night drop

The night has moved beyond abstraction, almost ink black against reality. It wouldn't last, of course. Nora walks onto the balcony of her hotel room, allowing the sea air to caress her body.  She closes her eyes, turns out towards the water, soaking the night air, the sea wind into her skin.  The rest of the sleepy town is asleep and dawn will break early. She sighs, restless but tired. Jetlag.  

Then a start, a motor in the far distance. An almost imperceptible splash.  She turns towards the sound, narrows her eyes.  Something amiss. It's one thing to be out in the moonlight with a bruised heart and a wounded ego, quite another to be dropped off in the middle of a harbor like a wayward package. 

Nora watches the water for unnatural ripples.  The minutes move quicksilver than molasses slow. Then a glimmer of movement up the ladder. Someone is climbing up the beach ladder into the spa.  Should she call the front desk? Security? 

Should she even care? The entity in the ladder stops for a moment and their eyes lock with hers at least that is how it feels. She shivers  but doesn't look away, simply dips her head in a single nod, watching the figure disappear into the darkened spa area.

That night she dreams of a creature rising from the deep.