PHOSPHOROUS

PHOSPHOROUS

By: Terri Talley Venters

“We’re going to get into so much trouble!” Alice crouched beneath the bunk in Castillo de San Marcos. A.k.a. the fort in St. Augustine, Florida.

“Shhhh! Only if we get caught.” Sam whispered.

Alice grimaced as the stench of the old barracks filled her nostrils. Her stomach turned from the vile odor, and the tour guide’s mention of all the deaths which occurred here over the last four-hundred years.

“How much longer do we have to wait? I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. You’re the worst boyfriend ever.” She fumed.

“It’s dark now and everything should be locked up for the night. I haven’t heard anything for a while,” he said.

“I’m sure the tour guides wanted to leave the second this place closed. They’re probably drinking at Scarlett O’Hara’s which is where we should be right now.” Alice smacked his arm.

“Okay, let’s go explore this place in the dark.” Sam stood and extended his hand to assist her off of the dirt floor.

“Do you really think the fort is haunted?” She clung to him.

“The Ghost Adventurers spent the night here. They heard some stuff and saw some shadows,” he said.

“The tour guide said he’d heard stories about ghost sightings.” She grabbed Sam’s hand and kept close as they walked into the courtyard in the center of the fort. The quarter moon provided little light. The tidal waves of the nearby ocean crashed along Vilano Beach and Porpoise Point at the nearby inlet.

“This is so cool. We have the whole place to ourselves.” Sam turned around and absorbed the view of the old walls forged with coquina, the Spanish word for small shells.

Creek. Groan.

“What was that?” Alice jumped and clutched her chest.

“Are you scared?” Sam looked down at her as she pulled him even closer.

She nodded. “It’s so sad how many people died here. So many were murdered and executed within these walls.”

“And their bodies dumped over the walls into the moat.” Sam added.

A shiver whipped through Alice as she grimaced. “And the Indian Chief Osceola, beheaded. Gross.”

“And the dudes they trapped inside the walls until their bodies rotted. How cool is that?” Sam smiled.

“You’re sick.” Alice smacked him again.

“Do you see that? Something’s up on top of the wall. It looks like neon-green floating globe.” Sam pointed.

“Yes, oh my, God. It’s glowing like phosphorous in the sea. I can’t believe we’re seeing this.” Her hand covered her mouth in shock.

An apparition of Osceola’s head floated along the wall of Castillo de San Marcos.