Short Stories-Posted only occasionally.

Malry Cove

Thanks for reading this! This is a horror-mystery combination. There are more descriptive depictions of certain things here. Read at your own risk. (For those who read this and think I'm overreacting, I got called out because of this on a different occasion—I ended up taking the story down.) Any similarities between this story and another story are unintentional. Thanks!
-LisAsh

The woman wasn't entirely sure when it happened. Maybe August or September of 2020. She didn't know. It had been such a long time... There's one thing she remembers clearly... the day it all started, it was warm and sunny. There was a sharp contrast between the weather and the mood of the people inhabiting a small town on the coast of Maine. The rest of the world remained blissfully ignorant of the events that happened within the town of Malry Cove that day. Yes... She remembers. That beautiful sunny day was when the bodies washed ashore.

She was only sixteen, still young and in school. Her biggest worries were the upcoming school year and her college fund—which was lacking severely. You are most likely confused, are you not? In any case, her name is Kayla Park. She's one of the survivors of the "Malry Massacre" as it has been dubbed. The nature of the "massacre" is debated, so she's here to set the record straight. For good. Some will believe her, others will not. She doesn't care. She has known far too much pain to care about such things.

The first thing she will set straight is this; the "massacre" was not, in any way shape or form, the result of a human. Of course, the official reports say it was a crazed group of satanic worshippers that killed so many. In part yes, it was their fault, but they didn't live long enough for it to be blamed on them. We could be confusing you more... Here, let's start from the beginning.

"It was a beautiful day in Malry Cove when the bodies began to wash ashore...

I woke up to the sun streaming through my curtains. With a groan, I rolled over and checked my phone for the time. 9:30. I had to be at work by 10:30. Plenty of time, considering the restaurant where I worked was just down the street. I got out of bed and got ready. Mom is probably already at work and Dad's probably in the workshop. He doesn't have work until later. All I had to do was avoid my two younger siblings and get out the door. I put my ear against the door, listening for my siblings chattering. Hearing nothing, I quietly opened the door and snuck downstairs. Stepping past the one creaky floorboard at the bottom of the steps, I headed into the kitchen.

I wrinkled my nose at the strong smell of coffee. I was a tea type of gal. Coffee was way too gross for me. Grabbing a bagel, I slipped on my shoes and headed to work. I'd be early, but it didn't matter. I'd just either start work early or talk to my friend Darina. I reached my destination after just three minutes. This is the beauty of a small town—and by small I mean it has two streets. Literally. I saw Darina the second I stepped through the door—she's hard to miss. Darina Mallory, or Dari as she's more commonly called, is the epitome of a beautiful white girl. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, pale skin... You get the idea. We were polar opposites, me with my dark skin, frizzy hair and grey eyes. Pretty different, although I feel that's probably why we like each other so much. Balance. Like Yin and Yang.

She was currently attempting to serve an older customer who was flirting with her. Like seriously? The dude was like 40 and she's 16. Chill. I went to her side as soon as she left his table. "Hey Dari! Do you want me to take over that table?" She gave me a pleading look and nodded.

"These people are crazy. I've been asked on a date by three guys today! They were all over 25. It's ridiculous!" I laughed.

"Beauty is pain." She glared at me playfully before heading back to work. I walked into the employees room and dressed into the uniform. I wrestled my dark hair into a ponytail and walked back out. There weren't many people in right now. It was before the rush. My tables were empty, so I only had Dari's table to take care of. I straightened my apron before going over to his table. "Excuse me, are you all good? Can I get you anything?"