Muse

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Each week, the world of archaeology, geology, and science in general makes a number of startling discoveries about our past that isn't necessarily reported to the general public. These are cultures that we don't know about, science that we haven't discovered, and other archaeological phenomenon that is unusual and just too much to report on. Hey, this is Cliff, your host of Earth Ancients, and each Saturday we present a new topic that defies logic, that isn't covered in the news because it's just too amazing, and brings us closer to questions about our past. Join me as we explore Earth's ancient past with writers, scientists, and research investigators. That's Earth Ancients, voted the number one ancient history podcast in the country.

It was early in the night and the beach had just closed. I was standing up by the staircase that led to the sand. The last car had just pulled away from the lot. A red van that looked like it wasn't its first time by the ocean. I rarely came here. Plus, I wasn't supposed to be there by myself that night. Not because, as they say, girls aren't supposed to be out in the middle of nowhere by themselves. But because I thought someone was supposed to be with me. And I was never going to be alone again. And the sand called. And the ocean answered in a haunting harmony. One that battled over keeping things where they were or letting the darkness take over. inviting me to float out there to the place where the depth and the surface were the same color. Emptiness. That was a feeling. My eyes tried to figure out what was in front of them once the headlights disappeared behind me. And that's when the ocean even began to blend with the sky in one single infinite painting right across from me. It was then that I heard it. A voice coming from the darkness. Come back, it said. Please don't leave me. My name is Edwin, and here's a scary story. It's a long story that I didn't want to bother anyone with that night. even when my friends called asking if I was okay and if I had seen the pictures on Instagram. He wasn't doing anything wrong per se. It was just like him but only I blamed him for half the outcome anyway. You see we were sitting around the living room each one of us on our own phones when I noticed that he was looking my way like he had something to say. I ignored it and kept scrolling but then he suddenly put his phone down and told me that Abby had just texted him that her mom was in the hospital. I asked what was wrong and if she was going to be all right, but he ignored the question and instead started with one of his philosophical I want the best relationship for both of us speech. The same old stuff about how he wanted to be honest, how he valued transparency. And I tried not to roll my eyes as I looked in his direction waiting for him to continue. I knew what he was going to say, that he was going to go see Abby's mom, that they had been asking about him and all that. That knot was twisting even tighter in my stomach. What finally closed off the knot was when he spoke. He said that Abby had just asked him if he wanted to grab a coffee. Value your honesty. Go have that coffee, I thought to myself. I didn't want to be that girlfriend, you know. My body felt a little cold when he said that. Some may call that intuition,

that soft nauseating feeling that tells you that something isn't right but i nodded and turned my head back on my phone even scrolled a little bit without looking at it his eyes went back to his phone too he got up after a little while and went to the room he changed even put on the perfume that i gave him for his birthday the bottle still full from how little he used it then he walked out of the room a hint of excitement in his eyes as he said goodbye to me saying that he was going a call. I should have yelled right then, demanded that he stay home, maybe even tell him that it bothered me and let him decide. And the moment kept spinning in my head like that, blending with the sounds of these growing waves. Did I encourage him? It was the beginning of the end. And just when I

wanted to wash myself from everything. The van in the parking lot pulled away and I heard the voice. Come back, I heard. Startled, I looked in all directions. That parking lot had no light except for the ones on the highway even higher up the hill. Please don't leave me, I heard it say again, realizing I hadn't heard the full statement the first time. I turned around and saw a young woman around my age sitting somewhere in the middle of the stairs she was thin with dark hair a dirty white t-shirt and jean shorts that still seemed to glow in the same color of the crashing waves in that darkness the van i asked looking back toward the road up the hill i looked back and shrugged there was no more car in sight now did they leave she asked standing up and wiping sand off herself, coming a little bit closer. She finally reached the last step, just to the left of where I was standing. She didn't look too concerned by this point, like I would be if my right had just stranded me on a dark beach. She looked up the hill and saw the same thing I did. Nothing. We stood there in silence for a few seconds. My mind wasn't ready to talk to a stranger, and I kind of wished she would walk out into the darkness and disappear like that van had done then she said something that made me shiver and it still does when i think of that night just leave him she said she found my eyes in the dark faster than i found hers what i asked how did you that's why you would be out here by yourself at this hour how did you even get here the bus stop around the hill by the starbucks on second you walked here with the sunset, didn't you? Some type of romantic scene, walking along with the setting sun. You got here just as it was setting, right? I couldn't say anything. Then she continued. It was getting dark, too dark, when you got here, and everyone was leaving. Not so romantic anymore, huh? Kind of eerie. She locked eyes with mine when she said that, and all I could do was stare. there was something about this girl that didn't quite feel right she was by herself completely comfortable there had i not been there she would have been sitting in the middle of the stairs still at the moment though i couldn't quite process everything i needed my time alone and now this girl had gotten in the way so i know how you got here but i don't know why you're here she said i don't know why you're here either i said bluntly tired of these guessing games like all the prior frustration i felt just reached this tipping point where i could have slapped her right there and felt nothing it wasn't exactly anger or hate toward anyone i was just done there was nothing to be done in the relationship now choices had been made i walked away and this

girl well i didn't know her and didn't care how she ended up there or if she was going to be able to leave on her own. So I simply stared out into the ocean for a few seconds. Then I turned to look at her dead in the eye. I killed someone today, I said, both to myself and to this girl. I didn't care for her reaction. I simply took a deep breath and kept looking out into the darkness. She said a few things, but I didn't hear her through the crashing waves at that moment. From what I could tell, she wasn't shocked. She smiled after the words came out of my mouth until the shore finally went quiet. It wasn't calm. It was a kind of quiet that felt uneasy, like shutting off the radio mid-song. The waves were moving. I could see them folding over themselves in the dim light, but no sound came out of them. That's better, the girl said. i turned to look at her and then i noticed for the first time that her clothes weren't only dirty but they were also wet and the dirtiness i had seen in part was from the slimy green stuff that sticks to your clothes the kind that floats around in the ocean when you're there for a really long time and sticks to you strands of it coming out of her hair and over her shoulders so you said you killed someone she continued her head was now tilting a little bit studying me like if she was trying to remember something, or only waiting for me to say it. I took a step back. I didn't mean it. Yes, you did. You killed someone today. That's what you said. Her voice was still correcting me of a thought that I had already gotten out of my head and into the wind. The girl stayed quiet. I just told him to go, I said, trying to stop myself. i knew what he was doing i knew what he meant i just didn't stop him she smiled not in a friendly way. It was as though she was relieved. Yeah, she said quietly. That's how it starts. I could feel a cold wind coming from the ocean now. It was sudden and fast, sliding down my back. I hugged myself without realizing it. How it starts? I asked. And she kept looking at me. She then turned her head back over the water. do you know what happens when a guy does that like when he leaves you and gets all excited over some girl they already decided what they want they're the last one to find out he's just trying to justify everything i didn't say anything back well that's how it happens sometimes she continued might not be your case but you on the other hand you start to disappear

she said little by little you say things that you don't mean you let things happen that your friends will call you dumb for things that you'll regret taking from him next thing you know you'll stop feeling like yourself making little worlds out of everything she paused her eyes getting smaller to over the darkness of the sky and then one day i felt my chest tightening then you're not really there anymore poof gone but but i'm still here i said not expecting to get so defensive she looked at me but her expression hadn't changed it was more serious but generally the same are you are you still here she asked it was quiet again i opened my mouth to say something but suddenly, up the hill, I saw something. Headlights. A car. I came down to the parking lot like it was trying to figure out where to turn from and my heart jumped. That could be... I started turning back to her, but she wasn't looking at the car. She was looking at me. You should go, she said. The way she said it, it sounded like a final thing, like a goodbye and out of peace of advice. Well, I can't just leave you here, I said, glancing between her and the road, surprised by how my lack of a single care in the world suddenly flipped. She let out a small breath. I thought that she was about to laugh. That's what makes us different. I want you to see this, she said, as she was stepping past me and down toward the stairs, toward the sand. Wait, I said, reaching out by stopping myself just before my hand touched her arm, and she just kept walking. Did they leave you? I asked, my voice echoing a little bit in that strange silence, but she kept walking. They always do, she said. Her feet had reached the sand, leaving footprints that were filled back in right away with the dark water. I watched her move closer to the shoreline, the hands of the ocean reaching out like a flat, endless surface. hey i called out louder than before you don't have to go in there don't go that way just come back everything is going to be fine just come back but that's when she stopped for a second i thought that she might turn around and run back up but instead she spoke just loud enough for me to hear i can't and everything paused he didn't come back she said my stomach dropped what do you mean i asked my voice about to fall apart

she slowly turned her head just enough for me to see the side of her face you saw the van she said and then she stepped forward into the water i rushed down a few steps automatically yelling at her to stop but she didn't react the water reached her ankles and then her knees and then her waist the water had gone silent again there was no sound of the crashing waves no splashing just that same unnatural silence come back i shouted the words hit me then the voice that was the one i heard before Same volume. Everything. It was me. And she kept going. Her shoulders had disappeared. And then her neck. And just before her head went under, she looked back at me completely for the first time. Her face wasn't panicked. She wasn't scared. It was empty. A feeling I knew a little too well.

feeling i had just experienced before she showed up from those stairs and then she was gone the sound came back all at once the waves crashing violently against the sand louder than before but they had been building up just to explode all at once i stumbled back a step covering my ears i stood there staring at the spot where she had disappeared waiting for something anything to give me a sign of her but nothing did after a while i forced myself to turn around there were no more headlights up the hill the lot was empty for the first time that night i felt completely alone as i stood there at the edge of darkness so i walked up the stairs slowly each step heavier than the last and then when I reached the top I couldn't help but look at one more time if she was still there the ocean had stretched out the same way it had done before it was endless dark and waiting for something I don't know how long I stood there but I do know one thing when my phone finally rang I almost didn't answer. It was his name on the screen and a picture that we took outside of the train station on our way to Mellow's where we had our first date. For a second I thought about letting it ring just to see what would happen, just to see who I would turn into if I didn't pick up. But I answered. The entire world in my mind out of a silly little outing with someone had vanished. but still when it's quiet enough sometimes I still hear it not from the ocean anymore from somewhere closer come back it says and I don't know if it's the darkness behind me calling me again to that edge where people disappear

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He's so beautiful. How many people can actually say they've seen a Bigfoot in person?

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This story was written and produced by me, Edwin Covarrugues. And I want to hear your thoughts on the story or ideas for upcoming ones. All the information to reach out is in the description of this episode. A huge shout out to our Scary Plus members, by the way. Thank you for supporting the stories and the other shows that I have on here. I don't know how I would do this without you guys, so thank you. and if you're listening to the ad supported version and you still want to support you can just leave a review like five stars make sure you tap follow on the thing after listening on whatever platform you're listening on and that way it lets the the little app there whatever you're listening on apple podcast spotify it lets them know that hey i like the show let's promote it or something and it helps us grow you know that's how you can help out the show if you like these stories but anyway i'll be back next week with another story so make sure you follow the show thank you very much for listening keep it scary everyone

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