HORROR TERROR

It was supposed to be the perfect vacation the breeze the waves crashing against the shore. The sound of seagulls calling in the distance everything felt just right.

The Johnson Family had rented a beach house for the weekend, a place far from the city's chaos to relax and reconnect.

The sun was setting casting a soft amber glow over the beach, the sky a beautiful gradient of oranges and pinks.

As the night drew in, the air grew cooler, the ocean darker and a sense of quiet settled over the land but something was off something that none of them could explain.

They were on the balcony of the beach, house sipping on their drinks when they saw a woman standing alone at the edge of the water; staring at the dark ocean, she seems motionless at first but then the family noticed the way she swayed as if struggling with the weight of something far heavier than the wind.

It was clear... now she wasn't just standing she was preparing to end her life "call the police Sarah" the mother screamed as she gripped the railing but before anyone could respond; they realized something even more terrifying, the woman didn't seem to hear their cries, she was too far from the house for them to reach her with their phones and they had no time to wait for help "come back.... come back" the father Mark shouted, his voice filled with desperation.

The family ran down the winding steps of the house and towards the beach by the time they reached saw the woman was nowhere to be seen. The water was churning in the moonlight cold and relentless it looked as though she had drowned, swallowed whole by the sea they searched frantically but there was no sign of her; only the waves crashing against the shore terrified and breathless they rushed to the nearest police station to report the incident.

They were met with indifference at first as officers had no reports of a missing person. After a search operation by the authorities they came up with nothing no body, no evidence.

The mood of the entire family soured the beach once serene and calming now felt ominous. The whispers of the waves, the cool breeze everything turned unsettling.

By the time they packed up and left, they couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong but it wasn't until they returned home; that the true horror began.

While scrolling through their Vacation photos something caught Sarah's eye, it was a blurry figure standing just behind them in every single pictures they'd taken on the beach. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light maybe a shadow from the camera but as she zoomed in her heart stopped; there in the background was the same woman from the beach, her face was distorted pale, her eyes dark voids it was as though she had been following them all along.

The entire family was in disbelief it couldn't be real could, it maybe it was just coincidence maybe some strange glitch in the camera but the more they looked at the pictures, the more they realized; there was no mistake the woman wasn't just in the background of the pictures, she was always there watching them as if waiting for something.

It wasn't until; they tried to delete the photos that things began to get worse. Each time they deleted a picture, a new one appeared one after another and each time the woman grew closer. First, she was standing far off in the distance then she was closer, by the time she was just behind Mark, his hand almost touching her.

The air around them turned icy and that was when they heard her voice soft like a whisper in the wind come. The family was paralyzed, unable to move as they stared at the screen and then it happened the woman's figure started to shift her body distorting and flickering like an old film reel, she was moving her mouth opened but it wasn't her voice anymore.

It was the voice of someone much older...much more sinister and it echoed in the room "come back to the ocean" the family rushed to erase the photos again but it was too late the curse had already began.

The woman wasn't just in the photos, she was in the house with them, they could feel her presence. In the dead of night; they would hear footsteps when no one was walking, faint whispers that sounded like the ocean; the windows would fog up but not from the cold, no the fog would form words come. The family tried everything they prayed, they tried to get rid of the photos, they even had rituals performed but the woman stayed lingering in the shadows never leaving.

It was clear now she wasn't simply haunting them, she had been waiting for them and then came the night when they finally understood the truth. Mark had been drawn to the beach once again, almost in a trance he couldn't explain his family begged him to stay but he couldn't stop himself, something deep inside told him that he had to go. As he stood at the edge of the water the cold waves Licking his feet, he saw her again the woman standing just like she had that night her face was clear now, her eyes empty staring straight through him "come" she whispered but this time it wasn't an invitation it was a command.

Suddenly everything went black when Mark awoke, he was back at the beach house but the sky had shifted the air was heavier and his family was gone the house, the beach everything was different and then in the distance he saw another figure....his family standing on the beach but their faces were blank, their eyes were empty just like hers. They had become part of her invitation.

The curse wasn't over, it had just began "come" the whisper filled the air again as Mark realized too late that they were never meant to leave the woman had claimed them all.