Coastal Terrors

Teenagers of a small town go head to head with a suspected murderous mayor.

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The night was strangely silent for June. The New Moon made moving near the aft difficult. The pale young man easily lifted the contents of the fishing bucket and tossed it over the edge. He still had a few trips to make down below before the contents of the hidden compartment were completely emptied. He despised her for having done this to him. Now he would never be able to wear his red and white varsity jacket again. He would have his father pull some strings and get a new one. His father would probably lecture him about losing this one, but it was worth it.

It took him nearly an hour to finish up. He sat down on the lawn chair and debated whether he had time to fish before heading back. In the end he gathered up the few items on the deck and wrapped them in his blood stained jacket. He placed the makeshift satchel into the hidden compartment down below. When he came topside he could see the sun slowly rising above the Florida peninsula. He decided that he would rename the boat. It was his boat and not his father’s boat. The boat should have a fitting name. “The Justice who are hereby rechristened The Justice’s Revenge. Yeah that's more fitting.” He grabbed a bottle of budweiser out of the ice chest. He opened it, took a swig, leaned over the rail, and smashed it against the side.

25 years later...

"Do you want to get out of here?” Coral asked her girlfriend.

“Why? When it is so comfortable right here,” said Claudia. She drew her girlfriend up to her and gave her a passionate kiss on the neck.

“O.k. I guess we can meet up with Jesse later,” Coral moaned. Thirty minutes later Claudia rolled a joint to share. “This is a much nicer roll than the last time,” Coral coughed. “So have you thought about applying to Seattle University? You might still be able to get in.”

“Coral, we have talked about this. I will go with you, wherever you choose, but I’m not going to rack up loans for something I am unsure of doing. You have that college fund your grandfather set up for you, I don’t” said Claudia.

“Fine. I exercise my right to revisit this later” Coral added with a drag on the blunt.

“Are you sure your father will not be coming onto his boat anytime soon? We won’t be able to get rid of the weed ‘fragrance’.”

“No. He won’t drive it down to the docks for another month. He usually just works on the paint job of the hull. I’ll have time to air it out before Saturday anyway.” They heard a car pull up outside. “Oh shit their early. Here give me the weed,” Coral asked. Coral took the bag into the bathroom and stuffed it in a hidden cubbyhole on the side of the mirror. “Quick lets go.” They climbed up the stairs and out of the cabin into the aft end of the boat. They climbed down from the boat passing the newly painted name ‘The Justice’s Revenge.” “What are my parents doing?” Coral whispered. She grabbed Claudia before she ran out the garage side door. “Find a place to hide while I distract them,” Coral whispered.

Coral walked out to her parents.

“What are you doing home? I thought you were going out with Jesse tonight,” her mother asked.

“Oh, mom. We are going to meet up later at the Burger Joint,” Coral said.

“Why do you have to go to that place honey? It is all the way on the other side of town,” her mom whined.

“Please mom not this again. Jesse has to bike and I have a car. It is only fair if I meet him close to his house. Besides Claudia lives out there as well,” Coral added slyly.

“I have asked you not to hang out with that girl Coral. She seems slightly odd. I am not a big fan of her family,” her father piped in. “They are nothing but trailer trash. They are thieves and liars,” he added.

“Claudia’s uncle is a Deputy Policeman,” Coral spoke angrily.

Claudia did not hear the rest of the conversation. She had stumbled around the super sized garage until she found a loose piece of wood. She wiggled her slender body into the hidden chamber. She had just enough room to pull her legs up and rested her head against the wooden plank. It felt like some sort of wooden cabinet that had been hidden behind the wall. Somehow she managed to fall asleep. The dream came on suddenly. She felt as if she was being driven violently by the images of a bloodied woman sobbing and reaching out to her. She could not wake herself up. The dream began to change and the woman was calling her “...Claudia…Claudia…” There was something familiar about this bloodied woman.

“He murdered us Claudia. He murdered us and you must bring him to justice. You must do this before he does it again,” the ghost cried. Claudia felt compelled to ask the ghost questions. Claudia was vaguely aware that this was the strangest dream she had ever experienced.

“Who killed you? Tell me,” Claudia asked. The ghost launched into a tale that started with a teenage girl disappointed in love. In this town thirty years ago she had dated the son of the town judge. That young man was good at baseball, sailing and beating up his girlfriend. The ghost said that she had stayed with him because he had moments when he could be so sweet.

The relationship came to a violent end twenty five years before. One evening shortly after they had graduated in 1984 they were partying with friends at a local park. The Judge's son got into an argument with one of his baseball teammates. The mood was ruined and the group parted company instead of heading to the Burger Joint. Somehow he found fault with his girlfriend and began slapping her and calling her names. A young salesman who had been in the area for a week stumbled upon the scene. He pulled the Judge's son off of the girl. The teenage baseball player was clearly in a drunken stupor so the young salesman did not hold back. The salesman was able to knock the Judge's son down, and he held him there until he felt that he had calmed down.

“The salesman told him that he would take me home, and to wait to get up until we had gone,” the ghost said.

The young travelling salesman had graciously helped her up and proceeded to hold her shoulder as they walked through the town.

“We should have known better. I should have known better. That poor salesman…” “We never saw it coming. Who knows how long Trevor had followed us in his car. He came at the salesman with a bat. I never knew if he killed him then or later. He threw our bodies in the trunk. He delivered our bodies to the docks, and carried the two of us to his boat. That damn boat. The first time he ever hit me was on that boat after his 17th birthday party our junior year. His father gave him that boat as a gift in the hopes that it would teach him some responsibility. His father was always a decent man to me. Trevor took us out in that boat hidden in a small cabinet. He took us out into the gulf,” the ghost said slower. “He hit us a few more times to make sure we were dead. Then he fed our pieces into the dark waters of a gulf night.”

“Why wait until now to tell someone?” Claudia asked.

“You do not know do you? I am your mother’s sister, Sissy. Your aunt. You are laying in the very cabinet that cried my blood.”

Claudia woke up with a start. She was scared beyond belief. The dream had felt so real. She reached into her jeans and pulled out her lighter. She flicked it to reveal what appeared to be blood stains spread intermittently around the cabinet. The light went out. She could not breath and she felt like she was going to throw up. She fought to push aside the wood plank. Claudia did not care about the noise she was making or who heard. She busted out the garage side door like a bat out of hell. She did not turn back as she dodged into the unrelenting darkness of a moonless night. She did, however, hear a man’s voice yelling after her like a demon’s call.

Coral’s father ,Trevor, was in the kitchen when he heard a ruckus in the garage. He opened the inner door to only see a figure run out of the garage. He tried to run after the unknown person. When he walked back into the garage he turned on the lights. He smelled faint traces of weed. He figured Coral must have been on the boat with Jesse earlier. The slightly askew wood plank grabbed his attention. He drew in a harsh breath. A tremendous wave of anger welled up inside of him. He knew right then that Jesse must have found the hidden cabinet. Trevor had thought of destroying it years before. He could never bring himself to destroy something associated with certain memories of his youth.

Claudia reached the diner by hitchhiking a ride with Devon. Devon was a wide receiver on the Verona Beaver's football squad with Jesse. He was a nice looking and friendly African American whose family had lived in Verona before the Mayor's family arrived during the Great Depression. Claudia thought that if she had been born straight or bisexual she would have dated Devon. She suspected he knew about her and Jesse being gay, but if he did he never mentioned it. He had stopped asking her out her junior year either way. That was the year she and Coral became inseparable after bonding over "Glee".

"Are you o.k.?" Devon asked.

Claudia realized she had started hyperventilating. "Yes, thanks for saving me the walk across town," she answered.

"Coral, Coral, I have to talk to you right now!" Claudia said while dragging Coral away from the diner's table. She had been sitting there talking with Jesse and his boyfriend, Casper.

"Fine Claudia, don't say hi to the rest of us," Jesse said.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick, and you didn't respond to my texts," said Coral.

Claudia began to relay the events of the night in an exasperated manner. She stumbled over words, and had to repeat various parts.

"What a nightmare," said Coral.

"It was not a nightmare. I think I was wide awake ...in the dream. I've told you before about my grandmother's gift," said Claudia.

"My father did not kill anyone! He calls Bingo at the church on Thursdays. It was a dream. That's all," Coral said while shaking off Claudia's hand from her shoulder, and walking away.

"Please. But the secret cabinet had blood stains," said Claudia.

"Red paint," said Coral's back as she moved to sit by Jesse.

Oh great she is going to tell Jesse all of this. Why wouldn't she? They've been best buds since the third grade. This is why they pass as a couple. I have to find my uncle.

Claudia found her Uncle Marty at the local bowling alley knocking back a few pitchers of buds with buds. This was one luxury in the town limits that had managed to remain open after the 2008 economic issues. It was also where her mother worked in high school and after she returned with a kid in tow, minus the husband. This amplified the town gossip over Claudia's family. Nothing is ever completely forgotten in a small town. The playground kids often reminded Claudia of her Aunt who ran off with a salesman with a chant:

"Sissy Kedler, Sissy Kedler"

"Ran up and kissed a peddler"

"Sissy Kedler, Sissy Kedler"

"Ran off with an ugly peddler"

Claudia had no doubt her mother suffered similar jibes since she was only fifteen when her older sister disappeared. She ran from the town herself as soon as graduation was over.

"Uncle Marty, I have to talk to you right now," Claudia said while dragging him away from the game on lane 3.

"Do not take my roll Clyde. I will be right back," said Uncle Marty. "What is it?" He asked as he lit a Newport at the smoke pit out back. "Do you want one?" he asked.

"No. Not until I'm done telling you about what happened tonight," said Claudia. She replayed the events of the evening for the second time to a more receptive audience. She remembered how, at family gatherings, her uncle would often disagree with disapproving relatives that Sissy had run away. Uncle Marty was a year older than the Mayor. He had once comforted Sissy after a spat that left her with a bloodied lip. She had sworn him to secrecy from telling their parents. They had a high opinion of the judge's son, Trevor, from the high side of town. Marty decided to pay a visit to Trevor and have a "talk". The teen seemed to be fairly apologetic, and Trevor decided not to mark him up for the transgression against Sissy. Marty left for a community college in Jacksonville shortly after the incident. He had hoped that Sissy would break away from Trevor. Marty regretted that he did not return home to talk to Sissy more during her senior year.

"I believe you Claudia. I've always suspected as much, but he's the town judge and mayor. He won't just issue me a search warrant of his premises. I will go down in the morning and snoop around. He likes receiving admirers of his boat after the winter refurbishment and upgrades. The pompous ass. Just lie low, and don't tell anyone else. You didn't tell anyone else did you? Not his daughter. Claudia I swear...damn it. She's gonna run home and tell him," said Uncle Marty.

"No, she won't," said Claudia. She was quite certain Coral would not tell, and not because she was protecting Claudia although that might be part of it. Coral's relationship to her parents had strained when the college acceptance letters arrived.

"I am not going to Dartmouth. I'm going to Seattle," said Coral.

"Over my dead body!" said Coral's mom, Irene, "Dartmouth is where I met your father."

"Good for you both," said Coral slamming her bedroom door.

Claudia and Coral had already decided that they wanted to go to a big city, but neither had an interest in NYC. They had picked Seattle because it had surpassed San Francisco in the population of LGBTQ couples. The area had Dan Savage, green, seals and rain. All these things were in short supply in Verona. There were other obvious and appreciated lesbians and gays in Verona. One of the town postman was a transgendered female who had gone through the operation. Coral wanted a school far from her parents and small town life. Claudia wanted to be with Coral wherever she chose to go to school. Claudia did not mind Verona. People no longer teased her about being a bastard. Most teasing stopped in middle school when she nailed one bully in the nose during lunch. She received an afternoon in the principal's office, but it was so worth it.

Up until three hours ago Claudia thought life in Verona was filled with possibility if Coral changed her mind about leaving. She was not blindly optimistic anymore. She knew that a boy who could kill her aunt had become a man who might kill again, if he knew his secret was out of the box so to speak. Claudia had a rough sleep that night, and ignored the texts to her phone after leaving her uncle.

Deputy Marty Kedler checked into dispatch before driving to the mayor's house in the center of town. He noted the funeral parlor car pass him on Main street headed towards its space in the business district on the east side of town which pointed to Miami. The harbor was on the Southwest side of town and opened into the Gulf of Mexico. He had not heard about anyone dying in town, but maybe the car had gone out for repairs. He would hear about it later if anyone had passed away that day in the town of five thousand. It was a Saturday morning and he found the Mayor cleaning his boat.

"Morning Mayor," said Marty.

"Morning Deputy. To what do I owe this pleasure?" said the Mayor with a large smile.

Marty took a breath to keep himself from launching at the murderous bastard in front of him. Just relax Marty. We need proof. Do it for Sissy. Don't give anything away.

"I just came to see the boat and get some pointers. It shines up nice, and new paint. I've been thinking about getting something, smaller of course, when the taxes roll in. Although I'm not sure the missus will go for it," said Marty.

"I've no problem there because the boat was included in the package. I have my suspicions Irene married me because of the boat," said Trevor.

The banter continued for about ten minutes while Trevor gave the royal tour of his baby, The Judge's Revenge.

"That's an interesting name for a boat. How did you come about it?" asked Marty.

"Well, I have your sister to thank for that. Its an inside joke that only she would get," said Trevor.

They had circled the aft end of the boat, and Marty noticed a large hole cut in the side of the garage.

"Hey Mayor, do you have a large rat or something?" asked Marty.

"Yeah, something, but I took care of it," said Trevor.

It was on the drive to conduct his patrol around the harbor that Marty realized the significance of the funeral parlor car. Two years before the Mayor had bought the funeral parlor and resold it to friends from out of town. It had a furnace for cremations. It had a furnace.

"You should bring Jesse around more. I haven't seen him in ages," said Coral's father.

"We are all so busy with finals, and prom, and graduation, dad," said Coral.

The truth was that once her dad took the boat down to the docks she could no longer sneak Claudia into the garage. No one wants to make out on a cement floor. Coral's room faced away from the street, and they would not be able to hear the approaching vehicles of her parents. Besides Claudia had been acting strangely, and refused to come over anyways. So they all had been hanging out at Jesse's place since his room was the entire done up basement. Coral and Claudia were continuing to hone their plans for Seattle.

Coral had secretly removed funds from the college account her grandfather, the Judge, had set up for her when she was a baby. She used some of the money to reserve her space for her upcoming freshman year. The details for how they were going to get there were still sketchy, but Claudia was working out plans for a two week road trip up there. Claudia's mom was assisting with their plans after she had been sworn to secrecy. She had committed to helping the young couple find a used vehicle that could make the journey, plus some, with their belongings. Unfortunately Coral's parents took her car away when she refused to send a commitment letter to Dartmouth.

Coral wanted to pack her entire room, but Claudia talked her out by mentioning the price of gas for a rental truck. There would also be no way to hide a rental truck in the driveway. Claudia imagined it would go something like this...

"Excuse me, Irene, do you know someone is moving out of your house?" says curious neighbor, "Yeah, right now. I can see the orange U-haul from my window."

Two months had passed since the night Claudia went running into the diner. She did not bring up her fears to Coral again. This was not hard to do once her uncle told her the proof had most likely been incinerated. Uncle Marty had started to dig into the Mayor's finances looking for any in-discrepancies. He found several financial inconsistencies and transactions.

It turned out the Mayor was an investor in an international corporation that was under investigation by the feds. The ATF would not disclose anything to a small town deputy. Uncle Marty did not blame them. After all, he could have been inquiring at the behest of the Mayor. He came up with the possibility of illegal imports or exports as one part of the larger investigations. He stumbled on this possibility by accident when he remembered the Mayor had a stake in Port Verona's shipping industry. The Mayor's grandfather had invested in an expansion of the port almost seventy years before. The family had retained shares, had free access to the docks, and had access to the port log books in the shipping of textiles since the 1950's.

"You know your aunt Sissy first noticed him because of the boats. The Judge would take the family out on the boat every weekend, and she would watch from the shore," said Uncle Marty.

"So, what should we do now?" asked Claudia.

"Nothing, just stay out of it. I will keep digging into his finances until I have proof of illegal activity. Then I can file a report with the Sheriff's department, and discuss the issue with some town council members. I hear you guys are gearing up to go cross country. I've done those a few times myself. Come over with Coral and your mom tomorrow, and I will give some tidbits over pizza," said Uncle Marty.

Claudia had told her uncle that her and Coral were an item on a trip to the outlet mall a week before. He took it better than her mother who threw an hour long hissy fit and lamented about grandchildren.

"I kind of figured," said Uncle Marty.

The pizza day started out like any other day. Until the Sheriffs arrived at the school in droves and instructed the kids to unlock their lockers. There was not a single person more shocked than Jesse when his locker was opened to reveal an unloaded 9mm and a couple of dime bags.

"I don't understand. That's not my stuff," said Jesse.

"I'm sorry son. We have to read you your rights," said the Sheriff's deputy.

Coral texted Claudia later that she overheard her parents talking about an anonymous tip, and how unbelievable it was. They both knew it was untrue. They figured maybe a homophobic student had figured out Jesse was gay, and had set Jesse up to bully him. Claudia's mom got a call from town police dispatch shortly before they were to pick up Coral and then head to the Pizza Pad.

"Cynthia, its Gretchen, Marty's been in an accident. He's been airlifted to Grace Memorial. Claudia and her mom rushed to the hospital. Coral was able to borrow her mom's car and headed out to meet up with Claudia.

"What happened?" asked Coral sitting down beside Claudia. Claudia had wet red eyes, and her mom was pacing by the vending machines.

"They don't know yet. He crashed his car into a tree coming down 'Hogan's Hill'," her voice broke, "They said if he had gone off the other side of the road he would have died for sure. He is lucky to be alive. He's in surgery now. We will know more by morning," said Claudia as she burst into sobs while Coral hugged her close.

It was not until Claudia talked to her uncle a few days later that the pieces fell into place.

"So, Jesse gets arrested on bogus charges, and I almost got killed in a freak car accident," said Uncle Marty. The investigation team found the cause of the accident to be a cut brake line.

"What are the odds," asked Claudia.

Uncle Marty said, "Zero. The son of a bitch is trying to cover his tracks. He might even get a sick pleasure out of it. He must have thought Jesse found the bloodied cabinet, and,"

"tried to find a way to discredit him, and silence you," finished Claudia.

"Listen, just steer clear of him, and convince Claudia to leave soon after graduation. I will take care of this when I get back to the department. Don't worry, now that I know what he is capable of he won't get the drop on me again. O.k. You got it? I said do you got it?" said Uncle Marty all decked out in casts.

"Yes uncle, i'll get Coral out of town as soon as possible," said Claudia.

The wheels were already spinning before Claudia stepped out of Uncle Marty's hospital room. She had a plan, but it was risky. She went to her Uncle's house and improved her suspicions about the Mayor's port operations. She drove her mom's car to the jail and visited Jesse for a conversation. She met up with a 'friend' down at the docks, and bought as many dime bags as she could with her savings.

"Whoa, what are you gonna do with all this weed?" asked the 'go to guy'.

"I'm giving out gift bags for graduation," said Claudia.

"Whatever floats your boat, but if you get caught...," said 'go to guy'.

"I don't know you," said Claudia.

"I was gonna say you could do some real time," said 'go to guy'

"I'll be careful. Thanks," said Claudia.

Claudia checked the time before heading down pier 3 to the Mayor's boat. She looked around and climbed on board. She figured she had about fifteen minutes tops. She went down the steps and towards the master bedroom. She had been in this room many times, but always with Coral.

It took tremendous focus to slow her breathing and decrease the rhythm of her hyperventilation. She entered the master bathroom and searched for the hidden space that Coral had shown her that cold afternoon when the wheels of fate had been set in motion. She found the space and began to shove dime bags inside. The hidden space had more room then she expected because she was able to fit every last dime bag inside.

She was just making her way out of the master bedroom when the boat began to move away from the pier, out of the port, and towards the open sea. She stood where she was feeling the rhythm of the boat to determine if they were in open water yet. A few minutes past. Claudia felt an intense fear and aloneness settle over her.

The Mayor came into view walking down the stairs...

"Claudia, what are you...," said the Mayor.

Claudia saw dawning recognition in the mayor's face.

"Not Jesse. You?" asked the Mayor.

Claudia decided in that moment that directness might be the path towards surviving and hiding her reason for being there.

"You murdered my aunt. You tried to kill my uncle, and I've come for proof. Just so you know I texted the Coast Guard to come search your boat," said Claudia.

"No you didn't. I would have heard the message go out to the Coast Guard Cutter before we left port. I don't think your phone gets text service out here. But since we have some alone time I'd like to know how you figured it out,"said Trevor.

"My aunt appeared to me in a dream, and told me all about how you murdered her and the salesman. You're a monster," said Claudia.

"She was a whore, and your a stupid girl who is going to die," said Trevor moving towards her.

The Coast Guard cutter piped the warning blasts followed by the loudspeaker...

"This is the Coast Guard Cutter The Atlas. Please bring your vessel to a complete stop, and prepare to be boarded. This is the Coast Guard Cutter The Atlas. Please bring your vessel to a complete stop, and prepare to be boarded."

"Foolish girl, there is no proof I've done anything at all," said the Mayor.

"Of course not," said Claudia.

The coming weeks brought much speculation about the mayor. Why did he have a dozen plus dime bags on board? Why did he have a young girl, his daughter's friend no less, on board. The feds began to look closer into the mayor's financial dealings. They now firmly suspected that the mayor had used his connections at Port Verona to conduct illegal activity.

His import / export dealings remained a mystery. Shortly after Coral and Claudia left for Seattle the mayor's body was found in a deserted factory face down in a pool of his own blood from two shots to the back of his head.

Coral was able to complete that first semester with Claudia by her side to comfort her. Jesse and his boyfriend joined them in Seattle where they attended community college with Claudia.

Claudia owed Jesse for saving her life. While she was on the way to the Mayor's boat, Jesse had asked for a meeting with the D.A. to give up his dealer for immunity. He told the D.A the merchandise in his locker came directly from the town Mayor, and at that very moment he had a shipment of goods on the boat. Jesse also stressed that the Mayor probably had a teen girl or two on the boat because it was a nice sunny afternoon, and that was the Mayor's thing.

Claudia never heard from any ghost ever again, and this more than anything else gave her a sense of peace that the past was truly at rest.

By Alex Almeida

From: United States

Website: https://www.alexathebard.blogspot.com

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