The Seashell

[00:00:00] Welcome to Scary Story Kids. My name is Edwin and today's story is about a young girl

[00:00:08] and her family who bring her along for a camping trip in one of her favorite places in the world.

[00:00:14] But now it has become a place that she only visits in her nightmares. Are you ready? Here we go.

[00:00:23] Kimberly's mom had a habit to point out to the ocean or any body of water that they saw while

[00:00:34] they were in the car. But this time, Kimberly was the first to spot it. He was up ahead.

[00:00:41] The sun shining brightly against the dark blue waves. There's a certain smell to the ocean,

[00:00:46] isn't there? Kimberly or Kim for short, wasn't sure if she liked it.

[00:00:53] They reminded her of the can of sardines that her dad opened and spilled all over the kitchen counter.

[00:00:59] Still, Kim knew that this was going to be the best day ever. Her birthday was coming up.

[00:01:06] It was going to be on a Wednesday this year, so as a surprise, her dad said they would be going

[00:01:11] to the beach the weekend before. They were at the camping store when she found out,

[00:01:17] shopping around for a tent. Kind of unusual when you think about it. But Kim was quickly able

[00:01:23] to put it together. They were going camping at the beach. She thought of the bonfire of counting

[00:01:31] stars, hot chocolate collecting seashells and hot dogs. Oh, this was gonna be the best.

[00:01:39] She helped out her dad bring out some of the chairs and bags. The beach had these nice

[00:01:45] cement rings where you could start a fire. But Kim was disappointed to find out that she would

[00:01:50] have to wait until nighttime to be able to start it. You won't be able to see the fire right now,

[00:01:56] her dad said. Go play in the water with mom, and when you come back, we'll put everything together.

[00:02:03] Kim looked at her dad and then over at mom.

[00:02:07] Go on, he said, gently pushing her from the middle of her back.

[00:02:12] And she joined her mom over by the shore, splashing and jumping around the sand for hours.

[00:02:18] It wasn't until she saw her dad coming up toward the water when she realized just how long

[00:02:24] this shadow was. The sun was about to set.

[00:02:27] It's time for us to dry up, her mom said. Walking up and away from the water.

[00:02:35] We're going to start getting cold. Just a little bit longer please,

[00:02:40] Kim asked. Her dad said that she could go walk around there for a bit longer but not to go

[00:02:46] into the water anymore. She needed her hair to be dry. Kim agreed and instead started walking

[00:02:53] around the sand looking for seashells. You see one of her friends from school had shown her a

[00:02:59] collection of them, of all different sizes and colors. Some from far away places her parents took

[00:03:06] her to. Kim, of course, wanted her own collection of seashells. It didn't take long for her to spot

[00:03:14] when she liked. It was orange and pink. She kept walking around and found a gray one, a white one

[00:03:22] and one so small she could barely hold onto it with her two fingers. The shadows were getting darker

[00:03:29] and slowly, vanishing. The sky that was a deep orange was an outturning purple. She had to hurry up.

[00:03:38] She wanted the biggest most beautiful seashell to show her friends back at school and she hadn't

[00:03:43] found it yet but she had to keep searching. And so she walked up and down the beach until they got

[00:03:50] dark and then she could hear her dad calling her. Yet started the fire already. Just a minute,

[00:03:57] she yelled back looking desperately for the perfect seashell but it was dark now

[00:04:04] and she could barely see her own feet in the sand by this point. Now she paid close enough attention

[00:04:11] she could almost see that some of the seashells in the sand were moving.

[00:04:16] She looked out into the ocean, the foam of the waves rising up into the air before disappearing.

[00:04:25] Still she needed to find that perfect seashell.

[00:04:32] I have one. Suddenly she heard a voice from behind her. It was a young girl about her age standing

[00:04:41] just a few steps behind her holding something in her hand. It was strange because even though the

[00:04:48] beach was so dark that even the water disappeared, Kim could clearly see this little girl's face.

[00:04:56] Kim's eyes couldn't get away from what this girl was holding. It was a large beautiful glowing

[00:05:01] shell. All of her friends would ask her where she got it from and even ask her to borrow it.

[00:05:09] Of course she would say no. Can I see it? Kim asked a stranger, this little girl alone at the beach.

[00:05:18] No, she said no. Her voice just a little deeper now.

[00:05:23] Kim looked around only seeing the fire her dad had started in the whole beach.

[00:05:28] No other cars were parked in the parking lot. No other families were around.

[00:05:33] No, no. No, the little girl roared. Kim was in shock. She stayed quiet as this little girl began

[00:05:46] to smile. It was the only thing Kim could see. The rest of her face had started to get darker and

[00:05:53] only her large white teeth were showing. But then, this little girl turned over the ocean and

[00:05:59] ran at full speed splashing against the waves. The darkness, Kim was able to see the shell right on

[00:06:06] the sand right by where the water had just left. Kim was about to run after it but she remembered

[00:06:13] that she was not allowed to go and get wet all over again. So she waited. The glowing sea shell

[00:06:21] now right against the sand, the water had just backed off from the shore for just an instant.

[00:06:26] An opportunity that Kim took as she ran four or five splashing steps into the wet sand.

[00:06:34] She picked up the sea shell with both hands and ran back onto the dry heap of sand behind her.

[00:06:40] She looked around but there were no signs of the little girl anywhere.

[00:06:44] Kim squinted her eyes trying to find the shape of the girl somewhere along the water,

[00:06:49] but she wasn't there anymore. Or was she? Confused, Kim turned back toward the ocean and lifted

[00:06:58] up the sea shell almost as large as the plates they had at home. It was glowing white that had beautiful

[00:07:04] ridges. It was perfect. Hey you, let's go. Fire is ready. Her dad startled her.

[00:07:15] Kim put the sea shell behind her back and walked behind him toward the fire, stopping to look around

[00:07:21] one last time for this little girl. For the rest of the night, Kim and her family ate,

[00:07:28] made hot chocolate, told stories and got everything ready to go to sleep.

[00:07:32] Kim checked her bag one last time to make sure the sea shell was still there.

[00:07:38] And it was. The fire was dying out when they all went inside the tent.

[00:07:44] Kim had the side closest to the window of it. She could see the ocean from there,

[00:07:50] and it didn't take long before her dad started snoring.

[00:07:54] But something bothered her. And no, not the snoring. It was what had happened earlier.

[00:08:01] About the little girl. How did she disappear like that?

[00:08:06] Even though Kim was tired now, she couldn't go to sleep and instead zipped open the window of the tent

[00:08:12] just a little more. The moon was finally visible just over the water.

[00:08:18] And that's what she heard, something rustling outside.

[00:08:23] Kim froze and then she heard a whisper.

[00:08:29] Gift me back my sea shell. Said.

[00:08:34] Kim looked out toward the window of the tent which was really just a piece of cloth to keep the bugs out.

[00:08:40] But instead she saw only the moon out there over the water. She looked toward the bag where she

[00:08:47] hadn't hidden the sea shell. Gift me back my sea shell. It cried.

[00:08:56] Kim looked around to see her mom, crawled up against the wall of the tent and her dad still snoring

[00:09:02] right next to her. Gift me back my sea shell. Kim looked out toward the ocean,

[00:09:11] the moon was getting bigger now looking as if it was coming closer to the tent.

[00:09:18] Everything was dead quiet now. One of those still moments of the ocean.

[00:09:23] Gift me back my sea shell. The voice was right outside the tent.

[00:09:31] Gathering all of her courage, Kim peaked out to the window only to realize that she had not

[00:09:36] been seeing the moon out there. It was a glowing face of the little girl.

[00:09:42] In a panic, she screamed and grabbed your bag and took out the sea shell and tossed it out

[00:09:47] the window of the tent. Her parents woke up. She explained what she had seen,

[00:09:53] the little girl's face, the sea shell and the cries she kept hearing.

[00:10:00] Her parents were convinced that she had been dreaming the whole thing and instead asked her to

[00:10:04] zip up the window and try to get some sleep. Kim only remembered being woken up by the sound of

[00:10:10] her dad folding up the chairs the next morning. Morning, Kimmy, he said.

[00:10:17] Are you ready to go? She thought that her parents were probably right. She might have dreamed

[00:10:23] the whole thing and so they made their way toward the parking lot when they spotted a familiar item.

[00:10:30] It was like a statue, an ornament and the shape of a sea shell, large against the sidewalk.

[00:10:37] Kim became a little nervous. He reminded her of her terrible night and as it got closer,

[00:10:46] the message written underneath it became clear.

[00:10:52] In memory of little sandy wall the day, may you keep collecting beautiful sea shells forever.

[00:11:07] Scary story kids is written by me Edwin Goliathorius. If you have an idea for a story,

[00:11:16] drawings about what you heard or your own tales of horror, your parents can get in touch with

[00:11:21] me over at scarystorykids.com. If you like the stories you heard, tell a friend about them.

[00:11:29] Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone. See you soon.