This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/MPZ1968 on 2024-09-16 23:00:42+00:00.
That night was like many others before… a cool breeze coming off the ocean, embers from the campfire floating through the air like fireflies, the feeling of the warm sand between our toes, and the soothing sounds of the waves crashing.
It was truly magical, well, at first it was.
We were five newly graduated teenagers, enjoying our last midnight party at the beach… Tower Beach… or as we used to call it, “Shower Beach”, simply because it was the only beach within a fifty mile radius to have an actual shower facility on sight.
Anyway, Tower Beach is named after the two fire control towers that sit about 30 yards from the shore line, built to defend the Delaware Bay and River, from a potential German attack during World War II, although no shots were ever fired.
Now that we’ve had our little history lesson, let’s continue with the story, shall we?
Like I said, we were 5 older teenagers, enjoying one last get together at the beach, before heading off to college, joining the Armed Forces, or “selling our soul” to “The Man”, and becoming a working class dog.
That’s a Rick Springfield reference, you know, that old 80’s Pop Star.
No! Ok! Never mind.
Where was I? I can’t remember shit! Getting old sucks! Um! Uh! Ok! Got it.
Donna and Stacy were heading off to college in different states. Donna was suppose to start the next week, and Stacy the week after.
They never made it.
Jason had just signed up to be a Marine, as he filled out all the paperwork, did well on his practice ASVAB test, as well as his official ASVAB test, passed the physical, took his oath, passed his drug test, and was scheduled to report to MEPS in four days, then off to boot camp from there.
He didn’t make it.
Jordan and I were joining the overworked and underpaid work force. Jordan was supposed to start in the Meat Department at Food Lion on Route 8 the next Monday.
He didn’t make it either.
I got a job at ACE Hardware starting on the same day, and I’ve been there ever since.
I was the only one who survived that night.
It was Saturday, the first week in September, of the year 1986.
I’m only remembering what happened now, because I just heard on the news, a little while ago, that the State just finished remodeling one of the Towers at Tower Beach, and it was now open to the public.
The memory, well, the nightmare, of what happened that night, immediately came rushing back.
It took me over 3 years, and a whole lot of “couch time”, to put it all behind me, and to let go of the guilt that had consumed me, for being the only survivor.
But, it looks like I’ll be calling my therapist again shortly.
Damn News!…
Anyway, Jason had three-wayed Jordan and I, earlier that afternoon, and asked if we wanted to have one last get together at “Shower” Beach that night.
I had nothing better to do, and Jordan said he didn’t feel like listening to his mom bitch about his long hair, and choice of music.
He listened to Heavy Metal, hell, we all did.
The girls listened to the poppy radio friendly stuff, while us guys listen to the underground non mainstream kick ass stuff.
I still listen to it today… Metal Rules.
Anyway, Jordan called Stacy, and I called Donna. They agreed as well.
We had all been friends since 6th grade. We were all in the same class.
One day the lights went out at school.
Jason and I started telling ghost stories to each other, during the blackout, (we’d been friends since 3rd grade.) that’s when Jordan, Donna, and Stacy all joined in, and we’ve all been friends ever since… well, until that night…
That night… I lost all my friends.
After several calls back and forth with each other, we decided to meet up at Jason’s house at 7 p.m., and take Jason’s van to the beach.
I arrived about 6:50. Donna and Stacy were already there. Jordan showed up a little after 7, saying that his car wouldn’t start, and he had to borrow his mom’s station wagon.
We all piled into Jason’s van, after he loaded up some large pieces of firewood, and some sticks from his yard.
We loaded the beach chairs, the boom box, and the cassettes that the girls brought with them.
We left his house around 7:10.
We stopped off at Wawa and got some snacks, a bottle of lighter fluid, and some matches.
Wawa is a convenient store, for those of you not from this area.
We then hit Larry’s Liquor’s and got a bag of ice, one of those cheap styrofoam coolers, and a few cases of Keystone beer. (Courtesy of Jason’s fake ID.)
Man, that was the best tasting beer back in the day, and it was cheap.
Anyway, we also got a 4 pack of wine coolers for Donna, (She wasn’t a big drinker, and agreed to be the designated driver, just in case.)
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Wine coolers are still alcohol.”, and you would be correct in that statement.
But in all my time of knowing Donna, I had never seen her drink more than two, at the most, and that’s well below the alcohol level for it to be considered Drunk Driving.
I put the ice in the cooler, put some beer, and the wine coolers in there, closed it up, and put it in the van.
Anyway, we left Larry’s Liquors and headed to the beach about 8 o’clock.
It usually started getting dark around 8:30ish, and would be almost fully dark by the time we made the hour long drive there.
We were coming from Dover, in case some of you live in this state
We arrived at the beach about 9, and I immediately sensed that something was wrong.
There was no moon in the sky when I looked out one of the back windows, which was really weird, because there had been on the way down.
The sky got real dark, as soon as we pulled into the spot in the woods, where we always parked the vehicle, or vehicles we were in, since the parking area was closed and blocked off by a large metal gate about 30 feet away from where we parked the van.
The beach was accessible by a path that led through the trees.
The only light around was from the two security lights shining dimly on the empty parking lot.
We all then exited the van.
“Isn’t it strange that the moon just disappeared, You Guys?”, I asked.
They all looked up at the sky.
“So what! It’s probably just behind some clouds or something, Man!”, Jason responded.
“Yeah! That could be. But it happened all at once, like someone turned off a light switch, not gradual like it should have, if that was the case.”, I said in return.
“Maybe it’s a fast moving cloud, Man. I don’t know. Who cares? Let’s party!”, he said.
I just looked at him funny.
“That is weird!”, Donna said looking at Stacy.
“Yeah, it is!”, she said, agreeing with Donna.
“Don’t worry, Stacy! I’ll protect you!”, Jordan chimed in, and tried to put his arm around Stacy’s shoulder.
“You wish!”, Stacy replied snidely, pushing him away.
You see, Jordan had the hots, Um! I mean… had feelings for Stacy ever since 7th grade, something about a dodgeball game and gym shorts, I don’t remember.
But she always shot him down.
“Are we just going to stand here, and talk about the damn moon, or are we going to rock out and PARTY!”, Jason said, screaming out “Party” singsongish at the end.
“He’s right, Man! We came here to have fun. Let’s get this party started.”, Jordan said, grabbing the beach chairs, as Jason grabbed the firewood, the sticks, and some old newspaper ads that were laying around in the van.
I grabbed the cooler.
Stacy grabbed the boom box, the lighter fluid, and the matches.
Donna grabbed the handful of cassettes that she brought with her.
We all then started up the path that led to the beach.
Jason went first, then Donna, then Stacy, then Jordan, then me.
The light from the parking lot giving way, as we moved through the trees, and into complete darkness.
Jason stopped walking, put down the wood and sticks and said, “Wait here, you guys! I got a flashlight in the glovebox, I’ll be right back!”, then jetted past us, leaving us there, in complete darkness.
Something rustled in the trees, scaring us all.
Donna screamed a little, “What was that?”, she said nervously.
“I don’t know!”, Jordan said, “But it sounded big!”
“Jason! Hurry the fuck up! It’s creepy out here!”, Stacy yelled.
Suddenly, there was a low scratching sound, intensifying as it did, reaching almost a Fever pitch. A small beam of light then came from behind us, we all turned around.
“Jason… Jason! Is that you?”, I asked.
The light was moving sporadically, up and down, and all around.
The light was getting brighter as it came closer.
Since we were all holding things in our hands, except Donna, she had one hand free. She raised it ti shield her eyes from the light. The rest of us just squinted.
Suddenly, there was a sinister laugh, which sounded muffled, making it even scarier.
Stacy screamed.
The light shot down quickly, then shot up to the sky.
In the light was a face, which tilted slowly to the right.
We all screamed.
“Gotcha!”, the face said laughing, as the light was moved away.
It was Jason, waving it around and holding the light underneath his chin, being the asshole that we knew he could be.
“What the Fuck, Man!”, I yelled.
You’re a fucking asshole!”, Donna said.
“Dick!”, Stacy remarked.
“You scared the shit out of me, Man. But that was a good one.”, Jordan said.
Stacy then punched him in the arm.
“Ow!”, Jordan said, holding his arm and grimacing.
“C’mon Guys, I couldn’t resist!”, Jason said.
“Something moved in the trees while you were go...
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