The Beach

The next day I decided that now was as good a time as ever to cheer Catherine up with a trip to one of her favorite places. I called the rest of the girls together, and we all carpooled to go to the beach. It was a perfect day for such an outing, and the moment we got there I could see that everyone couldn't wait to start enjoying the day.

We set up our area and finally took the time to relax. Naomi dove into the ocean as soon as she could, with Florence not far behind. Vivian and Rebecca stayed on the sand, listening to music and reading a book respectively. My finacee and I sat on our beach chairs holding hands, admiring it all.

"I love this area, Ellie. It's so peaceful." as she said that, her eyes wandered to the perfect blue waves and sky, to the sand and the small children that splashed and yelled with joy. "I can see why tons of people flock here every summer. It's like you can forget the whole world here." With that she removed her sunglasses and wide brimmed hat, waded into the water...and proceeded to get nailed by a wave. She was alright, though, and as soon as she collected herself (and spat out some water and sand) Catherine laughed about it.

It felt so good to see my Cathy smiling again. It seemed like forever since I saw her act normally. After we hung around the beach for a few hours, we decided to head down to the Point Pleasant boardwalk. Honestly it was one of the most fun days I've had, with us playing those games and going on those rides. Just us being together having fun was amazing. And what better way to finish up such a lovely day than by eating a heavy dinner of boardwalk confectionary? We probably all gained more than five pounds, but damn, was it worth it.

The sun was beginning to set when Catherine and I  took a short walk down the beach. As soon as we got back, we were all going to head home. Truth be told nobody wanted to. Catherine sighed, "It's too bad we have to leave." she said, "Please promise you'll take me here again."

Suddenly she began to cough; not violently, but softly. She wiped her mouth, and I saw a bit a blood on the back of her hand. I freaked out a little bit on the inside, and I prayed that whatever she had would pass and our lives could go back to the way they were."Yeah," I said, "I promise."

I wish I could.

As we drove home, and I dropped off the girls at their respective homes, I could see Catherine start to get a bit nervous. The night had already fallen by the time I was driving to her house. I saw her nervously bite her lower lip, as if she was anticipating some unwelcome event, or someone to just pound on our window at a traffic light. "Hey, Catherine," I said softly, "How about you take a rest, okay?"

"I'm not tired."

"I...you look really nervous. Close your eyes for a bit, and I'll wake you when we're close to your house."

"Ellie, please. I'm alright."

"Are you sure? You look very upset about something."

She didn't respond to me, only turned her head to look out her window. For a brief moment there was silence, and in that moment I mulled over what I could do to help my beloved. Suddenly, Catherine let out a choked scream. Whatever she saw was freaking her the hell out, and I pulled over to try calming her down. I grabbed her shoulders in an attepted to

I spoke to her as loud and clear as I could, asking her what was the matter, begging her to calm down, telling her to take deep breaths, anything I could think of. Within minutes she did indeed manage to stop her hysteria.

"What happened? What did you see?" I asked, hoping that her answer could give me a reason behind her sudden outburst. She swallowed heavily and said, "I saw a guy out there. Really freaky looking. I though he was coming towards the car."

"Did he looked like the guy you were drawing?" I asked, curious to see if she confirmed it or not.
I would love to say that she nodded or shook her head, but she didn't. Instead Catherine reclined back in the front seat and said nothing. I drove to her house, escorted her to the door as I always did, and went home.

The next day, Catherine went missing again.

The Night

Catherine slept over my house in the summer of 2011. It was a fun night, with us watching movies, making s'mores, laying on the grass and counting the stars. For a moment I didn't worry about her, and she as acting like her old self. We talked about how wonderful our new life would be, what color our room should be, the color of the curtains, that good stuff. Just her and me, in a world of our own.
We soon got tired, and as always, she slept with me. No, we didn't engage in maritals, if that's what you were thinking. We always slept in each other's bed since we became girlfriends. She curled up next to me, and together we fell asleep.
I woke to the sound of hysterical sobbing.
It wasn't my mother; she was dead asleep. It wasn't my brother of my father; they too were asleep. It definitely wasn't me, and it wasn't Catherine at all. But in the dead of night I could hear someone in the house crying in a way that I have never heard before. I don't know where it came from, or who was crying, but it chilled me to the bone. I wanted to go look for the source, maybe even comfort them, but the fear was stronger than my curiosity. Again I looked at Catherine, who was facing away from me. Instinctively I shuffeled closer, wrapped an arm around her, and closed my eyes. The crying continued.

I could do nothing else but listen and pray that it would stop soon.

To be honest I don't know how I did it, but I finally managed to sleep. The morning came, and the crying had finally ceased. Catherine was already in the kitchen, sipping her tea and reading the news. At first I wanted to talk about the crying I heard last night, hoping that perhaps she would have any idea. For some reason I decided against it. Maybe I was just being paranoid and it would turn out that one of my family members was crying. But...but it didn't sound like any of them.

Catherine wanted to go to the bookstore to pick something up and invited me to come with her. The entire drive there was in complete silence. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. I don't think I saw her blink. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and her features softened.
Once we arrived, my beloved raced to the mythology and folklore section. Catherine had always been facinated by Irish folklore, as I already mentioned, and had several books on the topic. But she also had a ravenous appetite for folklore of the rest of the British Isles. Rebecca jokingly called her a walking encyclopedia on anything and everything relating to that subject. It was cute.
But watching Catherine flip through those books, desperate to find...whatever she was looking for, wasn't cute or in any way endearing; it was frightening. Wordlesly, anxiously, she ripped a book from its place from the shelf and tore through the pages in what looked like desperation. But as she picked up another book, a coughing fit shook her, and it fell to the floor.
I forgot to mention before: Catherine had been having these odd coughing fits on and off for a while. She went to the doctor for them, and he could find nothing wrong. Not even when she brought up that she had been having strange boughts of nosebleeds. I forgot what the doctor said, but he gave her something that was supposed to help. It did nothing.
She picked up the book and brought it to the cashier's, wordlessly paying for it and walking out the door. I couldn't get a good look at the title; she held it so close to her chest. We sat in the heated car for a little while.
"Are you okay?" I asked. I hoped that she would say something along the lines of, 'yes, I will be fine.' But all my Catherine did was weep. We sat there, in the heated car, as I held her. She told me that she loved me over and over again, and while I said nothing, I cried as well.
I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a part of the title: 'Fear Dubh.'