Still Waters, Dark Secrets

A corpse slumped onto the duckboard.

Alan and Wendy jolted awake to a strange thud against their yacht, Rising Wind. “The dinghy?” Wendy asked. Alan grumbled and listened—no tension on the tether. “Something’s not right,” he muttered, slipping into a battered tee and stepping out to the deck.

Morning light revealed nothing unusual: empty bottles from the night before, a lazy tide, and the dinghy bobbing peacefully. Wendy, now awake and naked in the companionway, yawned. “Coffee?” Alan grunted and nodded, distracted by another ominous bump. It wasn’t the rigging or the usual mess sliding around. “It’s the rudder,” he concluded, testing the wheel. Port was stiff. Starboard—jammed.

Crouching low, Alan peered into the lazaret. Ropes were tidy. Rudder chain looked fine. Wendy handed him the gaff hook. He leaned over the transom and spotted something yellow beneath the water.

The kettle screamed.

“It’s not a crab pot,” Alan called. “Too big.” He reached down with the hook.

Waves rocked the yacht. A yellow-clad torso broke the surface. Then a head. Milky eyes. Long wet hair.

The corpse slumped onto the duckboard.

Alan recoiled in horror, shouting, “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! GET HER OFF ME!”

[excerpt from SEETHINGS 2 – available for download now!]