The Beach

“Hey, Alex!! Come watch this!!”

 I looked up from the sandcastle I was molding. Brent, my little brother, was standing a few yards away, calling to me from behind a pile of rocks. I couldn’t see him, though; my view was blocked by the grayish-black ocean rocks that covered the area.

 When I didn’t get up right away, he shouted again, his tone more sour this time, “Come on, Alex!! Don’t you wanna see this?”

 Not really, I thought, thinking that this was probably just an interesting shell or something. All the same, I stood up, wiping sand off my legs, and walked toward him, just to pacify his complaints.

 While climbing over the sea rocks sitting between us, I accidentally stubbed my toe hard. Wincing, I balanced on one leg to nurse my stinging foot.

 When I looked up, there was no Brent in front of me. Confused, I clambered over the rest of the rocks, watching my step this time.

 Brent was nowhere to be found. The beach we had been relaxing on was fairly flat, and I could easily see for about a hundred yards in all directions. There was nowhere that Brent could have run to or hidden.

 “Psst!! Alex!!”

 I jumped as a voice came from practically underneath me. It had been Brent’s voice, but there was nothing on the ground but a small fiddler crab sunbathing on a broad black rock.

 “Alex!! Down here!!”

 The sound was definitely coming from below me. I stared at the fiddler crab suspiciously. It waved its big claw threateningly in reply. Wild notions came to my mind. Was something paranormal going on? What had happened to my brother?

 “ALEX!!”

 This time, it sounded as if my brother was calling me from above, where a lone seagull circled. What the heck was happening?

 “Over here!!” a rock called.

 “This way!!” an especially icky lump of seaweed yelled.

 “Don’t listen to them!! I’m right here!!” announced the fiddler crab again.

 Voices sounded all around me, echoing terribly and each my brother’s singsong voice. I spun around with every call, my eyes searching in vain for my brother’s familiar face.

 Finally, I broke out in a scream and, holding my ears, stumbled back over the rocks toward our family’s umbrella, where my mother was tanning. “Mom!!” I screamed. “Something’s happening!!”

 Suddenly, loud snickers erupted behind me, and I whirled around in surprise, my heart doing a sort of somersault. My brother emerged from a small nook between two rocks, grinning widely. “Hey, guess what, Alex? I think I’m a ventriloquist!!”