2/25/19 Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

The boat lurched suddenly and then eased back into its more familiar rocking motion. All four men aboard the small leisure craft, still wet from their recent swim, either looked at one another in shared confusion or peeked out a porthole to see what had caused such a movement in smooth waters. There was nothing but open water for miles in every direction. Whatever hit the boat had done it from beneath them. The boat lurched again, this time even harder. It lurched again. Each time the boat jerked, it careened to one side. As it leaned again, Henry fell and landed near a porthole and his friend, Brian, would swear later that Henry had seen whatever it was that assaulted them for Henry had watched something pass by that window.

The boat careened once more bringing the boat dangerously close to capsizing. Everyone scrambled in a frantic dash to find a life vest, except for Henry who ran up the short staircase to the deck. The others watched as he disappeared around the corner, and they waited for him to call back to them with some explanation for whatever they had encountered.

They heard Henry say, “You don’t scare me,” as if to convince someone of that fact. Then there was a short scream, cut off by the splash of water, and then silence. An hour went by and the three remaining people on the boat had had no luck finding their friend. They had alerted the coast guard and all they could do was wait for help to arrive.

When the two coast guards arrived on their cutter, they found one passenger on the little leisure boat and she was mesmerizing.