Southern Gothic Dreams IV

I was running a little shop on a boardwalk. Not sure where it was located, but since the boardwalk was wooden, and the shop was one of the open kind, with windows propped open by wooden sticks, I would assume it was at the old boardwalk in Carolina Beach. There were all kinds of things for sale behind the counter, including food and candy, drinks, mints, gum, etc. I think we were also selling T-shirts, which I think were hanging from some of the open windows, on wire hangers. We could see the ocean from where our shop was located, and I was aware that, around the corner, there was a strange and evil presence. I peeked out the storefront window, and saw a man in a hoodie leaning against the wall, near a large metal trashcan. He had one leg bent so that the flat of his foot was touching the wall, and while I could make out his general shape, he was enveloped in shadow, and I could tell that he was waiting for something - or someone.

It wasn't long before I saw a young girl walking by, hugging herself; she was clearly a runaway, and had no idea where she was going, or what she was going to do. As soon as she came on scene, the thing against the wall began to slowly, methodically, move in her direction - with clear malicious intent, although the expression on its wicked face didn't change or convey any semblance of emotional interest in what it was doing. It walked slowly, deliberately, with its arms to its sides, and as it approached the right-hand corner of my little countertop sales area, I could see that it sported no facial hair whatsoever, not even eyebrows.

As the girl walked to the left, the shadow-thing behind her moved in her direction from the right, and everything seemed to slow down to slow-motion as I tried to warn the girl that she was about to be under attack. I began praying against this malicious force, and I even shouted at it at one point, but it didn't even look at me, as if I was of no consequence whatsoever in light of its ultimate scheme.

Suddenly, the shadow thing opened its mouth, and fire began to spew from its mouth in great billowing clouds of flame, overwhelming everything in its path.

MORE TO COME!