Serenity Coast

He considered murdering dozens and dozens of people idling by?!? Anne ran through her more colorful word choices. Cosmo understood few of them, but turned bright red with the ones he did. It’s a good thing that those were only the tamer ones. Her mother would have had a heart attack. Anne was surprised by the lack of the usual tang that usually came with thinking of her mother.

Then, she noticed something. A broken vial of dirt, shattered against the nightstand. She pointed towards it slowly. “Was that there before?”

“No. It was not in Romano’s possession yesterday.” A familiar voice called. They hopped into view.

“Rhya! What are you doing here?” She bared her teeth.

“The authorities came down on the ’haunt the day after you went missing. Most of us escaped. I stayed behind to get the kids out.” Something in her expression shifted. She rushed towards Anne, tackling her in a hug. She almost got her the wind knocked out of her. “Anne, you complete and utter idiot!”

“Can- Can I breath now?” She coughed. “Thanks.” She squirmed out of her friend's crushing grip. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh.” She said dryly, “I got sent to you guys. Because chasing down a serial killer is every teenager’s dream.”

“Okay…” Anne said. “ Uh… How did you know about the vial?”

“I have my ways. But that’s not the point.” She deflected. “If I analyze that dirt-” She caught Anne’s skeptical look, and glared at her. “-which I can do, I can figure out where it’s from. It’s gotta be from somewhere important.” She gathered the soil into a leather pouch. Vintage, she noted absentmindedly.

“Where did all this stuff come from?” Rhya’s eyes turned flinty.

“I… can’t tell you.” She responded uncertainty.

“Why not?”

“Just- I can’t, alright?

“That is not an answer!”

“Both of you stop!” Cosmo interjected, face red. Anne and Rhya jerked in unison, both having forgotten that he was there. He pointed at Rhya. “Look, I don’t know who you are, or how you know Anne. But if you have important information, we need to know.”‌ He shifted to Anne. “Stop looking a gift horse in the mouth, alright? Lighten up, and more importantly, let her speak.”

He turned to Rhya. “Now, what were you saying about the dirt?”

Rhya faltered, her eyes unsure. “I can figure out where it came from?”

Anne sighed, making a mental note to question her later. After a few seconds of silence, Cosmo spoke up. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Of all the things she had expected, Rhya putting the dirt in her mouth was not one of them. “What are you doing?” She exclaimed loudly. Rhya rolled her eyes, and put her hand in an obvious gesture to wait.

After a few seconds of watching her chew, Rhya spit the dirt out, gagging as she did so. “Ugh. I’m getting a strong iron taste there, along with a clay texture…”

“Serenity Coast!” Rhya almost shouted, her eyes gleaming. “It’s the only possible place. Let’s go!”

Anne locked eyes with Cosmo, praying that he see reason and ignore this strange Rhya look-alike. To her dismay, they set off immediately.

Serenity Coast was a small town, sandwiched between a small reef and a large cave. It held few people, its main business being tourism. The once cozy buildings were hastily stitched together to hide years of decay. It seemed empty, a sign advertising tour guides in faded paint. Anne pointed at the sign. “Seems as good a place to start as any.”

As they walked in, Anne brushed her hand against the sign, its cracked red hues biting into her skin. She didn’t bother to pick out the bits that stuck on her.

Inside the house sat a pudgy little man. He looked as if he had not moved in a very long time, but rather sat forever on his perch, eating some unreconizable but foul food. Ryha coughed pointedly.

The man startled, whipping his head forward with surprising speed. “Wha- who are you?” he blubbered.

“The sign outside said to go here for tour guides. Is this the right place?” Cosmo asked. The man shifted, his beady eyes glinting with suspicion.

“Ain’t nobody come here for tourism. Ain’t nobody come here for anything in a long time.” He leaned in, as if sharing a secret. “Unless you be here for him.”

“Him?” Anne asked. “As in the Blac-” The man shoved his hand into her face, eyes wide.

“Are you crazy?” he hissed. “You can’t just go around sayin’ - his name.”

“We need to find him.” Rhya declared. Anne turned to glare at her, stunned with her utter tactlessness.  But before she could say anything, the man responded.

“You’d be looking for the manor, then.”

“The manor?”

“Yeah. Blue house. Nice. Big. The only place here that ain’t hell. Ain’t nobody knows went it came ‘ere. Ain’t nobody crazy ’nough to go there either.”

“That’s more than enough.” Ryha said cooly.

As they walked out, Anne barely caught his final words. “Ain’t nobody gonna remember you either!” Despite herself, Anne shivered.