A Bloody sign - the first short story

I sit upon a strange island contemplating the odds of how this wonderous night went so wrong, did i upset the gods and require punishment or was i simply an unlucky sailor finding in due time what i had dreaded for years. Either way what is done is done and nothing can change that fact, might as well write away my pain.

I sat upon the deck of my faithful barge, she'd sailed with me for a good many years and I felt an unhealthy connection between her and I, I'd probably say that we'd become one and the same after so many years. I could barely tell whether the salty spray refreshing my face was remanents of a violent wave or a loppy droplet crashing against her hull. As the light fell from the sky, scattering from the wrath of the darkness the moon tore from the sky brandishing the blood of fallen sailors, a warning to us that trouble would follow. My crew feared the sight whispering tales of demons and monsters of the deep, all foolish nonsense I thought while fondly steering the ship toward our destination. The red moon was a common sign of misfortune to superstitous folk, much unlike myself. Their was whispers that when the moon was red it was the devil smearing the bloody remains of those who had died at sea and fallen into his kingdom across the moon. All for fools and beggars not merchants with such an importance as myself.

Soon my thoughts were interrupted by a loud clunking noise at the nose of my ship, as I looked overboard I grimaced at the terrible omen, my Maria was wading through the corpses of dead fish, blood smearing her hull. I heard many losing their meals over the side and mutterings of death all around. I rose my voice and assured everyone that there must simply be something within the water that was killing the fish, a poison or something of the sort and as long as nobody ate them we'd be perfectly fine, though truthfully I was unsure of the truth in my words. After Maria had torn through many dead fish a terrible sight caught my eyes, planks of woods littered the ocean and masts floated gracefully around in the black water, flames lit the remains of a fishing vessel, three grotesquely disfigured bodies lay upon a large plank of wood, their eyes and jaws were missing along with fingers and various strange bite marks upon their faces, chest and arms. I stared in shock and awe, fearing the worst for my crew.

Cries and suggstions of what could have done such terrible things carried through my ship like the whisper of wind in a pile of dead leaves. I raised my voice once more and blamed pirates for the destruction of the ship and sharks for the disfigured bodies, but once again I didn't believe my own words, but I was given a pleasant suprise when my lies had calmed many of the shaken voices. I continued through the wreakage with fear and a new sense of faith. I found myself praying for my safety much more than once throughout the silence that followed the discovery of the disfigured fishermen. The silence gave me the chance to remember what I'd lose if I would die that night, and I soon realised how little that was. I had no family, such a busy man as myself had no time for women or children, gods forbid a happy life for a rich man. My life was my ship, Maria, the crew, and of course the money were my only company in life. I'd gladly trade what I had for normality but I'm too far in years to worry about such things, there's no going back now.

A loud growling sound flooded the night air, it held a slight beauty at first with such contrast with the silence until the screaming of my crew followed, there was nothing I could do to calm them now, there was no reassurance I could give them, or myself to explain such a noise. Soon the growling multiplied into many eerie voices resounding perfectly in the moonlight soon halting the commotion on deck to a silent panic. Several men ran to cannons in hopes that they could scare or kill what was terrorizing the crew, what they found was much worse than could be imagined. The three disfigured fishermen were climbing the side of the ship, their fingers digging into the wood with an inhuman strength, their teeth glimmered like pearls in the darkness while showing their razor sharp edges as if somebody had bothered to sharpen them. Several other cadavers bearing the same diusfigured faces and bodies joined in with the growling chorus, as the first few had arrived aboard they tore through my crew like wet paper, taking the care to brand the dead delicately with their common disfigurement.

In fear I unhitched the lifeboat and hopped in, taking several crewmates with me, as we rowed quickly toward an island in the distance we were plagued with the memories of what had become of our friends aboard my ship, my Maria. the ship soon began to wobble, we questioned the source but with blind fear we left the culprit to our imagination and decided against checking to find out what had caused our disturbance. When we were only meters from the island the wobbling intensified and one of the men in the boat let his curiosity control him, he took a hard look overboard, scrutinising the very water until a three fingered had gripped his face and tore him into the water, we heard his muffled screams from within the water but decided, we had no better choice than to keep rowing. Another was taken just before we came ashore, when his brother tried to save him he failed and simply ended up giving his younger sibling some company. When we came to land only two stood before me to represent the five survivors I had taken into the boat. I began to write upon the beach in fear that the creatures may come ashore for us, I fear that my time on earth has found its end and simply hope that my words will reach the ears of open minded readers, those who will warn the world of the dangers when the moon begins to bleed.