Insatiable Thirst

The sound of the lapping waves calms my running thoughts. I feel like I am being watched, but that's impossible. No one knows that I am here. Only my best friend knows this location, and that it is my secret retreat. I take in a deep breath and smell the sand and salt and... something woodsy. I took another deep breath. The woodsy scent increased. I felt air brush against my cheek. Too light to be a breeze, and it was warm. I opened my eyes to see dark red irises hovering above me. Red? I blinked and they were gone. I was left staring at the blue, cloudless sky. I sat up and saw a lone, dark figure standing on the shoreline. The sea foam gently caressing bare feet. The figure turned to face me, a hand raised to block the sun. Something glinted on the middle finger, blinding me as the sun's refraction showed right into my eyes. Closing my eyes and moved my head to be able to see. Opening my eyes again, the figure was gone. All that was left to say that I was not imaging it, were foot prints in the wet sand that had not yet disappeared with the ocean waves drawing onto the beach. I got up and followed the footprints, they led into the trees; the jungle that ran along three sides of the little cottage. I could no longer see the dark figure, nor find any foot prints to follow. I turned around after looking into the trees for a few minutes to head back to my chair on the beach sitting in the sun. I slowly glided my feet over the sand, feeling the rough stones and small grains and hopefully help exfoliate my feet. Enjoying the feeling, the smell of the salt, sand, trees, the tropics. Loving the feel of the sun beating down on me and warming my skin almost instantly. Taking one more deep breath, and looking up at the sun with my eyes closed to feel it soak into my face and skin, I sat back down on my chair. I reached into my tote that I had brought out with me and rummaged around until I found the bottle. I pulled out the bottle of sunscreen and squeezed some of the cool lotion into the palm of my hand. I started on my face and neck, rubbing it in and doing so with the rest of my body open to the sun. As I started to rub the lotion on the last part of my leg, I heard it. A scream. The scream of a woman, terrified. I reached over to grab my gun off of the towel sitting on the ground, but it wasn’t there. There was no time to wonder why. The scream came again. This time farther away. It was coming from the trees, where the footprints entered and ended. I ran towards that area again, while throwing on my shirt. I entered the trees and followed a narrow path that was most likely made by animals. I was slapped in the face by branches and leaves scratching my legs as I traveled briskly. I heard the scream again, this time coming from my left. I turned and followed the sound. It was still getting further away from me. It came again. I kept going until I came to the cliff overlooking the river and waterfall. A scream was heard from the other side. But that was impossible when it was a lot closer to my cottage initially. The screams kept sounding, getting more and more distant with every passing second. Next thing I knew, a white hot paint shot through my neck and the screams were coming from my own mouth. As the pain increased, my strength started to fall. My eyesight became black. I felt myself falling, and falling. Then nothing…