“This is one of the bigger ones” the captain said to his mate as he tried to negotiate his search and rescue vessel named “Angel of the Coast” through the extremely choppy sea. Though one of the larger vessels of the coast assigned for search and rescue duties covering a large area along the coast, it was only visible when it rode the crest of the waves and as it went down the trough it seems to sink until it re- appeared on another crest. The rain driven by wind was blinding and the wind one would think was screaming the message from the Lucifer himself. Sometimes Lucifer too has his hours but not for long. The good lord will allow him to stampede like a stung bull for a few hours before shining the sun on him. Welcome to the hurricane season of Cod Coast.
Cod coast was a middle sized town comprising of about five hundred people. Most of the people earned their living from the sea. A few of them bought the harvest from the fisherman and sold from their stalls some sold their catch to middlemen so they could spend more time at sea. Many from surrounding areas came to Cod Coast to buy their sea food because the output of the fishermen from cod coast seemed to be higher than their neighbours. The cod coast fishermen were proud their achievements and never missed a chance to be vocal after downing a few straight ones. This had established a semi friendly rivalry between them and their neighbours.
A handful was employed in the post office, pub and stores. There was an office for harbour master, a police post, a doctor’s surgery and a primary school. Students had to travel about 12 miles to the next town to attend high school. Many young people left the town in search of higher education and better jobs. Many also left because they were sick and tired of the sea. Die hard sons and daughters of Cod coast stayed back, for they were the true sea warriors who dwelled on land. Hurricanes always hit cod coast harder than other areas along the coast. “This is because we are hard people” boasted the warriors.
‘This is because of their loud mouths” their neighbours would joke among themselves. “This is because of the location of cod coast” concluded the experts at the metrological centre. The captain and his crew were an experienced lot. They have been together for some years and had seen a lot worse and still managed to reach the shore safely. “THE BIGGER THE STORM THE GREATER THE CHALLENGE.” these words were written in bold letters in the dining area. The crew used basics seamanship and were as careful as if every trip was their first one. They knew that in this kind of condition when everyone will be busy to save their own lives while they will have to go out to save others’ lives. They accepted this because it was their job. They were also professionals trained for these sorts of occasions.
This is what they did best. It was the first mate who thought he saw a bright light in the midst of white foam. He was too experienced to shout “wolf” just as yet. He took out his binoculars and waited for another crest and looked, below him he saw the light again. He sought his captain’s confirmation. After looking the captain confirmed that someone was in distress and the rescue was on. Each crew member knew his duty.
The ship began its perilous manoeuvre towards the light .After an hour or so they were about 200 feet from the light. By the help of spot lights they figured out the boat belonged to one of the fishermen along the coast. There were quite a few of similar construction. They went a bit closer and aimed their spot lights on the ship and blasted the horn at full volume. There was no response from the fishing boat. There are one or two daredevils in every lot and this lot was no exception, two crew members volunteered to board the drifting boat.
They boarded the life boat attached with ropes and inched towards the fishing boat in a sloppy journey. Such journeys are time consuming; it had to done with care. Slow and sure are the ingredients of success. Often the rescuers are so focussed on their jobs that they do not really notice how long it took them to do the job. On this occasion it took them over an hour to do 200 feet.
Eventually they boarded the boat and they found a person slumped to the floor. One of them went near him and checked for a pulse, it was too late to save the fisherman.
The face of the dead man made them remember the main character from the story of “The Old Man and the Sea” the weather beaten face, white hair and white flowing beared. By the time they took the fishing boat under tow, it looked like the storm was moving as the wind was losing its intensity.
By the time the rescue ship had berthed in the jetty with its tow the storm had subsided a lot. As the captain got out the boat to wait for the pre-arranged ambulance to take body to the morgue. He saw an old man walking towards him. Though a tough man in his own right the captain felt very uneasy at the sight of this old man, he felt a few hairs rising on his arm.
This old man looked exactly the same as the dead man; the resemblance was so close that a nerd studying biology would have confirmed that one of the pair was a clone. The old man continued towards the captain, he was staggering a bit for the bad weather had compelled even this good old man to indulge in a few shots of rum. “I am John Smith the captain of this boat” The captain introduced himself “I am Timothy Range, thank you for bringing back my boat” the old man said cheerfully. “When did you lose it? “Asked the captain. “Some time last night I think the storm had borrowed it, may be for a noble cause, who knows?” laughed the old man drunkenly.
“Do you have an identical twin brother?” asked the captain The old man seemed shocked Had one, his name was Simon Range he went fishing with his mates and failed to return” murmured the old man. “How long has he been gone for?” asked the captain? “Exactly one year from today” replied the old man holding back his tears. “Well we brought him back home” replied the captain “What….today in my boat “stammered the old man in total dis-believe The captain turned to his crew and signalled to them to bring the brother out The crew went to the spot where they had laid the body; they found that the body was missing.
“Where is the fisherman’s body’’, the captain bellowed. “We laid the body right here it’s no longer here captain?” one of the man answered back. “What?” he screamed and went to see for himself. There was no body, how was this possible the captain thought to himself.
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SHORT HORROR STORIES
HorrorA set of horror short stories in which it portrays your most frightening imaginations. Some I have made up myself and while some are true stories. some of these include an imaginary friend, an abondaned hotel , a haunted picture and many more they...
