I run fast. At least that’s what people tell me. But the whole reason to run on sand is that it slows you down, works you harder. For a runner, that’s a good thing. The feel of it giving way under your feet, the extra effort to move your legs, different muscles working. You become tired faster.
The dunes are amazing. The landscape changing day to day. They offer a great place to hide. If you wanted to catch someone who thought they were running fast, then the dunes were just right.
The dunes also offer some protection from people seeing what is going on. If it’s very early morning, no one else on the sand, with the surf and wind hiding the struggle or screams, then the dunes are perfect.
I am strong. I fight back. I use the only thing at hand – my cell phone. I must have stunned him, because he rolled off of me, clutching his head. That gave me a chance to kick, then push, then kick more. I was able to get up then, and I didn’t stop kicking. I realized he was dead after I had kicked so much that my legs gave way under me. The sand was a softer place to land.
Sand is beautiful. It’s a beautiful way to hide a body. The dunes are an amazing place to dig, dig, with your hands until they are raw, hurrying before anyone else can see you. The dunes and surf and sand muffle your crying. The ocean is powerful, and can wash away the sand, and tears, and the blood on your sneakers, and hide why your face is red, your hands raw.
I run fast. Running fast carries you away from the body quicker, clears your mind. You can return home all wet, forcing a laugh. You just had to go into the water. You need to hurry to your room to dry off and change. You need to hold a pillow against your face, and scream and scream. Your mind fills with sand, and surf, and you don’t tell anyone what happened in the dunes.
The dunes are amazing. They hide things. But they also move, and change. You move and change too and forget a little. But the dunes will keep moving, changing, and the body will be found. Eventually. You hope by then to be done with vacation, long gone, traces of you disappeared from the sand, the dunes. From the body.
Kill Devil will always mean something different to you.