The Last Deckhand

I keep telling myself I'm safe now. But I still grasp for air when I think about it.
But every time I close my eyes, I hear that sound again,
that wet slap of wings hitting the deck.

We were drifting under a moon that looked too bright for how dark the world felt. The ocean was flat, like glass. There wasnt any wind or waves. Just silence, the kind of silence that makes you whisper without knowing why. But seems like I figured out why.

When the comms died, we had joked at first.

"Probably the batteries," someone said.

But the way the static had sharply cut off , it felt like something had switched us off from the rest of the world. As if the air itself vanished.

Everything seemed heavy, like having an unexpected dread feeling. I started feeling sick to my stomach, unsettling and anxiety started to become my reality. I went to the edge of the boat to regather myself and then everything revealed itself.

The ocean moved again, it changed and the surface bulged.
Not like a wave. Like something underneath was pushing upward.Our first mate, Torres, leaned over the railing with his flashlight and his beam hit the water and something moved. A shadow, wide and smooth, gliding just beneath the surface.

He didn't even have time to scream, but the creature exploded upward, wings unfurling like a cloak made of night. Like a flying stingray silhouette, and It hit him mid‑chest, knocking him backward onto the deck.

I saw it, I saw its face. A stretched, pale mask shaped like a man but wrong in every way. Eyes like deep pits. A mouth that didn't open, just shifted. Torres was wrapped instantly, swallowed by those cape-like fins. The creature didn't drag him, it lifted him, and It leapt backward off the boat, taking him with it fast.

The splash was enormous and we all noticed that Torres was gone. We froze in shock, disbelief of whatever we saw just witnessed.

Nobody moved right away, nobody breathed.

Then it came back. A second leap and this time landing on the stern. The thud shook the whole boat. It walked forward, its wings dragging across the deck with a scraping whisper. Like a phantom dragging its cape.

It beamed its eyes and It grabbed Juno next. She tried to run but It caught her by the ankle, flipped her like she weighed nothing, and wrapped her in its wings. Her scream cut off as it vaulted back into the ocean effortlessly.

We instinctively scattered.
Not bravely.
Not together.

Like terrified animals. I remember sprinting across the deck, slipping on seawater, hearing the creature land again behind me. The thud was heavier this time like it was getting stronger. I heard someone shouting my name, but the voice cut off mid‑word. I turned just long enough to see the creature dragging someone else across the deck violently, their boots scraping, hands clawing at the wood. The creature didn't rush. It moved with slow confidence and elegance, like it was normal, like it knew none of us could stop it.

I couldnt control my body really, felt like my limbs were choking and stumbling, but I bolted. I didn't know where to, seemed I was a sitting duck anywhere I went.

The surrealism of it all hit me in waves
the moonlight making everything look dreamlike,
the creature's shadow stretching across the deck,
the silence between attacks,
the sudden bursts of violence.

I couldnt find anywhere to hide. Every victim this creature took left me with a relief that it wasnt my turn yet.

I tried the engine room, it was locked.
Tried the bunks and still was too exposed.
Tried the supply closet but there wasnt a latch.

Every thud of the creature landing made my bones vibrate.
Every scream made my legs move faster.

Then I saw it. The freezer.

Small. Metal and with an inside latch. I tore it open, grabbed crates of bait and frozen fish, and threw them out onto the floor. My hands were shaking so badly I dropped half of them. I climbed inside, slammed it shut, and held the latch with both hands trembling. The darkness inside felt suffocating.

My breath fogged the air.
My heartbeat felt like it was punching my ribs as i heard the footsteps started. I knew it wasnt any of my crewmates because they were slow, heavy, and deliberate. The creature was walking the deck.

Not swimming.
Not slithering.
But Walking.

I heard it sniffing longly like it was thoroughly searching, ragged breaths that sounded like lungs full of seawater.
It paused above me.

I pressed my hand over my mouth.
I didn't dare breathe. I felt myself choking for air internally and it seemed like It stayed there for a long time.
Long enough for my legs to go numb.
Long enough for me to start crying silently.

Then it moved on when it heard another voice, not curiously, but aggressively.
Like a bear chasing a wounded animal.

And Another scream cut short.

All I could think was,

"dont open the crate, do be curious"

Kept saying that to myself over and over again while hearing chaos right outside.

Time didn't exist in that box. At one point, I heard it dragging something across the deck.

Something heavy.

Something that thumped every few seconds.

Then there was the silence but not a peaceful silence.
A Predatory type of silence.

The kind that feels like something is listening. It was back where I was, like it knew i was near. So I didn't move.

Didn't blink.
Didn't breathe.

And Then suddenly I heard fast footsteps. Like it panicked

The creature sprinted across the deck, claws scraping wood and it launched itself off the side of the boat with a massive splash.

I waited for a few more minutes. Peeked and noticed the sun was rising.

Only then did I open it.

And the deck was a nightmare.

Water everywhere.
Claw marks in the wood.
Pieces of clothing. Pieces of clothing from what was my crewmates and enough evidence to think it was a massacre.

A smear of blood leading to the railing. Everyone was gone and I heard The comms crackle back to life.

Like nothing had ever been wrong and I took a deep breathe and prepared myself to explain everything to whoever was on the other end of the radio.