The She

The sky darkened as if she’d called for a storm. Clouds were hanging low now and I could smell the terror in the winds brewing for me. She came as soon as I turned my back. With each passing second, her waters grew more violent. I pulled up my fishing net but there was no escape now. I begged her to be still but her rage was untemperable. I was a trespasser for whom she had no mercy this day.

A shudder ripped through my boat when she picked it up with wall of sea. Thrown backwards, away from my cockpit, I managed to stay on board by wrapping my arms around the railing on the gunwale. I hugged that pole like it was my lifeline. Her hunger hunted me, and would long be able to outlast my strength. She threw the boat to a side, sweeping the deck from my feet.

Still holding on to my life, vested in that boat railing, I roared against the howling winds. The sea whipped against my face. I couldn’t hear myself. Will left my body, and strength, my arms. I plunged into her sea, gasping a chilling breath of water. Her colossal fist crashed down on my back and I was driven deeper into the icy depths. My vessel sank after me with a final service, a pocket of air. I composed myself in the descent, taking a life vest from the cockpit before I said my last goodbye to my boat.

She lost me between the waves and settled to drag down my boat alone. I imagined I was too small for her to keep track of but the amount of time I spent wading the ocean made me realise she’d let me go. I’d heard the stories of that sea, but it took her presence for me to believe. If I were to buy a new boat and go fishing again, I would keep to waters I knew.