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Creatures in the waves

Foamy mouthfuls of water leapt into the boat, showering us with salty spray. I was sick of my soaked clothes sticking to my back; sick of the constant clapping sounds the waves made as the boat rocked rhythmically from side to side; sick of having to bend over the side every few minutes, heaving desperately, even when there was nothing left to heave.

It happened during one of those trips to the side of the boat. My weak, trembling hand scrabbled to hold onto the ledge and my face twisted into the same look of disgust as my mouth reluctantly widened to try and empty the last bit of dignity I had. At that moment a particularly spectacular wave rose threateningly above our heads, and my head tilted back, watching, saliva still dribbling onto my white shirt from the corner of my mouth. One of the crew members screamed warning to the others, including me, but I didn’t move.

Clearly they didn’t see what I saw.

A twisted, eerie shadow of some sort of creature, too deformed by the dappling Aegean folds of the wave for me to figure out what it was. Time almost stopped and the wave somehow seemed to stay in one place. I felt the crew members bustle around behind me, but for some reason the sea was calm, more quiet than I had ever seen it, in that moment. It seemed comforting, even when a soft light (supposedly produced by the figure) suddenly illuminated the entire wave, revealing all other gnarled shadows of the deep, some huge and moving slow; some smaller, slimmer, and darting abruptly between other shadows. There were thousands of them. So much so, that it seemed alarming to watch. I felt the other crew members clamber over to my side of the boat, leaning over the edge in curiosity and making the boat tilt slightly as a result. The light was so intense now that it drowned my peripheral vision; I could only feel someone’s shirt brush my arm; could only hear their intense breath.

After a few seconds, the shadows started to become blurred, even though everything else seemed perfectly clear, and the sharp light intensified so much that for a moment I thought I had relapsed.

Yet, only after a few more seconds (I have no clue who was counting them though), the light frazzled and I was left with a very strange sight: I was in a gallery, standing, arms crossed behind my back, in front of a large painting with the caption, “Creatures in the waves”.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a painted boat in the far bottom left corner, several sailors looking out and pointing toward a wave that seemed so familiar.

The man closest to the frame was wearing a white shirt and was covering his eyes. Why?

Because of the bright light emitting from the wave in the painting itself.

“Sorry, sir, is everything alright? We are closing soon, just as a heads up.” I swivelled to see a woman in a uniform smiling up at me.

Dazed, I rub the back of my neck, where the hairs had pricked up, and stutter, “Uh, yes, everything is fine, thank you. May I ask, how long have I been standing here?”

With an embarrassed look etched onto her face, she replied, “Well, you’ve just been standing here all day, actually. Since we opened at 7am, haven’t moved a muscle… Are you sure everything is alright, sir?”

I stop and pause to wrap my head round the situation. “Yes… I think so.”

And I walk out the gallery which I had never seen before in my life.