Downpour of Tears
There it was at the end of the dock: Jessie’s red speedboat. Her prized possession sat there, gently bobbing with the waves. I bent over on the dock and frantically tugged at the knotted rope securing it. The onslaught of tears continued to blur my vision. No matter how hard I tried to blink them back, they kept coming like the crashing waves in a storm. There was no stopping them.
The rope released reluctantly, sending the boat drifting away. I boldly jumped off the dock, clinging to the sides of the boat as I clumsily landed in the hull. I shoved myself into the seat and activated the motor. It roared to life, then continued its steady purring. Gripping the steering wheel, I whipped the boat around, water splashing up against the docks. As the thrusters gained momentum, I directed the boat straight for the heart of the ocean. Away from the town I despised.
I couldn’t tell how far I travelled. I cut the motor and looked back at the town, which was now a small area specking the horizon with its tiny buildings. Knowing that it was far away comforted me. However, the world around me seemed to mirror my own emotions. The dull brown town in the distance with smoky gray clouds gloomily looming overhead, adding to the overall dread.
I wrapped my arms around the steering wheel and set my head upon them, sobbing. I shut my eyes feeling the hot tears pour out uncontrollably. I could hear them steadily drip to the bottom of the boat. A soft musical pitter patter. Unexpectedly, the constant tapping noise against the bottom of the boat quickened, but it wasn’t me. I looked up at the sky, which had darkened and now shed its own tears, dotting the surface of the boat with water. The rain intensified, the clouds became as black as charcoal, and only the lightning let me catch flashes of the surrounding world, lighting up the dark with its electric sparks. The waters became treacherous, rocking the boat from side to side. I gripped the edge of the boat
and noticed how quickly my world had fallen to the darkness. The storm grew stronger and the lightning sounded more intense with every passing second. I tugged at the boat’s motor cord, but it kept wheezing and giving out. I was stuck at sea.
I curled up into a ball and shivered from the cold, watching my world go from colorful to black and white. I looked at the ocean, but the dark stopped me from viewing much of anything. Then there it was: a large shadow sailing across the seas. The lightning flashed, brightening the world for a split second, revealing the shadow as a large ship floating across the water.
The light faded and the darkness returned, engulfing everything. These short flashes of light were fragmenting my world, from the quick, short periods of illumination to total darkness. I kept my eyes aimed towards the direction of the ship, as to not lose it. I tried squinting at it to get a better look through the screen of rain and pitch black, but it was no use.
That’s when I heard it, the wretched cries of chaos ensuing. Booms blasted off the sides of the ship, the sounds of gunshots being fired resonated across the entirety of the ocean, overpowering the noise of the downpour. Lightning from the sky illuminated the ship. I finally caught a glimpse of a dark mass ascending the sides of the ship, weaving its way through the woodworks. It appeared to be a dark vine-like creature that wrapped itself around the ship’s mast. It tightened its grip, then snapped the mast off like a twig.
The electric light vanished, only letting me behold that small clip of the incident. The blasts of guns continued, the crews’ petrifying screams continuing to echo for miles. Another flash of light. More vine-like objects had wrapped around the ship. But the vines seemed more alive, more like tentacles of a beast. A giant beast that resides in the ocean and has tentacles. Suddenly, I realized what was attacking that ship. I felt shock consume me and the blood drained from my face. The light dispersed as quickly it had come, leaving me alone in the darkness with the screams. Oh, all the terrifying, blood-curdling screams. The sky crackled with one last bolt of lightning. I could see again, but the ship was gone.
TAMMY KIEFER is a Middle College student and undeclared major. She loves to read, write fiction, dance, and play sports.