I had a terrifying experience a few years ago, I’m afraid of the sea, something in the darkness of the deep ocean put chills down my spine, maybe it’s because i lost my dad on the sea, or it’s because there is something down under.
I was 18, working as a fisherman with my dad, my dad had a red boat, made mainly out of wood, he named it Thalassa. I love working with my dad, he always wear a green jacket out to work, i love the feel of wind blowing on my skin and the scent of fish caught in my hair. It was a truly lovely time, until the storm hit.
It was a full moon night, my dad decided to go set up the fishing net. Although the weather forecast told us this week we should have a sky clear of cloud, that night was unusually cloudy. But since the sea was so still and clear, dad pulled me into Thalassa and set sail. The moon was very bright, it shine through the crystal clear layers and layers of the deep ocean. Although I could see deep into the vastness of the sea, no bottom can be seen, no fishes can be found. As if in this immense pool of salt water, there stood only two lonely souls. No, there was something down there.
A giant shadow of blackness underneath our Thalassa, the clouds came in and surrounded the moon, now only our boat were bathe in moonlight, around us were a wall of pure darkness. I tried to look for light of the village lighthouse, none can be seen. The moment i turned back to my dad, we were stunned. Salty wind blew,it torn the sail off the foremast, a newly formed tornado come gushing toward us. Dad ran up tried to pull back the torn sail to prevent us from being pulled away, he shouted: “GET IN THE-“. Thalassa hit a reef of rock, cracked the floor in half, the crash knocked dad off the boat. I ran outside, the floor collapsed before knocking me unconscious.
I woke up in the village’s small infirmary in the afternoon, saved by a group of sailors, my dad was never be found, even the crews who went out this morning can’t even find his corpse and the remaining of Thalassa, they found me laying in my life jacket and some wood planks in the middle of the sea, the tornado was unexpected by everybody but it only hit us before fainting away. To add up the strangeness of my dad death, there were no reef near where they found me, the seabed was 10 meters deep, the nearest one was 8 meters away from the bottom of my boat. After my dad funeral i never set a foot on a boat again.
I moved away.
16 years later, i eventually needed to bring my son back to the place where their parent was born, and where their grandad was last seen. I finally feel the sensation of sand on my feet again, of wind blowing on my skin and the scent of fish caught in my hair. The sunset warmed up my heart, warmed up the cold shoulder i gave to the sea. I lived 16 years without looking down under the ocean, afraid something under gonna take my love ones away, just like what it did to my dad, and my Thalassa. 16 years later I’m finally back, i slowly went down the beach, waves hit my feet, a chill went up my spine. The water turned black, sands turned grey, it was that night again. The bright moon shined a lonely red boat on the sea, a large crack, separating the boat in half. On the board, there stood a black figure wearing a green jacket, back facing me. Oh no no no. This is a mistake, the day nightmares of that night never ever went away, it always found me and haunted even when i took the medicines they gave me regularly. I thought i gonna be better facing my own fear again, but this is a mistake.
A black figure arose from the viscous black sea, it was as tall as a skyscraper, its head covered the moon. This is… it, the black shadow underneath my boat, waiting to drown my dad. “Fear arose me, I seek what I am” it spoke with the voice of my dad “Fear arose from souls, souls of the damned”.
I was back, the soothing sunset, left me in tears. Slowly I walked into the sea, crying. Cold water on my skin, and face. Something in the ocean pull edme down, I couldn’t resist. I tasted the saltiness of the sea in my mouth, water filled my lungs, blurry vision of my stinging eyes transited into blackness. I thought this was the end…