Silent Screams of the Sea

The ping of the sonar ringed rhythmically. “Still working. We got maybe another hour before we meet any anomalous stuff anyway.” Captain Daniels shouted over the radio. I don’t know why he was shouting other than pure habit from sailing in the storms and needing to be heard.

Terry was messing with some of the equipment hanging off the side of the boat. Fiddling with his over-priced sunglasses sliding down his cake icing layer of sunscreen. I don’t know what all of it was but it was supposed to gather information about things beneath us, things above us, and things just all around us. Terry looked over at me and said, “Looks like we have clear skies for the next week by what these are picking up. Which would be nice if it wasn’t so bright out here.”

I nodded in confirmation, enjoying the breeze. Walking over to a more stable part of the boat I sat down and started to read something from a new book I picked up. It was a mystery novel about a detective that solved crimes while also dealing with mental instability. It was interesting to say the least. Just something to pass the time while we cruised our way into the Bermuda Triangle.

It felt like a few hours had passed but the sun hadn't moved. The sun is still as bright and blaring as it was before Terry complained about it. I walked over to Captain Daniels to chat him up about where we were and when we expected to start seeing things.

“Hey, Captain,” I pop through the door. “What is that status?”

“Look, doctor,” he gave me a disappointed look like he was already tired from being disturbed. “You can’t keep coming in here and bothering me like this. Every five minutes with you.”

“I only came in here just this one time.” I said with some worry in my voice. “Do you think we are already seeing the effects?” I pulled out my camera and was about to start recording before he cut me off.

“I’m just messing with you. According to these instruments we should be pulling into range in about an hour or so.” He said in his usual customer service tone. “Don’t be disappointed in the fact that we might not see anything. Crazy events aren’t as common as the media tries to make people believe. Boats and planes have been traveling through here for hundreds of years.”

Captain Daniels continued on. “Most of these events are just missing hours or equipment black outs. There are the rarer crashing planes due to electrical failure and sinking boats. But that could be explained with sudden and unprepared storms. Green crews don’t always handle storms well.”

“I mean there are only three of us. Will we be fine during a storm?” I was starting to get a little worried.

“We’ll be fine. Terry complains a lot but he knows what he is doing. You will just need to strap yourself in and stay out of the way unless you are told to do something.” Captain Daniels assured me.

It did calm me a little. Enough to return me to my book out in the sun so I wouldn’t bother the captain. I had my camera at the ready. If it wasn’t for the wake I wouldn’t think we were going anywhere at all. Even though there was a dull hum of the engine in the background slightly over the ambient sloshing of water against the boat.

Some pages were turned and some time had passed while I got lost in another world. Terry tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out over the bow. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t even realise the bobbing of the boat had stopped. It was like staring out across a frozen lake that went on to the end of the horizon.

Shaking, I got my camera ready to try and capture the moment. “Is this normal?” I asked Terry. This was never mentioned as something that could happen.

“No.” was all that came out of the man who looked almost pale enough to be seen through. Which was doubly worrisome since he lived a life at sea. He started to pat someone next to him and then turned and realized Daniels was still in his cabin. Stumbling on the flattened surface of the boat he burst open the door to speak to him. They were screaming at each other that I couldn’t hear through the closed door.

I looked down at my camera. The water was shown through as black and the sky was a vibrant crimson. I smacked it so the screen would line up right. The color didn’t change but I hit record anyway. I could see clouds rolling in on the camera but they weren’t showing up in the vibrantly lit blue sky.

Terry ran to the back to check the equipment in a frenzy while Captain Daniels was checking gauges and trying to keep the ship under some sort of control. No matter what he seemed to do nothing seemed to make a difference in the boat sitting still with the engine at a steady idle.

Almost like it was a flash the storm clouds from the camera filled the air and the waves engulfed the boat in a bowl. The waves changed like flashes of lighting. All jagged without the smooth flow that water would normally have. The violent lighting wasn’t followed by thunder.

In one moment everything stood still. Turning around to look for a horizon I was only the gaping maw of the largest shark I have ever seen. The water surrounding that spread jaw was filled with teeth and fins slowly swimming around looking for a goal.

“What are you doing in my waters?” A booming voice shattered my shock through the toothy abyss.

“I just wanted to find the mystery here. I wanted to know why things go missing. Why things stop working here.” It was my mission. I doubled down at my camera to make sure it was doing its job.

“I punish them.” The voice boomed back.

I couldn’t hide my fear this time. “On what grounds.” I tried my best to make sure I didn’t sound confrontational. I didn’t want to anger whatever this creature was that looked like a beast but boomed like a god.

“Polluting my home and farming my family to extinction. All who gather in my waters face my judgement.” It boomed at me before vanishing.

I was alone on the boat just rocking in the wake of the wind and the dull motion of the ocean current. Captain Daniels and Terry were nowhere to be seen. I stood there with my camera in hand dumbfounded at what I had just witnessed. Nobody would believe me. My camera was smoking and warm in my hand. Nobody would believe me.

By Stephen Donnelly