Terror on the Beach

by Holloway, Peggy

  He laughed as we waved to the family, “You didn’t say that about the owners of this boat. Course they were so old you probably thought they had lived long enough. Was that it?”

  “Yeah that was it,” I said while I wondered if I had taken part in a murder.

  “You sure seemed to enjoy watching what I was doing to them and then you wanted me so badly afterward I thought you would destroy my clothes. Man you’re good. It just wasn’t the same without you these past few years. That’s why I’m going to kill Sarah if I ever see her again. You said you would help me. You still want to?”

  Cold chills ran over me and I just nodded. He really didn’t realize that if he killed Sarah, me, he would be killing Elizabeth. To him we were two different people. He must have been more screwed up than me.

  The family had headed back to shore and we were once again in the ocean alone. I decided to find out where we were going in case I had a chance to call Robert later on.

  “Kevin, where did you say we were going?”

  “Why are you still calling me Kevin? I already told you that they found the real artist and that’s how they caught me. When they started calling me Bucky, I knew I was busted. But not for long thanks to you.”

  “It was a joke, Bucky, lighten up. Anyway it was fun playing all those jokes on pitiful little Sarah. It turned me on.” I hoped I wasn’t laying it on too thickly but apparently I wasn’t. He seemed to be eating it up. It seemed my Elizabeth personality was over the top.

  “Well, love of my life, are you going to give me a blow job or not? You were headed for that when we got interrupted were you not?”

  “I was,” I said like I couldn’t wait. “Just get through it,” I kept telling myself. “Just do it. Put your mind in reverse.” I knew my very survival depended on this blow job. I had never done one before as me, Sarah, and hoped I would do it well enough so he would be convinced I was Elizabeth.

  I hoped Beth wouldn’t come out or that mute boy. My entire life depended on whether or not I could do this blow job and pretend to be Elizabeth while I remained Sarah.

  I unzipped him and pulled his pants down. I noticed he wasn’t wearing any underwear. Without thinking about it I took him into my mouth and he spread out his legs to give himself more balance.

  I silently apologized to Robert because I would never do this for him and he should have been the first one to do it to. It was very mechanical for me. I sucked and licked and caressed his balls and he came almost immediately.

  I zipped him back up while concentrating on not throwing up. When I got up from my knees he hugged me hard and pinched my nipple again, “God Damn, woman, that was the best you’ve ever done. You think it’s the sea or the fact we’re finally alone or what?”

  “Probably some of everything, I guess.”

  He pulled me against him and he was so tender it was hard to imagine he was the same person that had brutally murdered so many. I wondered if he had more than one personality too.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me when it’s your turn?” He said breaking into my thoughts.

  “Well, when is it?” I asked trying to sound tough.

  He kissed the top of my head and said, “As soon as we get to the island.”

  “What’s the name of it again?”

  “It’s called Korshoba Island, you forgetful little bitch.”

  “Well, it’s not an easy name to remember.” I was saying it over and over in my mind so I could remember it.

  CHAPTER 37

  It took almost the rest of the night to get there. We took turns steering. Once when Bucky had gone below to sleep I thought about turning the boat around but I knew there was nowhere to go. He had chosen well. The island was so secluded I thought no one would ever find us.

  The sun was coming up and painted the sand, pink. It was beautiful. Later I saw that the sand was white as snow and the water was clear blue. I was going to be stuck on this paradise island with a monster and I was terrified I would give myself away.

  He put his arm around me, “Isn’t it wonderful, baby? There is no law here. We can rule this place like we’re their king and queen and they’re our subjects. This is what I’ve always dreamed of having with you.”

  “I love it,” I said. “How did you find it?”

  He laughed, “You remember that time I left for about two months, about three and half years ago, and you thought I had abandoned you? You were so mad when I came home, you wouldn’t have anything to do with me. But I caught you leaving the house one day to go shopping and I grabbed you and pulled you under the house.

  “As soon as I took your panties off I knew you were mine again. Anyway it was during those three months that I found this island. I knew right away it was the place for us.”

  “How many people live here?” I asked as I looked up and down the beach and saw only a few shacks.

  “Not even a hundred. It’s like going back in time, Elizabeth. No T.V., no cell phones, hell there’s not even any radios. There’s a man who thinks he chief here but he’s a joke. I talked to him for awhile and he’s stupid and too gentle for his own good.”

  “What if one of us gets sick, Bucky?”

  “We won’t get sick. I keep telling you over and over, I’m invincible. But if there is an emergency, there’s an old man who lives on that old houseboat down there who has a short wave radio. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be perfect.”

  I noticed that there were docks all up and down the beach and most of them had their own boat. I thought this would be a perfect place for criminals, like Bucky, to hide out. It could be a dangerous place.

  I know it sounds absolutely crazy to even say this but if I had to be stranded in a place like this I was glad I had Bucky to protect me. I knew I had to be tough and I was almost as scared of Elizabeth as I was of Bucky. I was afraid that Beth or the mute kid would come out and Bucky would then kill them, me.

  Bucky took me up through a grove of coconut palms to a house hidden from the water. There was white sand everywhere. The houses were far apart but I could see that none of them had lawns.

  “I paid cash for this house, Elizabeth,” Bucky said. “Did I tell you we have all of your parent’s money? You can have anything you want. I know how you like to shop.”

  This gave me a ray of hope. If I could get him to take me where there were shops then maybe I could escape or at least make a phone call. “Are there any shops here, Bucky?”

  “Nope, but don’t worry. I made friends with a drug dealer who lives here. He makes regular trips to Miami and flies under the radar. He offered for us to fly with him. Do you like the house?”

  It was small but was cute. It was a wooden house painted yellow with white shutters and a white front porch. There was white wicker furniture on the porch, including a swing.

  “You wouldn’t believe how cheap this house was, Elizabeth. The guy who owned it is in prison. He was stupid enough to get caught so he’ll be there a long time.

  “I bought it from his family through many layers of other people. Aren’t you proud of me, Elizabeth? It’s taken me a long time to put this together.”

  I agreed that it was amazing but the more he talked the more hopeless I felt. Also, things were looking fuzzy around the edges and I wondered if I was going to blackout. It had never happened that way before and I wondered what it meant.

  CHAPTER 38

  “I said, which one do you like the best?”

  I was standing in a men’s clothing store and Bucky was holding up two different shirts. The last thing I had remembered was that we were getting ready to go into the house he had bought. I had blacked out again and I had no idea what I had done during the blackout.

  I had to pretend to be Elizabeth. “I don’t like either one. Let me pick one out.”

  I picked a shirt out for him and he held it up to himself and studied himself in the mirror, “I’ll take it,” he said.

  I noticed I had several shopping bags over my arm and I was holding a lit c
igarette. I saw an ash tray just outside the door and I stepped out to put it out, taking one last drag the way I had seen smokers do.

  I stifled a cough and looked around to see if Bucky had noticed but he was standing in front of the mirror holding up a pair of ripped jeans. He was like a little boy in a candy store and I began to see the side of him that Elizabeth found lovable.

  I had read about the Stockholm syndrome where a hostage begins to mistake the lack of abuse by the captive as love. The term comes from the famous case in Stockholm where two bank robbers held the bank employees hostage for five days. Some of the hostages began to identify with the robbers and feel affection for them.

  “I love Robert,” I reminded myself. “This guy here is a monster. He’s killed a lot of people including my parents and has taken their money.”

  I was beginning to remember a little bit about him and I remembered a boy with two sides, one cruel and one caring. I had a vague memory of him hurting me badly.

  He kept looking over at me and winking and I gave him a smirk I hoped was Elizabeth’s reaction. I was beginning to understand what Dr. Anna had said about me developing different personalities in order to survive.

  Apparently Elizabeth and Bucky were a lot alike. That’s why they loved each other. The other thing I was thinking about was the way I had blacked out this time. If I could begin to integrate like Dr. Anna said she would help me do, then I could pull this off.

  I wondered if I could do this without Dr. Anna and knew I had to, but I had to remember what she said about the personalities and the integration process.

  “Come on, Elizabeth,” Bucky broke into my thoughts. “Let’s find a place to have supper before we have to meet Josh at the air strip.”

  We went to a fine restaurant and had good food and wine. I didn’t drink much because I wanted to keep my wits about me.

  Of course Bucky noticed, “What happened to my favorite lush? Drink up, girl. Here finish up this bottle while I go pee.”

  I was glad the wine was white and I poured it into the bucket with the ice. Our meal came before Bucky got back and I considered making a run for it but I knew I couldn’t get far.

  The food looked delicious. It looked like a crab dish with cheese over rice with tiny peas and peach slices. He pulled out his chair and sat down as I was studying the food.

  “You finish all that wine? You want another bottle?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Well, you know what I want? I want some sweet iced tea.” He motioned the waiter over and ordered the tea.

  When we finished the meal he paid the tab and we went outside where he flagged down a cab. “You like Miami, Elizabeth?”

  “I really do, Bucky.”

  “Next time we come, we’ll make sure it’s one of Josh’s longer trips and we can spend the night and go dancing, maybe take several days. In fact he can take us to some of the other islands. They don’t have as much as Miami but they have restaurants etc.”

  “That sounds great, Bucky.”

  “You sure are agreeable,” he said, looking at me suspiciously. “You usually give me a hard time about everything before you agree to it.”

  “Not everything,” I said. Then changing the subject I said, “You know what I want to do when we get home? I want to go on a moonlight swim.”

  “Now you’re talking. Let’s take all our clothes off and swim naked.”

  I was beginning to see that Bucky was very easily distracted. That would surely come in handy.

  The airstrip was an old abandoned one about 15 miles from Miami. It was overgrown with weeds and there was a small plane sitting on the runway.

  Bucky gave the cab driver a hundred dollar bill and as we were getting out of the cab a handsome man got out of the plane. He had sandy hair and a full beard and mustache a shade darker. His hair was shoulder length and was very curly.

  He came toward us and held out his hand to Bucky, “Good timing, man. Let’s get out of here. I’ve already refueled.”

  He smiled at me and I gave him a nod and a smirk. He seemed to find it amusing. Bucky was looking on smiling at us. Josh grabbed our bags and threw them in the back, swung into his seat and we took off.

  Bucky started pinching my nipples as soon as we got in the air and I saw Josh watching us and smirking. When Bucky noticed him watching he put his mouth to my ear and whispered, “You want a threesome? We never did that yet.”

  “Not with that son-of-a-bitch,” I said out loud and Bucky laughed.

  “Sorry, Josh,” he said, “Maybe another time.”

  When we landed, Josh held out his hand to Bucky. “Sorry, pal, but you owe me double since you didn’t come across with the tender meat.”

  Bucky handed over a wad of bills and we headed off toward the house. I had never seen the inside of this house but I had to remember that Elizabeth had.

  I followed Bucky into the kitchen which was a small room off the living room. We put up the groceries and then I lagged behind so he could lead the way. He didn’t seem to notice. I followed him into the bedroom which was huge. It had a California king-sized bed but the covers were a hodge-podge of colors like I had noticed in the living room.

  Bucky eyed the bed and eyed me and he looked unhappy. It occurred to me that there was no way I or any other woman could keep him happy. He would soon grow tired of me and need something more, something involving blood.

  I was terrified and all of a sudden things were becoming fuzzy around the edges again. I tried my best to keep it together, but as I watched, Elizabeth came out of the fuzz. It was like watching someone through a thick fog.

  It was me but not me. It was like stepping aside and watching yourself do things but being an observer and I had a sense I had done this before when I was much younger. It was a thought I couldn’t hang onto so I decided to try and relax as much as possible and observe.

  The first thing I heard myself say, as Elizabeth was, “Where is that pilot? I thought we might have some fun, the three of us.”

  Bucky immediately perked up, “I thought you didn’t want to do it with him.”

  “I can change my mind anytime I want to just like you. First we were going to Miami then we weren’t going to Miami. You better go get him before I change my mind again.”

  “Hey Elizabeth, let’s all go down to the beach.”

  “No,” I heard myself say. “You never want to save any of the best parts for later. We’re going to be on this island a long time. We have a lot of different experiences ahead of us. Bring him here, Bucky.”

  Bucky ran and jumped off the front porch without using the steps. I, as Elizabeth, took off my clothes and sat on the bed and began to play with myself. I must say it felt good. I didn’t remember ever touching myself and I came right away and heard Elizabeth say, “Wow, that was fast.”

  I decided to see if I could integrate with Elizabeth and thought if I moved toward her I could get inside her. Logically, I knew we were already the same person.

  I remembered what Dr. Anna had said about people with MPD. “Everyone has a lot of different sides to them. The healthier a person is the more they embrace all the parts. With an MPD, like you, the parts are too split off to embrace.”

  Now I thought I got it. A person with MPD had to do more than embrace all the parts. We had to integrate. I was frightened as I watched myself lay spread eagled on the bed waiting for the two men.

  Soon after I became so scared, I was snapped back into my own, Sarah’s body and I didn’t know if I could do what was expected of me as Sarah. It was so much easier while I was observing.

  I heard the two men come up on the porch talking in an exciting manner and I jumped off the bed and pulled on my terry bath robe I had evidently brought from the psychiatric center. It said, WHITE SANDS on the lapel in gold embroidery.

  It sounds crazy when I describe it but I needed to become the bad girl, Elizabeth. When they entered the bedroom, I brazenly untied the robe and let it fall to the floor while giving them a
smirk.

  As soon as I did that, Elizabeth and I became one. I had never been surer of anything before in my life. I knew from that moment on I could be a good person and still enjoy the body I was born with and worked so hard to keep in shape. But I didn’t want to have sex with someone I didn’t love.

  In that moment, I felt healthier psychologically than I had ever felt in my entire life but knew I had to do this thing in order to survive. It didn’t mean I was a bad person.

  Now I really did understand. I didn’t have to develop a bad personality to survive a bad thing that was happening to me or to enjoy the sex act with someone I loved.

  I pretended to enjoy everything that was being done to me that night and I didn’t split off. It was survival and only survival. I was very clear in my mind on this.

  Toward morning we all fell asleep and I didn’t wake up until almost three in the afternoon. I found a note on my pillow that said, “We went fishing, Elizabeth. Fresh fish for dinner tonight! It was signed, Bucky.

  CHAPTER 39

  I hoped they would be gone all day so I could plan how to get off this island. I fixed myself toast and coffee and ate in peace. When I walked back into the bedroom things began to get fuzzy around the edges again and then I saw Beth through a fog, sitting on the bed.

  As I watched, she put her face in her hands and started crying. I walked over and embraced her, this wounded inner child of me. We cried together and I suddenly began to remember what had happened to us at age four and a half.

  The memories came as clear as watching a movie. I could see my daddy come home and go into my room, my mama screaming at him the whole time.

  I could see Bucky standing in the corner of my room, not much older than me. He looked scared like he didn’t know what to expect. I also saw the little mute boy standing next to him and knew that was the part of me that was responsible for keeping all these horrible family secrets quiet.

  I motioned for him to come over and he sat on the other side of me. I embraced him and told him we didn’t have to keep quiet anymore. Now I sat alone, knowing the two wounded children were a part of me, and watched the memories like I was watching a movie.