Surf Spot
Tiny Hauntings Fiction
By Melissa Flores Anderson (Haunter)
& Annalee Simonds (Architect)
Though the sun was long gone, the air was still steamy, an exhale of salt and dead fish and marijuana. It pressed in at the walls of the condo. The overstuffed cushions of sharks and sea turtles shied away from the urn sitting alone on a coffee table. The urn–an ugly, mottled orange floral thing–ignored them all: the dusty flyers nervously displaying Myrtle Beach’s minigolf attractions, the sand creeping in the creases of the grout, the washer gaping open, exhaling wet and still fishy swimsuits, the ignorant clutter of plastic sand buckets and neon boogie boards drying on the back porch. The urn stared sightlessly at the sliver of ocean peaking up from the safety railing.
Brody bounded into the room, his bleached highlights dried stiff with salt water and wind. He reached for a half empty bottle of Gatorade as his elbow smashed into the weird vase. A gray dust spilled out over the blue carpet. Brody sneezed as he inhaled the particles. Instead of settling, the dust spiraled into a whirlwind. The cloud filled his eyes and blocked his vision, then found its way into his throat. Brody coughed and he fell to the ground, his swim trunks tight across his hips.
When Ethel sat up, her right hip ached. The last thing she remembered was the sound of an ambulance siren. She craved a tuna melt on rye. As she entered the kitchen, she saw the reflection of a slender young blond man in swim trunks in the metal of the toaster oven. She looked down at a bare torso and legs, tan and muscled. Then she remembered a room with plush chairs and all the quiet. At least Myrtle Beach and surfer’s body weren’t the worst place to be ejected from purgatory.
Melissa Flores Anderson is a Latinx Californian and an award-winning journalist who lives in her hometown with her young son and husband. Her creative work has been featured in more than 40 literary venues and anthologies, including swamp pink, Chapter House, ELJ Editions and HAD. She is a reader/editor with Roi Fainéant Press. She has co-authored a novelette, “Roadkill,” (ELJ Editions) and a chapbook “A Body in Motion” (JAKE). Her first full-length short story collection, "All and Then None of You," (Cowboy Jamboree Press) is forthcoming in September 2025. Follow her on Twitter and Bluesky @melissacuisine or IG/Threads @theirishmonths. Read her work at melissafloresandersonwrites.com.
Annalee Simonds writes fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Her work has been published in The Ekphrastic Review's Challenges as well as their 2024 print anthology, "The Memory Place." When not teaching or writing, she enjoys reading and dabbling in watercolor.
