BLACK WATER

It was walking on the sea towards our boat.
Hair made of drowning ropes. A mouth in its chest chewing people alive.

I wanted to cross. No money for plane.
My friend said the sea road is cheap.
We paid for a small boat. Just wood tied together.
You sit and the sea sits on you.

The old man paddling said, "Don't look at the water."

At first the sea turned red like blood. My brother was inside it. He died last year. He was smiling at me with Grey teeth.

We paddled a little and the blood faded. Then the water became clear and blue like glass.
Too clear. Under us a whole town was living. Dead people standing. Looking up. Hitting our boat.

The water got heavy. It turned thick and green like soup.
Then small hands came out. Baby hands. Holding our boat. Pulling us down.

Then all color died. We entered black water.

Here the sea is not sea. It is black oil. No light. Our lantern died by itself. It was watching us.

Then it stood up.
Water became a person. Tall. Black. Its head touched the sky.
Its body was made of all the people the sea ate. Faces coming out of its body. Crying.

I wanted to scream. The old man covered my mouth hard. He pressed my nose.

It bent down to our boat. It opened the mouth in its chest.
Inside was another sea. Storm inside storm. Full of screaming boats.

It said with many voices, "GIVE ME ONE, I GIVE YOU EUROPE."

The old man did not think. He pushed my friend. My only friend.
She fell inside the black water. No splash. The water just closed like a mouth.

I saw her face appear on its body.

The water turned blue. The road opened. The old man paddled fast and ran.

Now I am in Europe. I made it.

But every night when I bath, when I open the tap, the water is black.
And I hear my friend inside the pipe, knocking.
Saying, "You are next."

Come join the Halloween Story Contest: at Dream Steem @hive-107855
Hosted by @ladyaryastark
Photos: My Prompt /AI Image