A brand new novel in the works folks, and here is a first little tease for it!
Last of the Merfolk
The huge
ship pitched slowly forward in the waves, the deck heaving backward again as it
slid up the face of another wall of water. Torrential rains pounded the rusted
metal, and winds whipped the top of the sea into a froth. This was not the
sunny days on the Caribbean sea that Joseph had dreamed of when he had applied
for this job. Today, the waters were dark and foreboding, the sky a layer of
lead weighing down on him. Fortunately, he was not as ill from the rough seas
as some of his crew mates. And the maritime vessel was a huge hulking boat,
filled with shipping containers. It could handle much more than what the
heavens were dolling out today.
The ship
was the MV Hatteras, a modern container ship flying the flag of the United
States. She had three large engines, and was over 200 feet long. A crew of 33
was aboard, calling this ship home for the next two weeks. They were in the
North Atlantic, inside the legendary Bermuda Triangle, a fact never lost in the
minds of the men on board. Headed to Brazil with tons of cargo, she powered
through the waves toward her destination. The weather had been quite pleasant
when the ship had departed Miami, but had quickly turned only a day into the
voyage. Despite dozens of trips through this area, Joseph was always conscious
that they were here, in that place of mysterious occurrences, which haunted the
minds of sailors and airmen alike. The Triangle. Sailing vessels and aircraft
had vanished here time after time, never to be seen again, the sailors or
airmen aboard missing for all eternity.
Joseph
braced himself against the railing outside the bridge of the ship, one hand
holding the cold, wet steel. In the other, he held a cigarette, trying to conceal
it in his hand to keep it lit even in the fury of the storm. The crew were no
longer permitted to smoke inside any closed in area of the vessel, even though
many knew that there were hiding spots deep in the ship where one could sneak
it without being caught. Working primarily on the bridge monitoring the radar
instruments, Joseph did not usually have any opportunity to take advantage of
those places. He consoled himself with the idea of warmer temperatures and
calmer waters in the days ahead, where if he had some personal time, he might
even enjoy a little fishing off the stern. He had seen dolphins swimming
alongside several times when the waters weren't so rough, easily keeping up
with the hulking steel hull.
It all
seemed a far off dream in the torrential rains and wind, with immense waves
crashing over the bow. His thoughts drifted as he took another haul off of his
cigarette, pulling the smoke in deep. Only the dead below knew how this trip
might end, he thought. The lost souls who had fallen victim to the triangle and
its dark secrets. He shivered as lightning flashed through the lead grey clouds
above, the thunder competing with the roar of the churning sea.
The winds
pulled at his Mustang survival suit. He was grateful to have it, as it was both
rain gear and waterproof warmth. The red coveralls with their reflective
stripes were something he reached for the moment he rose from his bunk, practically
living in them if the trip was stormy. On sunny, calm days, the ship was like a
floating beachfront, the crew adorned in light t-shirts in an effort to keep
cool. But this was not one of those days.
A rogue
wave hit the side, and despite its immense bulk, the ship lurched suddenly to
port. Joseph stumbled, returning his focus. He grabbed the railing, barely
salvaging the last of his smoke, and burning himself in the process. He cursed
under his breath. Taking one more drag from the cigarette, he flicked it away.
All of his sinister thoughts of the Bermuda Triangle, and the longing for
better weather would have to wait for now. He righted himself on the platform outside
the wheelhouse, taking one last look off to the side at the dark waters flowing
past the rusting steel of the hull.
Something
caught his eye in that moment, and he focused in on it. For a split second, he
drew in a breath, almost clamoring for the door to the bridge. He had to bring
the ship to a stop. There was someone overboard. He stopped, squinting in the
rain, trying to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. There was what looked
like a person in the sea below, alongside the ship. They were submerged,
looking up at him with a curious expression, seemingly not concerned about
their situation. As Joseph watched, wiping the dripping rain out of his face,
the apparition below seemed to be swimming just below the surface of the waves.
Swimming. No shirt, no clothing. And there seemed to be something with him, or
it. Like the fins of a fish.
What he
was seeing just didn't make sense. He wrestled with believing what his vision
was relaying to his brain. It wasn't possible. In that moment, a flood of
legends and stories came into his mind, as he stared in disbelief into the
roiling waters at the figure looking back at him. It was a man, and a fish. A
man with fins. A merman. Was that the name for it? He closed his eyes, hoping
he was having some sort of delusion, some sort of hallucination. Perhaps his
thoughts about the triangle were making his mind play tricks on him.
But when
he reopened his eyes, the creature was still there, if only for a moment. It
turned downward, its fins streaming out behind as it slid away into the depths
of another wave, disappearing from view. Was it a fish of some kind? It was
already gone. The only thing left in view was the whitecaps, and the dark sea
waters. Joseph blinked, and did it a second time. Relief came to him, that all had
suddenly returned to normal with his world. He suddenly felt the green of sea
sickness come on very strong. A cold shiver ran through him as he straightened
himself, looking away from the sea to the sky, as if searching for an
explanation of what he had just witnessed. It did not come.
Joseph
reached for the steel handle of the door to the bridge with cold, shaking
hands. He knew what he had seen. But it was not possible. It was a story told
since men had started to sail, a story that had been made into folklore and
film, like the great white whale that Ahab had pursued, like the tales of
Atlantis. Like the stories of mermaids...
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