Lost in the Shadows

The natural golden light of Santa Carla was triumphing over a stretch of highway, the beaches, and a Peter Pan bus that was traveling from Boston, Massachusetts all the way to California. It took a week to arrive but the payoff was worth it. Instead of paying a tooth and a finger for a plane, all that was needing to be done was pay a fraction of the price in replacement of a dinner or two.

Heidi looked out the large window to see several sparkles dancing across the crisp waters. She was itching to just get to the town. She still didn’t have a place to stay and she didn’t have much more than a dollar to her name but that was fine to her. California was the one place that she had always wanted to go to. If playing her acoustic guitar on the boardwalk was what she had to do to make some money for a while, that would be good enough. Surely, she would meet people who shared the same interest in music as she did that she could stay with at some point.

This was the most exciting time of her life. Heidi was out of high school now and about to start a new life in a surf town without knowing the bare minimum of what she would need to survive. A pit grew in her stomach as the time came closer and closer for her to finally touch land. The unknown was exhilarating.

The sign saying, ‘Welcome to Santa Carla’ came up. Bright colors and a feeling of hope was imprinted in the friendly sign. She couldn’t keep her eyes off it as it came closer and closer to her.

She almost felt that she would be smashed into the billboard and sucked into the universe. Her bright blue eyes followed it as the bus passed but the back of it was less than inviting.

‘Murder Capital of the World’ was signed by a local in black spray paint. She held her backpack and guitar close to her body and traced her mind away from the sign and onto her hopeful future.

She hopped off the bus when it stopped at the bus station. The first thing she noticed was the smell of the fresh breeze wafting her way. It smelled of rotten seaweed and perhaps fish that was beaten in the radiated sun all day. Nothing could hold her excitement back though.

She made her way onto the boardwalk where millions of people were walking around in bathing suits. Everyone was in good spirits as they walked around with their chocolate ice creams and baby pink cotton candies.

Heidi took a deep breath in as she cruised along the boardwalk for a long while in her long flower dress. Her curly strawberry blonde hair danced in the wind. She was amazed by how many people she was looking at. There were hundreds of surfers everywhere, creating a craze.

People watching was what consisted of her first day. There was not a moment of boredom. When she was done watching people, she would go into different beach shops to look at all the beach attire she was unable to afford to get or a postcard to send to people she knew.

As the darkness of the nighttime rested on the beach town, she watched as people went into their shops to eat their seafood dinners. The quieter and quieter that the boardwalk got, the more she noticed small details. The flood lights forced their brilliance onto papers everywhere along the walls. They were all missing people signs. There must have been hundreds of signs saying that people 1 month old to 100 years old were going missing.

Seeing that the teens in this area seemed to love to stir up trouble she figured this whole town was a prank to warn away foolish tourists who were making expenses pricier for locals.

When she became bored of seeing the same types of shops over and over again she decided to roam around one particular shop. A video store. She walked in it to see the different VHS’s that had finally come out for home viewing.

Heidi sat her guitar down as she looked at the back of some movies. She had heard of so many of these movies but was never able to watch them in theatres. Ever since she was a baby, Heidi was taught that movies and television would destroy her creative mind.

“Can I help you find something?” A sweet man’s voice called to her.

Heidi blushed and smiled, putting the video back on the shelf quickly. “Oh, I’m just looking.” She looked up to see the nerdy older gentleman with glasses on. “Cool selection,” she said as she picked up her guitar.

“Thank you.” He picked up the movie she had only seconds before.

“Fright night.” The man chuckled and sat it back in its home.

“Interesting pick. Never would have taken you for a vampire film girl.”

“I suppose I’m up for trying anything.” Heidi shrugged her shoulders and looked down. “Thanks for your help but I believe I should get going.”

The man watched her walk out with steady eyes. There were a couple things that he had picked up. This girl only had a guitar and a backpack on her, she spoke with an accent that belonged all the way across the country, and the last thing he noticed was that this girl was all alone in Santa Carla.

Heidi sat on a bench with her feet up on the wood only a few doors down from the video shop. She took out her guitar for some much-needed fresh air. After sharing her love for it with cleanliness, she began to play The Beatles with her pure voice for vocals. Her guitar case was open if people felt she was deserving of some money but closed her eyes so that she could just enjoy herself.

In between one of her songs, she heard a whimpering just across from her. She looked over at the noise to see a crying woman put up a message that a child had gone missing. This had to be a sick joke. Her sign was overlapping other notices. It was impossible to tell just how many layers there were against this wall. The woman turned to see Heidi. Up until that moment, she hadn’t realized that she was staring at the incident or that she had completely stopped playing.