text: [Themes: Horror, Science Fiction, beach]
  
  > Look around
  You are standing outside a small, decrepit shack. Its walls are made
  of various kinds of scrounged woods, all cracking. The shack door is Open.
  
  You can see your shack door and a bucket (empty) here.
  
  > take the bucket
  It must have rained last night. You pour out a stream of grey, sandy rain water.
  
  Taken.
  
  > Go north
  You walk down to the shore. Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building
  up where the surf meets the land. A dead, dry fish lies on the sand. Sea water sparkles in its empty eye sockets. You see a bottle floating on the waves close to shore.
  
  You can see a dead fish here.
  
  > examine Fish
  A dead, dry fish, lying on the sand.
  
  > examine bottle
  A blue glass bottle bobbing out in the ocean.
  
  > Swim
  (in the ocean)
  You wade out into the dark water, until it comes a little over
  your waist. You stand still, the cold water splashing against your chest.
  
  As you stand there, you think about mermaids, creatures that
  always terrified you when you were a child. You loathed the image of sickly pale human faces ploughing through the black waves. Even though they had human faces, their bodies were horrific - serpentine and hidden in the water like roots. A man would walk into the ocean
  towards the face, and when he saw what it really was it would be too late.
  
  All that would be left was his footprints, heading into the sea.
  
  The Shore (in the ocean)
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land. A dead, dry fish lies on the sand. Sea water sparkles in its empty eye sockets. You see a bottle floating on the waves close to shore.
  
  You can see a dead fish here.
  
  A corked bottle floats just out of your reach. Inside, you can see a scrap of wrinkled paper.
  
  > take the bottle
  You should never let a message from the sea get away. It could
  be from someone in need of rescue. You reach for it. It bobs farther away, just out of your reach ...
  
  > take the bottle
  You wade after the bottle. The cold water reaches your chest.
  
  appendage. This tentacle resembles whatever the other entity
  desires.
  
  Specks of algae flitter through the black water. You
  had not noticed before how much the ocean, when you are in it, resembles space.
  
  nature is revealed.
  
  The bottle sinks. You see it shimmer under the water.
  You think you can still reach it if you hurry ...
  
  > take the bottle
  You reach into the darkness for the bottle. You face touches the
  water. There is a voice in the bottle, and you can't remember the last time you spoke to someone. You reach. Your fingers touch something
  hard in the water.
  
  It wraps around your hand.
  
  You scream, pulling away. Whatever it is lets go. You stumble backwards, wading clumsily back into the shallow surf. Your face is cold with sweat. You wait for your heartbeat to slow.
  
  shore. Their slithering whispers almost sounds like a voice to you.
  
  Time and tide wait for no man, Larry Wyndham.
  
  But they wait for me.
  
  > Go outside
  As you turn to trudge out of the water, you feel something slide
  past your leg. You shudder. Probably just a fish a little too close inland.
  
  Damn, you seem to be missing something...
  
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land. A dead, dry fish lies on the sand. Sea water sparkles in its empty eye sockets.
  
  You can see a dead fish here.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a bucket
  your rubber boots (being worn)
  a shovel
  your clothes (being worn)
  canvas sneakers (being worn)
  
  > fill the bucket
  (with the ocean)
  You can't do that here.
  
  > take the water
  (the bucket)
  You already have that.
  
  > look at the bucket
  lip.
  
  > take Fish
  You reach for the fish.
  
  ...i didn'tiSHOWMEWHEREit'ssocoldOPENcan'tholdontoOPENcan'tididn'tOPENcircli ngOPENcirclingbeneathOPEN!!!
  
  You open your eyes. You are curled on the sand, your hands
  holding the sides of your head. You slowly stand up, your stomach rolling; greasy sweat is trickling down your arms.
  
  There is a dead fish here.
  
  > Keep going
  You carefully pick the fish up; for a moment it seems terribly
  heavy, like a large sack of potatoes, but the feeling passes and you lift it off the sand. You can feel its sharp, delicate bones beginning to protrude from the network of drying, putrid scales. You find the pugent smell strangely comforting.
  
  Taken.
  
  > go north
  You wade out into the dark water.
  
  The Shore (in the ocean)
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > Go south
  You trudge out of the water.
  
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > Go south
  Around the shack is long dry grass and bits of broken glass. Down a little ways to the north you see the grey shoreline, and then the black, roaring ocean.
  
  You can see your shack door here.
  
  > look at glass
  Pieces of glass glint in the sand. Some of the larger pieces come from broken bottles. You look affectionately at some of the more familiar pieces.
  
  > go inside
  You walk into your shack just as a male voice finishes leaving a message on your answering machine:
  "... whatever it is. It's not him anymore. It's ...  an animal. We
  have to decide. You know what I think we should do... what we
  have to do. Will you help me? Please. Please, help me." There
  is a beep and the message ends. You stand in the doorway, confused.
  
  Wait... what answering machine?
  
  You walk into your shack just as a male voice finishes leaving a message on your answering machine:
  "... whatever it is. It's not him anymore. It's ...  an animal. We
  have to decide. You know what I think we should do... what we
  have to do. Will you help me? Please. Please, help me." There
  is a beep and the message ends. You stand in the doorway, confused.
  
  Wait... what answering machine?
  
  This is a one room shack; the only light comes from a waxy
  window. There is a damp cot in the corner, and a simple dresser with one leg against the other wall. On top of the dresser is a grey glass fish bowl.
  
  There is a small table next to the cot; on top of it is an
  answering machine. A red light is blinking on the machine.
  
  On the dresser is a waterlogged paperback book.
  
  You can also see your shack door here.
  
  > put dead Fish in Bowl
  You carefully lower the dead fish into the fish bowl. Its
  emaciated form settles to the bottom with a bony scrape; through the foggy grey glass, it looks strangely vulnerable.
  
  > examine the machine
  It's a standard answering machine, which was most decidedly not
  there when you left. You don't even have electricity, which leads you to wonder, as your eyes wander downwards ...
  
  Yep. You don't have outlets, so it's not plugged in. Logical
  enough. Yet the message light is blinking ...
  
  > Play machine
  The tape begins to play. There is a muted crackling noise, and
  then the message starts:
  "... You have no new messages. They have gone into the sea."
  
  > wait a while
  Time passes.