No one believed me. They thought I was just some crazy old man babbling on about this and that. They didn’t know that I was the only sane one of the bunch. They should have listened to me. Had they listened many could have been saved. But the past can’t be changed, this much I know to be true.
I had lived my entire life by the sea. I have grown accustom to its many moods and feelings. Yes, the sea has feelings. Sometimes it was calm and happy. At other times angry and disturbed. However there was only twice in my life when I felt the sea dark. Dark beyond anger and beyond what constitutes normal emotions.
The first happened when I was a boy. Me and my father would wake every morning and study the sea before heading out. He would tell me its moods and its feelings. Some days we would go to fish, other days he would say to give the sea a wide berth. On the day when the darkness came he had a confused look on his face, something my father rarely had.
I asked him what was wrong and he just continued staring for the longest time. I looked back to my mother who was staring at him, a worried look in her eyes. Finally she walked forward and put her hand on her husband’s arm.
“What is it dear?”
Still my father did not answer.
“George…” my mother squeezed his arm hoping to bring him back from whatever trance he was in.
My father still did not respond.
“Dad.”
He turned towards me his eyes looking like they had aged years in the few moments he had been staring at the sea.
“Sorry, sorry…” he patted my head and then turned smiling to my mother.
She looked at him her eyes darting between his.
“I’m fine.” he said leaning forward and kissing her.
“What mood is the sea in today?” I asked.
My father’s eyes clouded for a moment before he started forward, pulling me behind him “The sea is in a dark mood today son. Stay away from it.”
The way he said it sent chills down my spine. It wasn’t the first time that he had told me to avoid the sea, nor would it be the last. But something was different.
We went into town where my father greeted his friends and usual acquaintances. He went to my uncle James, my mother’s brother, and asked him about work for the day. James told him what he had and my father volunteered us for leading a cart inland, to provide supplies for farmers. James always had work for my father when he wasn’t fishing.
James stroked his beard and studied my father for a minute.
“What is it?” asked my father.
“Never in my twenty years of knowing you have you ever volunteered to go inland. You’ve always wanted to be as close to that sea of yours as possible.” replied James.
Father shrugged “Something’s wrong today James. If I were you I wouldn’t go near the ocean.”
“Man’s got work to do, but I’ll keep your warning in mind. What exactly is wrong with it George?”
“A feeling.”
“A feeling?”
Father nodded.
“Is that all?” asked James raising an eyebrow.
“Does there need to be more?”
“No, no…not with you.” said James shaking his head.
We took the wagon and went out to the fields, it was a boring and uneventful morning and afternoon. The farmers talked about what they always wanted to talk about, the weather. My dad talked with them but was never really there for the whole day.
On our way back I asked him about it.
“Dad?”
“What is it?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” he turned to me and smiled patting my head.
“But you’re acting different.”
“Tired, that’s all.”
I sat for a few moments wondering if I should push forward. My father was not one that it was wise to push. One lesson I had learned the hard way more than once. However for whatever reason on this day I decided to venture my luck.
“It’s the sea isn’t it.”
He looked down at me again and frowned “Something’s wrong with it.”
“Will it get better?”
Father shrugged “I don’t know. I’ve never seen it like this.”
“It’ll get better though…it always gets better.”
Father smiled for a moment then returned his gaze to the road ahead “Perhaps.”
We returned to wagon to James and got our pay for the day. James was always more generous then he needed to be with us and my father always appreciated it. We bought some food from the local vendors while my dad spoke with them about the sea.
Though my father was respected about all things sea related many saw him as a bit of a bum taking advantage of James and living in that shack by the ocean. While they would not say anything to his face I saw their snickers and heard their snide comments when he back was turned or he was out of earshot.
While my mother was cooking that night my father and me sat on the porch staring at the sea a stone’s throw away.
“We may have to move tonight.” he said.
“Move?” I asked.
“Just temporary. Maybe just for the night. Until the sea gets out of this mood…I don’t feel safe near it.”
This coming from my father scared me. If there was one thing he loved in this life as much as me and my mother it was the sea. I looked out to the ocean trying to divine what my father saw that I, and the rest of the town, didn’t.
“Are you sure the sea’s mad?” I asked.
“It’s not mad…it’s dark. And I’m as sure of that as I’ve ever been of anything in my life.”
We heard the sound of barking and looked off in the distance. Our neighbor Mr. Hyde’s dogs came screeching by making off to the road that led up to the town.
Way behind them we could see the corpulent form of Mr. Hyde calling after them already doubling over in exhaustion.
“They sense it too.” said my father.
“The dogs?”
Father nodded.
“How?” I asked.
“Animals have knowledge that man forgets. They are closer to the flow of what’s around them. That sense has been dulled in man.”
Mother called from the kitchen saying dinner was ready.
My father stood up still staring at the sea “Come, we’ll eat and then go up to Uncle James’ place at the top of the hill tonight.”
“Okay.” I said bounding up.
My Uncle James had a large house at the top of the town. I always loved staying there. He had plenty of blankets to keep warm, books to read, and the guest bed was much more comfortable than even my parents bed, much less my own.
Father told mother of his plan. She studied him for a few moments chewing her food with deliberation then nodded.
“If you feel it’s for the best, I trust you. Though I have to say I’m a bit worried. I’ve never seen you in such a mood.”
“I can say the same of the sea.” replied Father standing up from his chair.
He went into his room and began packing.
That night I stood on the cliff side by my Uncle James’ house and studied the sea below. My father had warned our neighbors they should head up but was waved off. He did the same to the townsfolk on his way up but was laughed at. Now he stood a few feet back behind me with my Uncle James studying the sea.
“You know they’re not bad people.” said James.
“I know. I know what they think of me.”
“Come now. There might be a few that think lowly of you but the very same could be said of me.”
“It’s different James. But that doesn’t concern me. What does is the safety of those below us.”
“Well can’t say you didn’t warn them. You really think something’s going to happen tonight?”
“I don’t know for sure. All I know is that I don’t want to be anywhere near the sea right now.”
I heard scuffling off to my left and looked over to see a pack of dogs making their way around James’ property.
“Guess will have to run them off tomorrow. Place is turning into a zoo with all the animals that keep showing up here.” said James.
I turned back to the sea which looked the same as ever before. Then we heard it.
A faint almost imperceptible bellow. Like the one the modern ships make now, but we had no such things back then.
“Did you hear that?” asked James.
My father now stepped beside me placing his arm on my shoulder. I looked up to him. His eyes were wide with horror as he stared down to the sea. I followed his gaze and saw what he saw.
There in the sea rose a slim black form. From the height of the cliffs I couldn’t tell what it was. It might have been a neck of a great creature or an obelisk of some sort. But that’s not what horrified me most.
For where the normal dark blue of the water ended there started to spread a black substance that looked just like the water behind it. Except it was creeping up the shore. A few moments later and it swallowed our house.
“The tide is coming in…a wave you think?’ asked James.
Father held up his hand and shook his head “No…this is something different.”
The black water now had swallowed all the houses along the shore. I saw the lights in Mr. Hyde’s house suddenly extinguish like blowing out a candle.
“We should warn the town.” started James.
“Too late.” said father.
Now the black water moved up towards the town. It moved like something alive, with presence of thought. It quickly snaked up the path to the town and rushed into the first of the houses. A moment later and the lights were extinguished. It moved from house to house doing the same.
James had started down the hill.
“Wait James.” said Father.
James froze staring at the black mass creeping closer and closer.
“Should we get inside the house?” asked James.
Father looked over to the dogs who were now lined along the cliff staring down at the water. They were emitting low growls as the hair on the back of their necks stood on end.
“We’ll be safe here.” said Father.
The black mass churned through the whole town and made its way up towards James’ house. I rushed down the road towards it, I wanted to see what this thing was up close.
Father called out for me but I ignored him. I saw the black “water” snaking up the trail. In a few moments I would be within an arm’s reach of it.
Suddenly I felt hands around me as Uncle James lifted me up. The black mass stopping a few feet from us. Father rushed up behind us then stood stock still.
We all stared at the black swirling water before us. It seemed to be made almost of a gel like substance but moved like water. James set me down and stepped forward reaching out towards it.
“Don’t.” said Father.
James stopped and retracted his hand. The swirling mass stood there for a moment and then began to recede. It receded as quickly as it came. As it went back the lights in the homes went back on as if nothing had happened. Finally it went back into the sea and the neck or obelisk or whatever it was sunk back down into the depths.
“Did you just see that?” asked James turning to my father.
I looked up at Father who nodded.
“You saw that?” now James’ eyes turned to me.
I nodded as well.
“Then I am not mad.” James looked back down to the town which looked as it had before.
“Surely this is some mad dream and when I go to bed I’ll awake to find everything normal again.” said James starting for his house.
That morning we awoke to the sounds of a terrorized town. Screams, moans, and wails filled the air. I got up, dressed, and raced outside. I made my way down the main road that went through town pandemonium all around me.
I walked by men staring vacantly ahead mumbling to themselves. Women rocking back and forth on the street in the fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably. Children sitting shivering as they stared at the ground in front of them. It was then that I saw the bodies.
The first one I saw I didn’t even recognize as a human form until I got close. Who it had been one could never guess. All that remained was a shriveled up skeletal being with grayed skin. The eyes were sunken in hollows, like a picture of a mummy I had once seen in James’ collection. Next to it stood a woman rocking back and forth staring down at the form.
As I moved through the streets I saw more and more bodies. Some being drug out from homes, others that lined the streets. I saw James at his store talking with a group of men, my father a few paces behind him staring at the ground. The men were shouting.
“My child is dead and you expect me to believe such nonsense James!” shouted a large man standing a few inches from my Uncle James’ face.
James put his hand on him and pushed him back “All I’m telling you is what I saw last night William, nothing more and nothing less. How else could you explain these things?”
“But we were here in the town and we saw nothing. I put my boy down to bed and the next morning I wake up and he’s been drained of all life.” replied William.
“Like I said I’m only telling you what we saw last night.” with this my Uncle indicated back to my Father.
“You.” William stepped forward towards father.
Father looked up locking eyes with the man.
“You did this. Yesterday you were going on and on about how something was wrong with the sea and now all of this…you did this!” the man lunged for my father.
James intercepted him and threw him on his back into the street.
“Enough of this nonsense. George had nothing to do with this and you know it. He tried warning us.”
Father saw me and started over, the crowd parting before him. A mix of anger and fear in their eyes.
A short time later father led us down to our house. Nothing had changed from when we left it the day before. Not a drop of water or the black liquid. Not a chair turned over, nothing. It wasn’t long after that we moved up to Uncle James’ house.
However as time went on and the memory of the dark day grew dim people began moving back into town. New folk came in from out of the area and I found myself back down by the sea with a wife of my own. It was a happy place and a happy life for the most part.
I lived there for 70 years. 5 years a widower, childless, when the darkness visited again. I remember waking and feeling something in the air. I walked out and looked at the sea.
Sure enough it had that same feeling it had 70 years before when I was just a boy. I went up into town, which had grown considerably, and went to James’ store now owned by his son. I walked in and spoke with James Jr. and told him what my father had told the townspeople so many years before. He laughed and said I was crazy.
I shrugged and went about my day telling anyone who would listen to me. If only for curiosity’s sake to head up to James’ old estate for the night, just one night. But no one listened. I was called crazy, senile, an old coot, and plenty of other less nice things. I was even struck and ran off by some younger boys.
Having done all that I could I went up to James’ estate where his son ordered his security to throw me out. So I found a place high in the cliff above where the tide had gone so many years before.
Sure enough that night the bellow sounded through the town and then the black obelisk or neck, I’ll never know which, rose from the sea. Then the black tide sped in overtaking my new home and the home of my neighbors who I warned. Then it went up the path and into the town extinguishing the new electric lights as well as it had the flames of old.
It went up and up and up and up. This time it went past the edge of James’ estate and into the house. There it rose higher and higher. Finally it stopped and began receding back into the ocean.
This time I followed it back down as best I could, though it hopelessly outdistanced me. Long gone by the time I reached the beach. Knowing what awaited in the morning I went back to my shack and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I awoke to the same sounds heard before.
Going through the town I saw the same ghastly sights. The same look of terror and confusion on the faces of the people there. Up at the estate James Jr. could not be found only an old husk of a body that couldn’t be identified.
Most moved from the town. There were a couple reporters that came but who knows what ever came of the stories they told. As for me I still live in my shack by the sea and now approaching 100 intend to tell others of what happens here before I leave.
Beware the darkness that comes from the sea.
