The Winchester

My boot hit the dock with an echo as I climbed down from The Winchester.

This boat had been in my family for decades. My Grandfather inherited it from his Uncle who was somewhat of a family legend. Gramps would always make a whole event of telling us kids all about the great sea adventures Uncle Henry went on, and all the mysterious creatures he encountered. Gramps was a little eccentric, so we all knew to take the stories with a large grain of salt. Sea monsters were a staple of mythical folk tales around our town, so we weren't strangers to the lore, but we also knew better than to believe everything we heard.

See, everything was just fine.

The one story that I will always remember is the story of Uncle Henry's last voyage. Gramps told this story most often, as I think it was the most interesting and curious of the tales. With how often Gramps sat in silence internally querying about its authenticity, I hope Uncle Henry filled him in once Gramps met him in the afterlife.

I knew that story wasn't real.

So the story goes that Uncle Henry, then a single man in his mid-sixties, decided to go on a lone venture across the Atlantic, travelling around the Bermuda Triangle, and down towards Haiti. He departed from Schooner's Island in Newfoundland, and planned to meet with a sailor friend down around the southern tip of Florida to do an exchange of goods and fuel, then spend some time circulating the mysterious Bermuda Triangle for 'research' and creature-hunting.

I don't know why we let this boat waste away in the barn, when we could have been using it.

Henry met with his friend Will- who he had first met many years prior on one of his earlier voyages- and traded dried fruits and nuts for fuel and jugs of water. He even threw in a few loaves of bread his wife had baked fresh that very morning. Will was wary of Henry's trip and wished him well, though expressed his concerns about him travelling alone. Henry scoffed at his old friend's worry and went on his way without a second thought.

We could have been going on our own adventures.

Henry made it almost half way around his intended route before encountering anything of note. Gramps said then a storm came out of nowhere and caught Henry off guard. As Uncle Henry struggled to prepare the boat to fair the high winds and waves, his eye caught movement in the distance. He shrugged it off, assuming it was a pod of dolphins that got caught up in the storm. Thunder crashed loud enough to vibrate the boat, and lightning seemed to strike the surrounding water. He fought hard to keep the boat from capsizing- ripping open the skin on his hands as he pulled the ropes to direct the sails.

We've missed out on years of fun.

Soaking wet, bloodied, and bruised- the storm suddenly stopped faster than it had started. Uncle Henry dropped the ropes and cautiously surveyed the surrounding water, slightly dazed. All was calm, but something felt off, eerie. As he scanned the horizon, he noticed the sky had drastically changed. In fact, he couldn't see 'sky' at all. It looked as though he was caged in by a screen of mist. He didn't move a muscle as he surveyed the water around his boat. Suddenly, the same glimmer of movement he had seen during the storm caught his peripheral again. He turned to his right and saw the end of what looked like a large tail fin gracefully sloshing back down into the still water. It was a peculiar shade of indigo that he had not before seen on an ocean fish of this size. He slowly leaned over the starboard side of the boat, yearning for another view of whatever he had just seen. He peered down into the water with giddy anticipation for what seemed like hours, searching...waiting.

Wait...why is the water so calm.

Finally, his patience paid off. He saw something deep, down below. And before his eyes could register what he was seeing, it came closer and closer, slicing up through the water directly towards him. One minute he was alone, and the next minute, he was eye to eye with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Wide-eyed and bursting with excited confusion, Uncle Henry cautiously reached his hand out towards the woman effortlessly floating in the sea. Silently, she grabbed his hand with hers and allowed him to help hoist her into the boat. When he pulled her up, he saw that indigo hued tail fin he had seen earlier gliding down through the water. As he lifted her up, he studied the deep auburn of her long wet hair, and the blue flecks in her eyes. A million thoughts raced through his head. Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Did that storm kill me? Is this heaven? No, this has to be real. I was right! Sea nymphs are real! Magic is real!

It's too calm...

Uncle Henry had prepared himself for this moment for the last 40 years. This was it. His previous excursions that led him to giant squid and prehistoric-descendent shark species were drops in the bucket compared to this. He managed to spit out a soft 'Hello,' to which the nymph slowly met his gaze with a slight squint in her eyes. She parted her lips and mimicked 'Heh-lo' in the same soft timbre Henry directed towards her. By this time, Henry was fully mesmerized by her beauty and the fact that he had finally found what he had been searching for. Uncle Henry was a hunter. Not the kind of hunter that steals life for trophy- but the kind of hunter that searches for knowledge. He had read all the folklore books...examined all the old maps. And he knew there was something more out in the deep blue besides whales and fish.

Nothing but stillness...not even any wake from docking the boat...

As Henry tried to gather his thoughts, he couldn't waver his gaze from the creature as she sat in his vessel. She stared back with similar interest as she flicked beads of water off the end of her tail. Uncle Henry looked down and noticed the edges of her tail fin had what looked like sharp, scalloped edges. He knew he should be frightened by this, but something inside was telling him to remain calm. Suddenly, the Sea Nymph grabbed his hands and locked eyes with him. As soon as she touched him, Henry felt a lightning bolt of emotion flow through his body. He and the Sea Nymph were connected. They were one in the same. He could understand her, though they were not exchanging words. She conveyed a shy intrigue. He felt glee. He felt comfort. He felt peace. He let his body relax in full ecstasy.

How can this water be so still? I just pulled in and docked a two-ton boat.

A loud splash was heard nearby and the Sea Nymph dropped Henry's hands as quickly as she had grabbed them. Henry watched as the beautiful woman before him transformed into a ghastly sight. The blue flecks in her eyes turned pitch black as her face morphed into something comparable only to terrors he had seen in his nightmares. Her bright skin turned dusty and her previously humanoid teeth were hidden behind sharp, fang-like protrusions. She screeched a sound that burst through his ear drum like a cannonball, and jumped forcefully into the water, leaving scratch marks on his bench from the claws that extended when she changed. The indigo hue he was mesmerized by earlier had now turned a shade darker than the night sky.

The boat didn't even sway when I stepped off onto the dock.

As Henry surveyed the water looking for his nymph, he noticed that the mist was gone, and that they had not been alone after all. He saw at least ten or more sets of those same black eyes and same fanged mouths bobbing in the water surrounding his boat. Every molecule in his body froze. He held his breath, not prepared to take on a pod of Sea Nymphs he didn't even know existed until this very day. Before he could calculate his next move, he heard that same screeching his Sea Nymph let out before she left the boat. He watched silently as she jumped out of the water between the other nymphs and his boat, gnashing her fangs and letting out a guttural growl aimed towards them. Was she actually protecting him? This is the part where Gramps got so excited he almost fell of his chair telling the story, every single time.

It's also so quiet...too quiet.

The other creatures returned the argument as a brawl broke out on the high seas. Henry watched, still frozen with fear, as the nymphs screeched, and clawed, and slapped one another with their ferociously sharp tailfins, trying to assert dominance over the situation. One of them broke away from the group and headed towards Henry. Henry saw it coming and was able to release himself from his mental paralysis to grab an old cracked oar to try and fend off the creature. The creature jumped onto the boat, teeth gnashing. Henry swung the oar in an attempt to knock it back into the water, but the creature simply grabbed the oar and threw it into the rocky waters with ease. Before Henry could make another move, the nymph grabbed him- its sharp claws deeply piercing the skin under his ribs- and jumped back into the water, swimming down lower and lower, pulling Henry deeper than he had ever gone before.

What is going on?

Henry tried to fight off the nymph, but he was not strong enough. Gramps said maybe Henry could have gotten some licks in if he were a younger man, but in his sixties, he just didn't have the same right-hook he used to. As he felt all the air leave his lungs and panic set in, Henry knew this was the end of the line for him. His life full of adventure, but lacking in love and familial stability flashed before his eyes. He briefly landed on regret, but pushed past it to spend his last seconds reveling on how grateful he was to have made it this long. His body fell limp.

A sudden splash pulled my attention to the right..

With a forceful gasp, Henry awoke to find himself on shore, his vision blurry from blood, sweat, and sea water. He wasn't sure if this was heaven, hell, or if he had somehow managed to survive. Henry knew that if he was actually alive, this was nothing short of a miracle. His body bloodied and mangled, he struggled to sit up. He could feel the dehydration in every inch of his body. Confused, he looked around to try to gain his bearings. He saw crystal waters and bright vegetation, but nothing else.

He used his shirt- now dry from the hot sun- to wipe his eyes. As he looked toward the sea, he noticed his boat, The Winchester, anchored off-shore. But how? He nary had time to process seeing his boat when she came into view. His Sea Nymph. His Sea Nymph with the long, auburn hair and blue-flecked eyes. Henry called to her as he slowly gathered the strength to lift his body up. He teetered into the water, where it was a bit easier to move his limbs, though the salty water felt like razors in all his wounds.

Hello?! Is someone there?

She didn't move, but let him swim to her. Her eyes were sad, yet still happy to see him. Again, as she had done in the boat, she grabbed his hands and he immediately felt calm. He was no longer bothered by the salt water pricking his torn skin. All he could focus on was her. She leaned her head forward and touched her forehead against his. Suddenly, like a movie inside their minds, she shared with him the playback of the previous night's events.

The dock creaked as I slowly walked toward the direction of the splash, hoping it was just my brother playing a mean joke.

As Henry was being dragged deeper and deeper under water by the other nymph, he did not see His nymph slicing through the water in pursuit. He fell unconscious and was not witness to her fight off his captor and bring him back to the surface. Henry watched in his mind's eye as she swam him upwards, back to the boat while the other nymphs were retreating, screeching as they departed. Three nymphs lay motionless in the water near the boat while she pulled him in. She had slain three of her own kind to protect him.

There wasn't a ripple in the water anywhere.

His Sea Nymph winced as that memory played, but didn't break connection. Henry then watched as they were safely back in the boat, his body still limp, as one of the nymphs swam back towards them. His nymph let out a guttural growl as the other nymph placed a hand on the hull. Without being spoken to in words, Henry understood that this meant his boat was marked. He would never be safe in these waters again.

I held my breath as fear started to creep in.

Henry's Nymph pulled her head away from his, and lightly ran her hand down his cheek. He didn't understand why she would choose him over her kind. She parted her lips and slowly tried to speak, but grabbed him once more, placing her head to his. He then saw memories of her and other nymphs saving humans who had found themselves in trouble in the waters, and aiding them back to health. These nymphs looked like she did now, bright fin colors, vibrant eyes and hair- no black eyes or fins in sight. Henry believed these to be her family, her loved ones. Suddenly, a voice called out from the distance. As fast as Henry opened his eyes- she was gone. One minute he was eye to eye with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and the next minute, he was alone.

What is happening?

From around the far shore, a ranger vessel was nearing. The ranger called out to Henry, but he didn't respond, as he was scanning the waters for His nymph. Where did she go? The boat reached Henry and he finally snapped back into reality. The rangers helped him onto the boat, and wrapped him in a blanket while they tried to tend to his wounds and piece together what happened. They saw his boat, then him in the water, and when he wouldn't respond, they assumed he was under duress, so they raced over. Henry asked them if they had seen anyone with him in the water, and they had not. They asked him if he was with someone else and if they needed to do a search and rescue- but Henry declined. Was any of this real? The rangers informed Henry that he had landed upon Isla de Mona, an uninhabited, but closely monitored island off of Puerto Rico, and that they would tow his boat back to the main island.

Another splash, then another, and another, all around me, but it's too dark to see.

The rangers brought Henry back to the main land of Puerto Rico, where Henry would spend the next few months healing and dreaming about his time at sea. He spent most of his waking moments thinking about His nymph and wondering where she was. The rest of his time was spent thinking about how terrified he was to take that boat back out on the water after it had been marked. That boat was his pride and joy, though, so he couldn't just let it go, or leave it. It was a part of him. When it was time to return home, he paid off a carrier ship to take it back to the States for him. Once he and the boat were home- it stayed on land, in a storage barn on our family's property.

I hear a guttural growl...I try to to run, but my body is frozen in fear.

This is when Gramps would lead us to the barn and show us the boat, introducing it to us as though it was the first time we laid our eyes on it. We were always amped up from the story enough that it excited us the same every time. We would then spend what felt like hours pretending to be pirates, swashbuckling on the high seas. We asked Gramps whenever we could if he would take us out on the boat, but he was adamant that the boat never leave dry land.

I watch, as one...three...seven dark heads rise out of the water, one by one...black eyes glistening in the moonlight...Their mouths obscured by sharp fangs.

Gramps said Uncle Henry only told him this story one time, and refused to speak of it ever again. Henry would re-tell any other tale over and over, but never this one. I think that's why none of us really believed that Uncle Henry met a real Sea Nymph. And of course we didn't believe that the boat was marked. If it were true, why wouldn't he want to talk about it like he did all his other adventures and share it with the world? Who knows, but after Gramps passed, my brother and I spent a night out at that old barn, and I finally mustered the courage to take The Winchester out for a spin. After all, the story wasn't true.

It's true. It's all true.