The beach had rocks leading out to the water. I lucked out by getting a chair and umbrella. I set up shop and just napped in the sun before I decided to give the water a try. It rocked me, and I lifted my toes above the surface, wiggling them, before I leaned my head back, opened my arms, and closed my eyes.
My thoughts were on the ghost again. The story.
I floated for a while before I made it back to shore to eat lunch—fresh seafood and a beer—and take an even longer nap.
At first, I thought the shadow moving over me was the umbrella, waving in time to the wind, but when I opened my eyes, everyone was fleeing from the beach. A lifeguard was making his way over to me.
“Signorina,” he said, gesturing to the sky, “bad weather is upon us.”
“Okay,” I said, already getting to my feet. “Thank you for letting me know.”
I packed up all my things and trekked behind everyone else to the area where most of the cars and Vespas were parked. This beach was reserved for the workers. Some of them were walking in groups. I looked up at the sky. It was dark, but I was from NewOrleans. We had surprise tropical downpours that seemed to come out of nowhere. Throwing my things in the backseat, I turned the key over, and it didn’t start. I did it again, and again, and again, until I knew it was no use.
My car seemed to be suffering the same fate as the one the two old men and two old women kept arguing about. Grabbing my crossbody, leaving my towels and things like that in the backseat, I decided to walk back to my apartment. It seemed like the weather might be like this all day, and I didn’t want to stay holed up in a dead and humid car that smelled like fish after it had been out on the dock too long.
I wasn’t sure how long I walked before the entire island turned dark. It was like night was upon us, and the only light was the streaks of lightning flying across the sky accompanied by booming blasts of thunder. Rain was falling so hard I wished my sunglasses had come with windshield wipers. A few feet ahead of me, a strike of lightning touched the ground, picking up a hefty rock and electrocuting it.
I’d never seen anything like it before.
The tension in the atmosphere was palpable, and I could smell burning earth in the air. It smelled like charcoals that had been lit on fire.
“Shit,” I said, looking around, like maybe I could tell where another strike was going to touch down.
Since I didn’t have a weather app inside of me, I started to run. I didn’t know where I was running to, or where I was. This was the first time I’d visited this part of the island. But I saw a humungous villaup ahead and decided to climb the hill to get to it.
At first, I was just thankful to see something other than road. But what I failed to notice was that the other side of this villa was the seething Mediterranean Sea. I ran to the edge of the hill and looked down. The muddy road was flooding.
“Shit,” I said again.
I turned back to the villa and knocked on the door. Eventhose these people were Faustis, they had to have some kind of compassion, right? I probably looked like a wet cat. No one answered. I knocked harder. A few minutes later, still no answer. Another strike of lightning picked up an outside table and, just like it had done to the rock, shocked the shit of it. I could have sworn the nonliving object was crying out for help. Or it was the lightning, screaming like a crazed woman.
Turning toward the villa again, I peered inside the window. This area of the island had no electricity, so I expected it would be dark. But it was more than that. Itfeltempty.
Two choices then: face the Fausti family for damaging one of their properties, or face Mother Nature for daring her.
It was no contest. I picked up a rock and threw it through the window. The glass shattered and I climbed through, feeling a piece of glass snag at my leg. It stung, and blood started to run.
“Hello?” I called out, pressing my hand against the cut, the burn intensifying. Maybe from the salt on my hands. “Ciao!”
No one answered me. The house was filled only with the violent sounds of the storm. And it was mostly dark, except for the areas where moody light connected with the voids and created shadows.
“Creep-Y,” I whispered, kicking my feet out some to guide me further into the villa. I couldn’t see all that well, and I didn’t want to trip over anything. I made it unscathed to the opposite side of the spacious place and looked out the window.
What I saw was worse than looking down from an absurd height.
Water.
Miles of it.
Frothing.
Lightning forked in the distance, and it seemed like it was churning the water. A crack of thunder that sounded like it had snuck inside with me made me jump clear off the ground.
My nerves felt like they were suddenly exposed—I was turned inside out.
I wasn’t usually this person. Like I’d said, being from New Orleans, I was accustomed to unexpected weather, including flooding, but this, this would be truly spectacular to someone who studied storms. I wasn’t even sure if what I was seeing was normal. But I had nowhere to go, and I was going to have to wait it out.
If something were to happen…I had no one looking for me. Maybe Scarlett, but how would she know?
