an older brother attempted to dissuade him or convince him of the dangers still i think at that moment even he knew better than to just approach the person despite his helpful nature there was so much about what was unfolding beyond the usual weirdness of the beach to which we were accustomed that was unshakably weird teetering dangerously on the border of simply odd and intimidating he stepped forward then stopped his motion stuttered as reluctant seemed to wash over him the figure at the opposite end of the beach had yet to cease its glacial forward charge towards us growing more defined though little detail could be made out from beneath the cloak like garment draped over it and we began to hear a noise made faint by the distance between us over the faint murmur of the waves and whisper of the breeze i could hear something breathing quite labored by the sound of it a rasping desperate voice that sounded as though someone was struggling for air against failing lungs and intertwined with it a haunting pitchy whale like an older woman in distress sent an icy chill down my back despite the relative warmth of the day ma'am ryan called inquisitively across the beach his voice shaking uncharacteristically with a hint of the same unease i felt my entire body cringed as ryan's call shattered the silence every nerve in my body seeming to jolt in response a light but steadily growing stream of dread trickling through my chest as we awaited some semblance of a response from the odd person who was undoubtedly making their way towards us his words seemed to hang in the air punctuated by the constant clacking of tiny kindness legs darting over top shells as they scuttled over one another and through the sand which as i began to truly listen more my hearing growing more sensitive as i strained to hear a response a whispered greeting or anything from the person approaching i noticed for the first time how much louder and eerily uniform the sounds had become for the first time since their appearance on the beach i managed to pry my attention away from the disturbingly captivating figure in the cloak feeling almost mesmerized by its strange sway and began to notice something wrong with the crabs covering the beach they'd all but ceased their typical behaviors instead coming together in masses of legs and shells of varied size and appearance forming shuttering dark masses moving waves with hundreds of spindly legs and grasping claws that seem to move with a single mind like some massive ant colony even the perpetually skittish hermits which typically avoided the larger sometimes more aggressive crabs were now neglecting their typical feverish digging of safety holes in the sand to join the others it wasn't an isolated event either and as i turned to observe the rest of the shore behind us i saw the same strange sight repeating all along the beach they swarmed and circled on mass moving like a living whirlpool a constant hail of chittering clicks audible as they stampede over one another in their strange guided frenzy something was wrong opening my mouth to speak proved useless at first and it felt as though the air had been sucked out of the immediate vicinity leaving me to produce only the smallest sounds of surprise shock still robbing me of my functions the swirling masses on the beach behind us were beginning to coalesce and grow forming massive dark monoliths doubted with dull grays greens reds various colors of shells from the countless species amongst the shifting form which almost appeared as a single entity moving in concert with such fluidity if you've ever witnessed the mesmerizing murmuration of a flock of birds in the sky swooping and shifting as they move amongst each other with perfect coordination in total unison and harmony almost creating the illusion of a shimmering effect amongst the living cloud of avians or the shoaling of a massive school of fish when they form a single mass shifting morphing as one occasionally splitting off into separate clouds only to coalesce again with their awe inspiring grace of nature then you've got an idea of what I was seeing except on the ground and with far less breathtaking beauty and more of that jerky robotic like insectoid sort of movement typical of the animals excuse me ma'am my head snapped in Ryan's direction the question spoke with far more alarm than previously momentarily distracting me from what I was seeing he'd backed up drawing closer to me and it was clear why the woman had gotten considerably closer in the time I'd been distracted moving at a steady pace towards us disturbing confusing details growing more visible with her approach the cloak she wore appeared to glisten at a distance either wet or coated in some reflexive substance reflecting the last vestiges of fading light piercing the horizon and though it was growing darker and I felt as though I surely must have been mistaken in what I was seeing it appeared as though her draping's were comprised entirely of some strange blend of seaweed moss and other plant life still sopping wet covering all but the hand holding the strange shawl closed around her and a portion of her head stooped forward as she walked her skin made my stomach turn bearing a sickly modelled gray appearance reminiscent of a living corpse from a Romero film and her head was the same with a few clumps of long sopping wet black hair hanging from it filthy cloudy water dripping from its ends as the sun dipped below the horizon its final rays reflected across the cool gray surface of the water and caught her ghastly figure exposing yet another oddity that made my blood run cold all throughout her strange garment almost imperceivable due to natural camouflage shells embedded like strange decorative gems they were crabs the thought that they were dead past my mind momentarily my frightened mind's loose attempt at rationalizing a clearly irrational situation but the thought was dashed as I noticed the occasional rise of a claw or movement from a long thin leg from the fabric and I realized that somehow they were all alive and moving the almost rhythmic sound of the shifting sand as she moved had nearly faded to background noise but as she'd almost covered more than half the original distance between us I began to wonder just what caused such a sound a moan low in gravelly as if coming from a voice that hadn't been used in years rose above the sounds of the beach barely audible above the steady crackle of the teeming legions of crabs behind us thousands of legs and shells swarming over each other that made my skin crawl Ryan's wide eyes met mine unspoken messages passed between us in an instant both feeling the same primal terror pleading desperately for us to run to get as far away from the present strangeness as possible still something about that night the strange silky dreamlike quality of it all kept us in place for just a few moments longer a thick pungent odor filled the air coating the inside of my nose sea salt and rot and I swallowed against the ominous rumble in my stomach it caused I took a step back away from the wave of stench rolling forth from the ghastly woman when a sharp pain exploded through my ankle sending a wave of nausea rippling through me and I fell to the ground with an ominous crunch shit I cried out pulling my legs close and gripping my now throbbing ankle the pain was extreme at least for a child like I've been it was so much pain that for a moment I didn't notice the strange consistency of the ground I was laying on parts of it hard and slippery and wet under my arms while in other places jagged points seem to dig painfully into my skin it was a combination of the pain settling into reality allowing my senses to return and Ryan's horrified stunned expression as his eyes stared past me glazed with fear as he saw what I'd landed on Andrew are you okay get up his voice was small and frightened in a way I'd never heard from him before for the first time truly sounding like my frightened younger brother he was clearly worried about my well-being sensing that I was hurt but I could tell that wasn't his focus his eyes glazed as he stared past me what I'd assumed to be the earth beneath me had shifted practically moving me along with it and as one hand shot away from my ankle in response running along the hard shells and pointed claws of the swarm beneath me now a single moving wave of pinching claws and moving limbs completely covered the ground beneath me Ryan's head shot back and forth eyes darting between myself and the legion of crabs beneath me and the woman who couldn't have been more than 30 feet away from us at that point the stench wafting off of her growing suffocating the ground around our feet was covered within seconds by the impending mass now moving across the beach like a wave and I managed to roll myself over the shells beneath me finding a patch of open sand with the help of Ryan who grabbed my arm pulling me up onto my good leg on the ground all around us numerous crabs some impossibly large almost the size of small dogs float past like a living river the continuous prickle against my legs making my entire skin itch with a sensation of little legs crawling across me reconvening past us in a single stream moving for the same point the woman if we could even still call her that was so close we could hear each one of her slow labored breaths and the sickening gurgling sound her throat would emit with every attempt to inhale though still covered by her garment the construction of which stumped me as it seemed entirely composed of things I saw no way to fashion into clothing seaweeds and various greenery stitching together reminiscent of some natural suit her visible arm seemed to dangle before her uselessly and as she approached even with the sun now firmly behind the horizon I could see the sickly condition of her skin more clearly in my mind raced with questions it was the arm of a drowning victim out of a movie or a waterlogged corpse pruned with the skin seemingly ready to slosh off the bone at any moment hanging loose from the body I couldn't imagine what the rest of her would look like nor did I want to find out the black massive shells and legs move toward her like a living river pooling around her individual crabs crawling up her form their legs disappearing into the strange mossy coverings draped over her as they embed themselves like sick jewels I don't know why I kept looking everything in me begged for me to turn my head or close my eyes screaming out to me that whatever stood before us was something unexplainable and that I should be fleeing still my legs felt frozen my feet locked in place in the sand by some misfiring in my brain eyes locked on the approaching figure staring deep into the darkness beneath her cowl horrifying yet waiting for whatever was concealed beneath I couldn't have been prepared for what I was going to see the sky had turned from the deep purple and orange of the twilight to the navy blue of the night the moon hanging overhead serving as a brilliant source of light illuminating the beach below as she shuffled forward barely a few feet away from me at this point the face concealed beneath her hood became visible a morbid blend of humanity and something else I struggled to comprehend whatever this was this thing we'd been sharing the beach with it wasn't human her face above the nose anyways was the most human-esque aspect of her appearance with undeniably feminine eyes that would have been striking if not for their lacking any sort of whites or iris twin pools of a wide inky blackness that seemed to pierce me with their gaze that was the extent of the things humanity in her appearance her nose merely two pulsating slits in her face at first glance but a flash of motion from them caught my eye then a second in a sick feeling flooded through me as I began to process what I was seeing two little mandible like things flitted out of her nose on occasion seemingly tasting the air around her the mouth was no better almost imperceivable when shut it splayed open as she hissed two separate sets of fleshy pale pincers covered in what seemed like human skin separated like parts of a mask to reveal a circular opening riddled with a mouth full of teeth protruding from all directions a steady stream of saliva running down her chin splaying across the sand as she began to emit strange excited chitters my mind reeled in a violent wave of dizziness struck with such force my vision seemed to shake from it as the strange sense of surrealism of being in a waking nightmare grew overwhelming rising up in my chest threatening to make me vomit ryan tugged at my arm returning my senses as he tried desperately to pull me in the direction of the deck terror etched into his features as I'd never seen before I tried to follow entirely forgetting the injury to my ankle which gave way almost as soon as I placed my weight on it sending me sprawling face first into the sand I turned back to gauge the horrible woman's distance from us regretting it immediately as I got my first view of what was hidden behind the strange cloak for one what looked like a cloak from a distance was actually net a standard fishing net entangled with a variety of ocean plant life like some makeshift suit serving his home to a dozen small crabs that seem to have made a home in the thing I wanted to try to stand up again to run or crawl but I remained frozen in place staring up at the approaching nightmare waiting at any moment for myself to wake up but there would be no jarring moment of shooting up from my bed realizing it was all just a dream and with each passing second the horror I felt seemingly threatened to burst my heart the thing was an abomination the top of its head by far the most human part of it seeming to rise up from out of some sort of pale shell around the top half of her body peering out with those endless black eyes as though taking measure of me its torso was human-esque in shape but not in design covered in a clear yellowish carapace beneath which its fleshy insides were visible a pulsating mess of pink and white with streaks of red blood vessels and covered with six long fleshy tendrils two of which ended in points the other four of which ended in small useless little hands that appeared malformed or incomplete like something you'd find on a fetus with white muscle and bone visible under ripped skin that didn't seem to fit all stabbing and prodding at the air in front of it like a hermit crab trapped on its back one of her arms ended in a human hand the skin of which appeared ordinary and the question of whether the thing before me had once been human did occur to me but it was drowned out by my deafening fear the other was claw like but clearly made up of fingers stretched or malformed to appear like a claw with bony ridges running down the inside of the thumb and index as my eyes traveled down the creature every detail seemingly worse than the last my stomach turned as I saw its legs immediately understanding the strange limp in their gate the thing had four crab-like stilts for legs on which it teetered and moved like a marionette the fleshy arms continued to shoot forward reaching for me desperately and the creature picked up speed moving towards us with a quick spastic uneven motion that triggered every fight or flight response I had help help us Ryan's desperate cries only served to make my heart beat faster as I felt his hands grip under my armpits as I began to desperately attempt to pull myself towards our house the thing hissed and chittered loudly in response its body beginning to twitch violently as it shook off its strange fishing net garment grasping it firmly in its human hand revealing itself fully to us it was like some horrible god had taken a woman a beautiful one maybe at some point and stitched her into a massive crab shell replacing what should have been her back and shoulders which I realized was the mass I'd seen on her back there was something almost hauntingly beautiful about her eyes and for some reason all that came to mind was the mental image of a mermaid with pixie-like dark eyes and for the split second I could afford to be distracted I wondered if the creature before me had always been this a faint wet scratching noise came from the hole where her mouth should have been its mandibles splayed out to either side to reveal the hole full of jagged human teeth it took me a moment to realize what was happening she was speaking her voice a horrid raspy sing song whisper that made my blood freeze crack the shell eat what's inside crack the shell suck out the meat crack the shell taste the sweet tender fleshy bits the creature sang its spine tingling tune to itself as it scuttled towards us globs of drool dripped from the ends of its mandibles running down the exposed muscle and flesh of its neck and disappearing beneath its carapace an undeniable hunger present in its expression crabs from every part of the beach seemed to take notice of the creature seemingly attracted to it in droves crawling over my brother's feet and running along my entire body as he pulled me until a continuous swirling mass of legs and shells had formed beneath the creature like some freak hurricane of which it stood in the eye its eyes too wet dark orbs on stocks rose from the center of its face like snakes from a den and I could feel them staring through me an intense horrible hunger seeming to roll off of it in waves crack the shell have a taste it began to dawn on me that she wasn't talking about the crabs and a split second spent wondering what she meant by shells practically set me a fire with panic it was going to eat us or try anyways this thing this monster from the depths of some sick creator's mind was going to devour my brother and me alive the thought was dizzying like staring over the edge of a skyscraper but it provided all the motivation I needed to try and push myself up onto the one good leg using Ryan as balance and trying to flee as best I could though the root of unease had grown into a forest of inescapable dread within me knowing that she was closer to us than we were to the house and moving much faster we weren't going to make it we were going to die on this beach that we've loved all our lives at the hands of something I couldn't even understand I knew I should turn away to focus on the house ahead of me and put my every effort into escaping but something in me refused utterly horrifically transfixed with the cause of my imminent demise Andrew hurry man Ryan pleaded from ahead of me as I lagged behind my injured ankle screaming out with a red hot pain that radiated through my entire leg pulsing like a heartbeat he'd stopped running several feet ahead staring back between myself and our pursuer with an unreadable expression from behind me I heard the awful croon of the thing grow nearer along with almost rhythmic sounds of its massive crab like legs slamming into the earth as it scuttled forth I tried to stand and collapsed again into the sand beneath me shouting out in pain and frustration as I'd never felt before as my leg gave up on me once again just go please go get mom and dad I cried out to him my face fell into the sand a dejectedness spreading through me like nothing I'd ever felt as the fact of my imminent demise weighed on my young mind I knew there was no way he could do that no way for him to reach our parents and get back in time but I wanted to protect him and get him as far away from the danger as possible I just wanted him to live but Ryan was always the brave one the sound of continued footsteps in the sand brought a surge of relief overwhelmed almost immediately by a shockwave of dread as I realized they were approaching my head shot up and my heart fell as I confirmed what I'd heard no go I shouted at my brother barreling towards me tears streamed down his face yet his expression was one of rage and determination he's going to try and drag you back and neither of you will make it the thought almost killed me itself as I begged for my brother to turn back and to leave me you can't carry me fast enough it'll get us both I said Ryan was strong stronger than me at least and like I said he was a big kid but even he wouldn't be able to drag me back faster than the horror behind us was approaching its sickening croon was almost sing song now though the voice was a horrid mix between a deep wet gurgle and something reminiscent of a grandmother singing to her loved ones my brother turned to me I know he said his response unusually firm with a finality that made my blood run ice cold get up and go as fast as you can Ryan said running past me he ran towards the nightmare of a being that had emerged from Crappers Bay I heard someone call his name a horrible sorrowful shriek I realized the voice was my own as I watched him grow closer and closer to the ever thrashing vestigial hands of the woman on their long fleshy crab-like arms reaching out desperately for my brother I can't imagine what he hoped to do I suppose he thought he was going to grab the thing and overpower it battling it heroically leaving me the time to crawl the safety perhaps he thought he could even escape the thing and we'd both make it back neither was the case I watched on in horror as my younger brother came within reach of the longest of the creature's grasping arms time seemed to slow as it found hold of my brother digging into the exposed flesh of his shoulder with a wet sound everything seemed to stop for a moment as small drops of blood began to trickle down Ryan's back from where the creature's claws were dug in leaving pale trails of red in their wake then with the quickness of a striking spider the rest of her limbs followed suit all finding purchase in my brother's skin the large clawed arm grasping his own with obvious brutality a few of the thinner more insectoid limbs reaching around to plunge into his back pulling him into something of an awful hug the kiteness outer shell creaked with effort as the thing pulled him nearer I opened my mouth but found no words as she pulled him closer an awful excited moan rising from her as Ryan fought and struggled against her kicking up sand as he tried desperately to pull himself free stop he began to plead all of the bravery once present in his voice was now gone he sounded like the kid he was just a scared 11 year old his pleas were cut short by another round of excited chittering from the creature as it raised its head opening its mouth gnashing hungrily with rows of human teeth the mandibles extended out from either side of it viscous drool running down their ends she pulled Ryan into her pressing him against her exposed chest cold and hard where the shell covered it seemingly wet and fleshy where the strange human components remained exposed by the steady streams of blood running down his arms and back I could tell her grip was strong and only getting stronger the pointed hooks and small prying fingers at the ends of her arms were deep in Ryan's flesh making sure there was no way he was going to escape her grasp without leaving a significant trunk of himself behind the being a fixed my brother with a look her eyes blazing with a hunger I couldn't comprehend before glaring over his shoulder at me it's impossible to be sure with a mouth like that but I swear she smiled at me before she spoke crack the shell taste the meat inside her voice was a whisper of death over the breeze the only audible sound it seemed besides the wind and water and nonstop clatter of crabs over each other and her words rang with an audible finality then with a final haunting shriek she reared back and bit her mandibles gripping him on either side of his head pulling him close the sounds in those following few moments have remained with me haunting my thoughts like a phantom for years I hear them ringing out from the darkness in my worst nightmares and awake in a frozen chill with them echoing throughout my mind for hours to come a sickening crunch rang out across the sand starting a hurricane in my stomach as my lunch rushed up my throat threatening resurgence followed by an equally gruesome cracking squelch like the sound of someone biting through a soft apple Ryan his body rather began to convulse a shower of red erupting from the center of his head as that damn thing reared its head back again chewing noisily its mandibles capturing and shoveling what loose bits of meat fell right back into its mouth its body shuttered with an undeniable pleasure its beady eyes shutting for a moment in an alien expression of pure bliss in its many arms clattering like teeth in the cold as it ate a part of him a part of Ryan of my little brother right in front of me the feeling of powerlessness that spread through me like a cancer hurt far greater than any physical pain I was in I'd like to believe that it killed him instantly saving him from whatever else it had in store for him an injury like that should have been fatal but the way he moved the way he seemed to struggle against the vice grip that demon around him had I don't know its grip never seemed to loosen quite the opposite its spasm of excitement seemingly causing those awful little almost human hands to dig in hungrily disappearing into Ryan's back arms and wherever else they'd made contact as if merging with him my sight grew blurry almost instantly maybe it was the tears maybe it was the dizziness probably both I tried to crawl forward any concerns for my own pain safety or survival turning to dust with the sight of Ryan my only thoughts of getting to him of reaching my little brother and holding him of making everything okay it seemed aware of my intentions scuttling back away from me dragging his feet in the sand leaving a trail from the pool of blood beneath where he'd been that was quickly swarmed by some of the crabs who seemed to fight over it and whatever else fell uneaten by the creature I don't know how far I made it when my vision began to go orbs of darkness burning their way into the picture like damaged movie film growing until the dark was almost all I could see the world around me and the scene in front of me disappearing into an ever shrinking pinprick as my subconscious waned no no my tongue seemed almost as heavy as my eyelids and speech felt impossible as I attempted to protest the inevitable it was taking him this thing was taking my brother away it was every stranger danger scenario I'd feared as an older brother growing up merged with something from my most depraved nightmare and the panic seemed to sear my mind beyond sensibility the fact that Ryan was almost assuredly dead seemed to constantly escape me motivating my pathetic crawl forward growing slower and more labored as the world around me began to fade into shades of black the thing scuttled back towards the shoreline moving with its awkward gate as its useless human leg dangled between the massive crab legs carrying it dragging Ryan along with it it was strange the coolness that seemed to flood through my body as it began to part from consciousness and when combined with the feeling of the water against my fingers as I reached the edge of the shore I almost felt as though I was floating I raised my head with what strength I had left my eye struggling to adjust against the now darkened sky with only the faintest rays of moonlight piercing the cloud cover to illuminate the night it stood there with its back to the moon uproarious winds whipping the strange cloak of living things that had covered her off to the side and she stood tall arms outstretched in something that seemed like a show of dominance her stilt like legs carrying her several feet above the waves as the legions of crabs across the beach seemed to pour into the water after her in a massive tidal wave of movement as the world around me began to fade into a pinprick I watched as the creature began to wade off from the shallows of the bay a beach full of crabs around it following suit disappearing one by one beneath the water which seemed an inky black mess in the darkness she was the last to be submerged a measured carefulness in her descent casting a final look back at me and the surrounding shores an unreadable glint present in those black eyes as they disappeared beneath the water and the darkness seemed to envelop me the following hours were excruciating my father found me passed out on the beach at the edge of the water while the tide was rising and seeing no sight of my brother he knew immediately that something was wrong I'd nearly drowned hell as the night continued I wished I had I told them everything I knew everything that happened from start to finish my brother and I seeing something strange at the moving end of the beach and thinking it must be a neighbor all the way to the strange behavior of the crabs and how they seemed to respond to the thing I suppose I don't have to tell you how well that went grief is a powerful awful thing it can warp the way you think crack the lenses through which you view the world and utterly transform a person it certainly did for my father I don't think he truly believed I had anything to do with Ryan's disappearance we were best friends and a part of me has to believe my father knows I never heard him that he was just a grieving father beyond his wits and and I was the only one on a beach where my brother's blood was found by the time the police had come he'd grilled me past the point of tears himself and had to be calmed down by my equally bereaved mother and I recall believing I was going to go to jail myself for my own brother's death at the hands of something unexplainable when the cops came there were two of them a woman stern and matter of fact with her questions despite my obviously emotional state and a man a bit taller with a rather bushy mustache and a curious expression in his eyes that seemed to be searching for something the woman cop had left the room to meet an approaching car of incoming officers and show them to the beach where my brother's blood still sat the place we'd played at for years now a crime scene when the room was empty save for our family and himself he spoke up confirming what the expression on his face gave away there was something he'd wanted to say since arriving excuse my partner she's not from around here just transferred in look I'm truly sorry and we're going to do the best we can to find your boy the officer had told my father after they'd arrived and been filled in on the situation as well as my account of the events but well I imagine you know this is a weird place Krabbers Bay most folks that aren't from here or haven't been here for a long time don't come around here and especially don't go near that beach I know my father began his voice dripping with venomous grief I'd never heard from him before which made me shrink away the crab thing freaks most people out and the people here just as weird believe me I've heard it from my wife enough what has that got to do with the fact that my son is missing the officer's side shooting a look at the partner who'd arrived with him to make sure he wasn't listening too closely look I shouldn't be saying any of this but you lost your son and I feel you've got a right to know about the history of this place if this comes across as disrespectful I'm sorry but this isn't the first time a call like this has happened I grew up 20 minutes out from here and there have been stories about this place for as long as I can remember it's not just the crab thing people go missing sometimes on that beach and are never seen or heard from again it's happened for as long as that first group of crabbers settled here you'd get local kids going to visit the weird crab beach in that creepy rich neighborhood only for one of them to never return and the ones who did come back well they came back with stories wild impossible stories about things coming from that stretch of shore the officer adjusted his belt and shook his head as though trying to knock loose an unwelcome old memory my old man used to blame it on the first people to move there used to say they made a pact with something dark that's something I don't know gives birth to all those damn things or makes that place like that that they must have agreed to let it take from them just as they took from it or just accepted the consequences he paused for a moment seeming to consider what he was saying I don't know it's all just ghost stories and this state is full of them but if I were you I'd want to know I can't say for sure what happened to your son and like I said I know we'll do our best to find him but don't be too hard on your son there he said casting a glance at me there may be something to that story of his we never returned to that house and despite my parents best efforts in constant fruitless attempts at gathering a rescue party of the unwilling neighbors to go search for him Ryan or his body was never recovered I've been content to try and handle this trauma as best I can over these years doing my best to forget that place and come to terms with my brother's demise in a way that didn't make me feel insane that was until recently when a headline caught my eye while scrolling Facebook shared by a family friend who'd grown up in one of those towns near Fiddler's Grove that sent my heart plummeting into familiar depths divers discover human remains in hidden underwater cave system with infamous Krabbers Bay the article was short and I finished it in minutes a strange sensation as though the weight of gravity had changed around me flooding through me in those moments it was a short piece but it left a weight like nothing I'd read before the disappearance of a 14 year old from a small coastal town had become a frenzy in the local news after he and his friends planned a beach day on the shores of a rather infamous local beach it was the last time anyone ever saw him and each of the boys who'd been with him returned with similar stories all of which shared key details that made the whole thing seem quite suspicious the Coast Guard was brought in soon after and a team of divers was dispatched to scour the bay for signs of a body what they discovered instead was an intricate system of caves carved directly beneath the shores of Krabbers Bay caves that if they didn't know better almost seemed intelligently designed within these strange tunnels beneath the shore the divers found the human remains the scattered skulls and broken bones of several bodies some of which dated back for several years most disturbing of all was the fact that many of the skulls appeared cracked from blunt force trauma and had come to serve as impromptu homes for some of the shell seeking species of crab found on that anomalous beach morbid shells made from repurposed human I felt something in me for the first time in years as I processed what I was reading what it must mean about that place I wondered if my brother's remains were among those found serving as little more than a bone yard for sea and sex to build homes in that thought hurts more than I think I care to express in this story at least now I know I'm not crazy sometimes when sleep gives way to nightmares and I sink into the darkest depths of my mind I can still hear that awful crooning voice mocking me and that stomach wrenching crack like a shell being broken as if those sounds are burned forever into my psyche on those nights I dream of a cloaked woman and the brother I couldn't save