"Come on Pip!"

The dog obediently followed his owner as she stepped out into the fading daylight. It was that odd time in-between the late afternoon and early evening, right before the sun set. The world had a soft glow to it that made Jess smile as the warm air hit her skin.

She had recently discovered that she enjoyed taking walks, especially during this hour. Her dog, Pip followed wherever she went, and while walking him had used to be a chore, now it was her favorite part of the day. The switch from taking him in the later hours of the day opposed to the early mornings made all of the difference. She lived in a small beach town, where grass and sand mixed together, the salty smell of the ocean was a constant presence, almost everyone knew each other, and she found herself waving to neighbors sitting out on their porches. She would be lying if she didn't say she loved it.

She walked down to the water, where the tide was low, and the waves were small. She could see out for miles. The water had an almost golden hue, as the sun began to fall, and streaks of color began to cross the sky. It was almost too perfect. She was staring at the water and the sky, when Pip growled. He was an old, mellow dog, and rarely barked or growled. Startled, Jess looked down at him, and then let her gaze follow his. A set of footprints were heading into the ocean. She looked out, at the empty beach, and then to the seemingly empty ocean. Pip continued growling.

"What do you see buddy?"

Then, a loud splash. Pip barked, and Jess's head swiveled. But, alas, there was nothing there. The water glimmered, looking the same as it always had. But something felt off. Suddenly she felt a feeling she had learned to become all too familiar with. Her head whipped around, as she wildly searched for where it was. Scared, she cut her beach walk short, turning around and calling for her dog before walking home.

That night, she laid in bed, still unable to shake that feeling. It had been a good few years since the last time, but she knew it immediately. She was being watched. She fell into a restless sleep, and even then, had dreams of aquamarine lights, bright, oh so bright and the feeling of floating, submerged in the depths of the ocean she loved so much. She sat up, rubbing at her face. Stepping out of bed and into the bathroom, she splashed cold water onto her face and stared into the mirror. A pair of big brown eyes stared back. Her hair was wet and sticking to her face, pale strands still managing to look bright in the dark lighting. There were dark circles under her eyes.

The next week continued as normal, well, mostly normal. Every night the dreams came back, each more vivid then the last. She avoided the beach as best as she could, only going once with her friends. They asked her what was going on, what happened, and why was she acting like this around her favorite place? The trip was fine, but she still couldn't shake the thought that someone was watching her, even when all of her friends were engaged in an animated conversation and everyone else seemed to not take any notice of her.  She went back to where she had seen the footprints, and as she suspected they were gone. Probably washed away. It was odd, how something so seemingly minor had caused such a huge reaction in her. It was almost visceral how acutely she had felt on that day, but she tried with all her might to move on from it. It was nothing after all, right?

Slowly, but surely her mind began to go back to normal, letting go of the strange fear that followed her almost as faithfully as Pip. Her beach walks returned, and the once deafening anxiety dulled into a quiet buzz. Until the night it happened again. She was walking, a bit later than usual, but as she always did, the darkness becoming to envelop the beach in its cool embrace. But, almost like clockwork, Pip growled. Oh no. Her stomach dropped and she turned. Sure enough, footprints. A seemingly fresh set of then heading right back into the ocean. Oh no. Not again. The splash, louder this time, almost as if it was closer. Oh no.

Everything in her was screaming at her to turn around, leave, run home and take Pip with you, but she stood fast.

"Go home buddy." The dog looked up at her, and through a moment of communication that needed no words, ran off back in the direction they had come from. Jess stood tall and stared at the ocean. She felt a little silly, but she wanted to put an end to this madness. Whatever was watching her was still doing it, and she stared, looking for whatever it could be. She stood for five minutes, watching, searching the waters for anyone, anything, slowly getting angrier and angrier. She could never have anything nice, anything she enjoyed without it getting ruined. Her old best friendship? Ruined by her fears the first time this happened. Being popular in school? Ruined by the old friend telling everyone that Jess was scared of the water and some other things were entirely untrue, reputation ruining things.

Rage built up, louder and louder as all of the memories flooded back. Opening her locker and finding it full of soaked tissue paper in middle school, having a bucket of water dumped on her head when she went out for recess once, finding her art final cut up and thrown into the sink once. All because of her stupid old friend and this stupid old fear. Thank goodness high school had been different, her friend moving away Jess having a chance to restart. She didn't want to lose everything again.

"Just come out already I know you're there." She spoke loud and clear, hoping that nobody saw her.

And nothing, for a moment or two.

Until slowly, the waves began to grow larger, taller, and more violent. Jess backed up, knowing that the crash could easily injure her. An 8-foot wave crashed down, swallowing her in salt water. She fell, coughing as it receded. She was fully soaked. She stood up, ready to bolt out of the beach when her eyes landed on a woman. A naked woman who was standing in the water, seemingly unshaken by the waves.

She smiled.

"You finally found out."