Baked Scribe Flashback : Umibozu

Barry looked up from putting the bait on the line. “What did you just say?”

Otis shrugged as he fiddled with his pole and reached into the cooler for another beer. “I don’t know, it’s something my mother used to say all the time. Umi-something. I don’t even know if I said it right.”

Barry shook his head and turned his attention back to the line. “And you just blurt it out at random times? What’s the point of—”

“I don’t know, what’s the point of you owning every romantic comedy that’s ever been made over the past ten years?”

Barry pursed his lips to cut off the retort. There wasn’t any point in constantly upping the nastiness, regardless of how much of an idiot Otis was being.

“Do you…” Barry glanced over his shoulder at the sound from the starboard side. Otis looked as well, and they both rose slowly to the their feet at the sight of the figure climbing up out of the water and into the boat.

“What the hell?” Barry muttered.

The person stood slightly taller than the both of them. It wore a long black robe with a hood that obscured most of its face, reminding Barry of the clothes a priest or monk might wear.

He sensed that Otis was stepping forward, as if he was going to welcome the thing aboard. What else could you call it? It wasn’t like anyone could have swum out this far, in the middle of open waters like this.

The thing moved so quickly, it was like it had simply vanished and reappeared right in front of them. A freezing cold hand was placed against his chest, and shoved him across the boat where he fell, feeling a sharp blow to the back of his head.

Some indeterminate time later, Barry rose up, out of the darkness to see the thing holding Otis’ head, submerged in the water and melted ice of the cooler. He watched as his friend’s legs twitched once, twice and then were still.

The intruder stood up slowly, turning towards Barry with a face still shrouded. There was sudden movement, and the boat started to shift from left to right. Barry tried to grip the side of the ship as the rocking grew more severe, but in a moment, he was on his back, rolling down towards the intruder. He was lifted up into the air as the boat capsized and splashed down into the cold water. The arms that wrapped around him felt dead to the touch, the sensation spreading into his limbs as his own arms and legs grew numb and non-responsive. He tried to tread water, but his arms only floated uselessly alongside him. His head was shoved down, and held just under the surface of the water. He could feel the cool breeze of life-saving air kissing the back of his neck as his vision began to blur and fade into nothing.