Like Stars

iv. an act of bravery

Emily followed her friend slowly, still wary of the lurking terror but feeling much better about it now that she was sure it wouldn't nibble on her toes. Looking around, she realized that she could no longer find the thing in the fading light. The rocks cast long shadows across the sand, and she began to panic when she could no longer see the thing where she had last spotted it several feet away from them.

"Sarah!" she shrieked, gathering herself closer to her friend, shielding herself with the smaller body of the other girl.

Sarah's face was turning a fiery red, but she still forced out, "What?"

"Where is it?" Emily squeaked, her eyes wide as they searched the area around them.

"Where is what?" Sarah muttered, checking the ground for an item one of them may have lost.

"The crab," Emily said hoarsely, her voice crackling from hysteria.

"Not this again," groaned Sarah, flustered. "It probably wandered off, Em, it's a crab."

"No, I would have seen it! It's still here and it's waiting for me," she cried.

"You're crazy," Sarah muttered before beginning the journey back to their families' campsite where a warm shower and a soft bed awaited her. Her progress was delayed by the added weight of her friend clinging to her with each step.

"It's going to follow us back and attack us in our sleep! Just you wait! You're going to be eaten first, and then everyone else, and then it'll be just me, and I'll say 'I told you so,'" Emily said. But with every step they took away from the rocks, she felt a bit better about the thing. Maybe it wasn't all bad. Maybe it was really just a thing that happened to be in the same time and place that she was, and it meant no harm, and it was just a silly little crab.

"Mm-hm, sure, Em," came Sarah's response, her tone bored. "You're gonna tell the crab's stomach 'I told you so'? Because that's where I'll be," she quipped. And as an afterthought: "And then after I'm eaten by the big scary crab who's gonna be your best friend then huh? It'd be worse for you than it would be for me, I'd think. At least the crab's stomach would probably be warm and everyone else would be there too. 'Sides you," she added.

"True," Emily sighed. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She clung to her friend tighter, and Sarah fought a smile at the action.

"Well then it's a good thing that that crab isn't here anym—"

Sarah's voice caught before it squeaked out of her throat in a mess of strangled noise that left her mouth without her permission. There was a sickening crunch, then a shrill shriek, then the sand was painted red. The crab was dead, but the damage was already done. The creature had gotten its revenge on Sarah's foot before her heel had come down on it hard in reflex. With shaking hands, Emily scooped Sarah's smaller body up into her arms and sprinted back across the sand, all the way back to their families' campsite.