Redwood Bay's Dark Secret

"*Oh my God!*" Dan said as he stumbled backwards and landed on his ass in the sand. His eyes, wide and frantic, were stuck to the object in his hands.

"What is it, Dan!? What did you find!?" Johnathan asked excitedly. He was running down the beach, with his wife and son close behind him.

Dan looked up at his friend, his eyes still wide, "This skull... This is a new skull..."

"What?" Johnathan asked, confused.

"This skull has never been on this beach before. It's not from the other bodies we found here," he answered.

"How can you tell?" Anna asked. Dan looked over at his ex-wife, her attractive face showing signs of aging, but still beautiful.

"Because I'm a damn good forensic anthropologist," he replied.

"That's what I thought," she responded playfully.

"You think it's a murder victim?" Johnathan asked.

Dan shook his head, "I don't know. There are no signs of trauma, so it's not from a violent murder. It could be from a suicide, or an accident."

"So what do we do?" Johnathan asked.

"We call the police. They'll want to get a statement from me, and they'll probably want to take this skull with them. We'll probably have to wait around for a while."

Dan grabbed the phone out of his pocket and dialed the number. He was greeted by a generic message asking him to press 1 if he was experiencing an emergency, otherwise he should proceed with the regular menu. He pressed 1.

"Hello, how can I help you today? You are in luck! Our operators are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Dan cringed at the overly cheerful voice, "Hi, uh, I have some human remains. I think they're from a crime, so I need the police to come pick them up."

"Alrighty! Just give me your address and I'll dispatch the authorities immediately!"

"I don't have an address. I'm in Redwood Bay, California."

"Okay! That shouldn't be a problem! I'll just put in your location in the system and have the cops get in touch with you directly!"

"Wait," Dan said, stopping the operator in their tracks.

"Yes?"

"I'm not calling from my house, I'm on vacation, so I don't have cell service here."

"Oh, okay! That shouldn't be a problem either! I'll put the call through to the police station nearest to where you are! They'll send someone out right away to get you!"

The line was silent for a few seconds.

"Uh, hello?" Dan asked.

"Okay! The call has been placed! I'll send you to an automated voice menu now! Have a wonderful day!"

The call ended, leaving Dan staring at his phone screen for a few seconds.

"It's working!" Johnathan said.

Dan nodded, "Yeah, it is."

He stood up, and the four of them walked down the beach back to where they parked their cars. A group of children went past them, running down the beach.

"Mom, can we go to the arcade now!?" One of the children asked.

Anna smiled, "Sure, honey! It's only a couple minutes walk from here!"

Dan looked up at the sky as he walked. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the water was calm, and the temperature was perfect. As he looked up at the sky, however, he noticed something odd. The clouds were swirling, spinning in an almost circular pattern. He'd never seen anything like it.

"Do you see that?" He asked Johnathan.

Johnathan looked up at the sky, and then back at Dan, "What?"

"That... thing in the sky."

Johnathan looked up again, and then back at Dan, "What thing?"

"The thing, in the sky," Dan repeated, pointing at the clouds.

Johnathan looked up at the clouds, and then shrugged, "There's nothing there."

Dan looked back up at the sky, and sure enough, the swirling clouds were gone.

"Huh," he said, his brow raised.