Late one afternoon in early February I was walking my collie, Bella, along Ramsgate Sands towards Dumpton Gap. It was unseasonably mild and the sinking sun had created a Turneresque sky. We were approaching the stretch of beach opposite the steps leading up to Winterstoke Gardens when I noticed something odd. The beach ahead appeared slightly blurred. Believing my eyes were playing up, I blinked to clear them to no affect. I looked behind and all was perfectly clear.
Closer inspection revealed a tenuous shroud of grey mist. It was solitary. Ghostly. Inside, I had a feeling of being in the presence of the dead. Bella certainly wasn’t too keen, even though we were able to pass through it in less than a minute. I, on the other hand, found it a little thrilling.
Issue 5
COLD WAVE
Martin Charlton is a published author of nonfiction, poetry, and short fiction. He has written for True Crime Magazine, The New Writer, Bygone Kent, Thanet Times, and more recently The Isle of Thanet News and Margate Bookie’s Reset zine. He lives in Ramsgate.