Tourist season starts to go into full swing in June in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. That's when the weather heats up enough for bikini season to be in and schools to let out for summer break. Charlotte could barely focus on her math final as the day drew to a close, only a little bit until she wouldn't have to worry about homework and grades. Not that she could focus much anyways; she'd forgotten to take her ADHD pill this morning and her dyslexia certainly wasn't helping either. But nonetheless, she finished the last question just as her teacher called for everyone to put their pencils down.
"At this point," Charlotte thought with a little smile and a sigh "Toni would have thrown his test and jumped out the window,".
Toni was her best friend. Star of their school's soccer team, class clown, and former military brat he had been friends with Charlotte since the beginning of 6th grade, when he gave her his milk carton after a bully exploded hers. He mysteriously disappeared in January during winter break, not telling anyone where he went. It was lonely without him around. She had other friends, of course, but it wasn't the same without her Toni.
The bus ride home was longer than usual, due to the insane traffic from incoming tourists, looking to spend a week or two in her little beach town. This and the insane heat made the other kids on the bus more restless than usual, throwing just about anything they could lift (food, dirty gym clothes, the occasional condom, etc.), leaving Charlotte plastered against the window trying to avoid being hit by the projectiles. She hopped off the bus when it reached her home and as the bus drove away a tuna sandwich splattered against the back window.
Home was an inn that her mother owned and ran, "The Sea Glass" it was called. It was one of more popular non-chain places in the city, and upon walking into the lobby it was apparent why. The lobby was the front room of the house that was converted to be a check-in desk and social place. A large bay window overlooked the boardwalk and let in a copious amount of sunlight. At the check-in desk was her mother's new assistant, Loretta, flipping through the latest edition of US Weekly.
"Hi Loretta," Charlotte chirped, slinging off her backpack.
"Hey hon," She looked up from an article on Bradjelina, smiling. She was in her early twenties, as many summer assistants and workers in Rehoboth were. They would come and work for the summer and then go back home for school in the fall.
"Your mom is in the kitchen stocking shelves, might wanna go help her before she falls again,". Charlotte smiled, nodded and walked to the back of the kitchen was decorated in the retro, kitschy her mother was fond of; complete with the rounded fridge and the cherry-printed curtains on the window. Her mother was on a teetering stool, trying to put cans of chickpeas on the top self of the pantry.
"Mom! Careful!" Charlotte exclaimed, rushing to steady the stool.
"Oh, hi honey I didn't hear you come in," Her mother said "How was the last day?"
"Fine I guess, lunch wasn't too bad-tasting and the finals weren't terrible but-"
"But you miss Toni," her mother finished. She knew her daughter well, which became apparent when Charlotte gave a weak smile.
"Well, I'm sure you'll hear from him eventually. You two were quite the pair, coming home all sandy from soccer on the beach,"
"Ooh, speaking of which mom; the guys want me to come play with them in a bit, is that ok?"
"Yea, it's fine. Just be careful of all the batty tourists, especially mine!" Her mom called, "And be back before dinner please!"
"Will do, thanks mom!" Charlotte yelled, racing up the back stairs to her bedroom, which was separated from the rented rooms in the house.
The walls were a pastel pink with classic rock band posters covering sections and fairy lights were strung up near the ceiling. Her closet was neatly arranged by clothing type, but she had papers littered all over her floor. She stripped out of her school clothes and into a purple one-piece suit with cut-off shorts thrown on over it, running out the door to the beach. The guys had already started when she arrived, trying to keep their intense game out of the way of the tourists (who were eyeing them warily).
"Char!" one of them cried out, kicking the ball to her. She bumped it off of her chest and ran to join them in their game.
She had always been fast, being able to weave in and out of crowd in no time flat, changing her footing on a dime, things that are useful in sports. Toni was the one who introduced her to soccer, and she'd been playing ever since. The boys adopted her as one of their own, continuing to play with her even after Toni left. She was able to play just as well as any of the school's team players, diving and head-butting to make a play. After a couple of games, Charlotte noticed the sun starting to set, meaning that she should head home soon. She vaguely remembered a day where she had hung back with Toni, sitting in a life guarding chair with him while eating her mom's taffy. The sky had been the same color and her favorite flavor; strawberry. The sky was that color now, she sighed, wishing he could come back.
"Wow that's a huge dog!" she head one of the guys exclaimed. "Hey there buddy, come here,"
She snapped out of her daydream and followed their gazes to see a giant black dog near the lifeguard chair. But it wasn't really a dog, she could sense that much. It was too huge to be a dog, and drool isn't red.
'That'd better be ketchup,' she thought as the dog locked eyes with her. A severe chill went up her spine and the dog let out a low growl that made her heart stop. Before she could react it started charging at her at full speed, red drool splattering on anyone behind it.
Charlotte couldn't run, she couldn't react at all, for the first time in her life her speed failed her. The creature charged towards her letting out an other-worldly howl as it closed in, and she did the only thing she could think of: she kicked the soccer ball at it.
It hit the dog with enough force to startle it for a second to slow it down, and she heard everyone around her gasp. Taking a quick look at her friends, she saw that they were standing a good enough distance away that they wouldn't get hurt. She didn't blame them, this thing was scary.
Suddenly she heard one of her friends scream something at her, and she whipped back around to face the dog. As she made eye contact, the dog had jumped on top of her, knocking her to the ground. It sunk it's razor-sharp teeth into her thigh and she finally reacted in the only way she could; screaming. Her leg felt like it was on fire, and she could see steam coming off of it. Her friends tried to pull the beast off of her, but it was too strong, too focused. She could see it in it's eyes, it's glowing red eyes, it wanted to kill her.
It finally pulled it's teeth out of her thigh and started to aim for her face. She could smell it's foul breath, laced which reeked of rotting corpses and blood. It was just about to clamp down on her head when it shifted and yelped. It had been knocked off of her. She looked around to see which of her friends had managed to save her, but they all just stared wide-eyed at the same person.
A guy stood to the side of her, with tanned skin and a mop of black shaggy hair that was pulled back into a little ponytail. He wore an orange shirt and a pair of cargo shorts and wielded one of the biggest swords Charlotte had ever seen.
"Toni?" she called out weakly to her savior. He smiled and gave a little wave, before jumping over her and plunging a sword into the "dog", which promptly turned to dust.
She felt a wave of relief sweep over her and she let her body relax in the damp sand below her. Then all at once, her senses came back to her. She could smell the overwhelming scent of blood surrounding her, she could feel the liquid gushing from her thigh. She brought her blood-stained hand to her face and felt her vision grow fuzzy, realizing all the had just happened to her. Toni stood above her, calling for help, as she blacked out.