I've stopped going to the beach at night and I don't know if I'll ever go back

This is the first time I'm writing about this because it still haunts me to this day, and I would love to know if you guys have experienced anything similar. This occurred at a beautiful, isolated beach in a foreign country. In this case, it was the Maldives, but you'll see in a minute that it could've been anywhere.<br><br>I was sharing a private island with another couple, and we all had a beach hut with an elevated deck that overlooked the ocean. The only staff members on the island were a chef and a housekeeper, so it was perfect for solitude. It was a vacation of a lifetime for my wife and me, but it almost turned into a nightmare.<br><br>During the day, everything was perfect. The water was crystal clear, the sand was soft and white, the weather was sunny and warm, and the staff were super friendly and attentive. The only negative thing was that there was no Wi-Fi, but this wasn't a big deal since we planned to disconnect anyway.<br><br>We spent as much time as we could in the water, snorkeling, swimming, or on a paddleboard. Sometimes we would even swim at night, but we didn't do this often and never alone. The first time we did this, I noticed that the water was almost like lukewarm, but nobody else in my group seemed to notice.<br><br>As the days went by, we started to notice that sometimes the sand was completely littered with a weird, black, slimy substance. It smelled like oil, but it looked more like tar. I don't know what this stuff was, but it was super gross. We would walk along the beach and suddenly feel it squishing between our toes. I would step on a rock and it would stick to my feet, and when I pulled my feet away, it would stretch like playdough. My wife literally slipped in a patch of this stuff and fell in the water because of it. It was as if the ocean itself was throwing up on the shore, and I hated it.<br><br>One night we decided to go for a moonlit swim. The water was so calm that it reflected the light from the moon, which was super cool. After a while, we got bored and decided to go to the beach bar for a nightcap. I wasn't feeling particularly thirsty, so I told my wife and friends to go ahead while I stayed behind. I promised to meet them in a few minutes, and they left without me.<br><br>While my friends went to the bar, I decided to walk along the beach on my own. The moon was full and the tide was low, so I had a lot of space to wander. There was no wind, and the only sound that I could hear was the waves crashing gently against the shore. The beach was empty except for myself, but I didn't feel alone. I felt like something was watching me, and every time I turned around to look, nobody was there.<br><br>As I walked further, I saw something floating in the water. I thought it was a piece of driftwood or maybe a beach toy that had been left behind. I walked closer to the water to see what it was, and as I got closer, I realized that it was a human body. I froze. It was so close to the shore that I could almost reach it, and it was floating face down.<br><br>I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was hallucinating. When I opened them again, the body was still there. I turned around to scream for my friends, but they were already in the bar. I was alone, and I had to do something.<br><br>I didn't know whether the body was dead or alive, but my first instinct was to try and rescue it. I walked into the water and swam slowly towards the body. It was difficult to swim because the water was thick and lukewarm, but I persevered because I had to save whoever was in front of me.<br><br>As I got closer to the body, I realized that something wasn't right. The body was floating upright, almost vertical, as if it was standing on the ocean floor. The water wasn't deep at all, so I wondered why I couldn't see any legs. I got closer and got a better view of the body. It was a man, and he was standing in the water. He wasn't floating. He was walking towards the shore.<br><br>I rubbed my eyes again, wondering if I was hallucinating, but when I opened them, the man was closer. He didn't seem to notice me, or at least he didn't seem to care that I was there. He just kept on walking. I was in shock. I didn't know what to do.<br><br>The man walked closer and closer, but I couldn't see his face. His head was bent down, as if he was looking at the water. I was still in the water, frozen in shock, when he finally stepped onto the beach. I was terrified. I didn't know whether I should run or scream or stay still, but I knew that I had to do something.<br><br>To be honest, I don't know what I did next. Everything happened so quickly, and it's all a blur in my mind. I think that I screamed, but my scream was drowned out by the sound of the waves. I think that I tried to run, but my feet felt heavy. I think that I tried to swim away, but I had no energy.<br><br>The next thing I knew, I was walking towards the man. He was still walking towards me, but he seemed to take forever to arrive. I was in a trance, and I didn't know how to break it. I walked towards him, and he walked towards me, and we didn't seem to be getting any closer.<br><br>As we got closer, I saw his face, and it wasn't human. His eyes were black, his skin was green, and he had huge teeth in his mouth. He didn't seem to notice me, or at least he didn't seem to care that I was there. I didn't care either. I kept on walking, and he kept on walking, and eventually we collided.<br><br>The next thing I knew, I was under the water. I was being held by the man, and he was pulling me underwater. I struggled to breathe, but my lungs were full of water. I struggled to fight back, but the man was too strong. I was sinking, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.<br><br>The next thing I knew, I was on the beach. I was lying on my back, and the sun was shining on my face. I sat up, and then I stood up, and I looked around. I was alone, and everything seemed normal. The beach was clean, the water was blue, the sand was white, and the only sound that I could hear was the waves crashing gently against the shore.<br><br>It took me a while to realize that everything that had happened was a dream. It wasn't real, or so I thought. When I finally realized that it was a dream, I ran towards the beach bar to find my friends. I didn't want to be alone again, and I didn't want to even think about what had happened.<br><br>I arrived at the bar, and my friends were still there, drinking and chatting. They looked at me with concern, and they asked what was wrong. I didn't know how to answer because I didn't know what was wrong. I didn't know whether my dream was real, and I didn't know what was real anyway. I didn't know whether I was dreaming now, and I didn't know how to wake up.<br><br>My friends kept on asking me if I was okay, and I kept on wondering if I was. I didn't know what to say or do, so I just sat down and ordered a beer. I didn't want to talk about what had happened, and I didn't want to even think about it. I just wanted to forget.<br><br>When we returned to our beach huts, I looked at the water and I didn't recognize it. I didn't know what had changed, but something had. The water wasn't blue anymore, it was black, and it didn't look calm anymore, it looked violent. I didn't know whether my dream had changed my perception or if my perception had changed my dream. I didn't know what was real anymore, and I didn't care.<br><br>That night we ordered room service and stayed in our hut. We didn't want to go out, and we didn't want to talk. We were traumatized, and we didn't know how to deal with it. We stayed in bed, and we didn't sleep. We were too scared, and we were too confused.<br><br>The next morning we packed our bags and left as quickly as we could. We didn't want to stay in that place, and we didn't want to think about it. We didn't want to even remember it, but it didn't matter. I still remember it now, and I still think about it. I still wonder what would have happened if I had stayed in the water, and I still wonder what would have happened if the dream wasn't a dream.<br><br>So, whoever you are, in the water, on that beach, in that dream, let's not meet again.