Oceans Read online

  I shouldn’t have goaded their number one vlogger, should never have argued that no matter what route he dictated to my crew, it was impossible to fall off the edge of the earth.

  Because we fell. A sudden full ninety-degree downturn. We’re still falling, in fact, days, weeks later, somehow still breathing, in this liminal perpendicular place between earth and space as a waterfall sea gushes not underneath but alongside us.

  Falling.

  Falling.

  NICOLA CURRIE is from Cambridge, UK where she works in educational publishing. She has published poetry in literary magazines, including Mslexia and Sarasvati, and short stories in various anthologies. She has also completed her first novel, which was longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

  Website: writeitandweep.home.blog

  New World

  by Sara A. Mosier

  The water mocked the dark inky nature of the sky. Each star seemed like a knife in her already bleeding body. But all she could do was focus, float, breath. As her consciousness faded in and out as frequently as the lapping waves, a hand, then two, gripped her tightly. They pulled her into the cold depths. For a moment the stars were simply dimming glitter and she no longer needed or cared to draw breath.

  The world fell around her, lungs burning but no more fight left.

  She was greeted by dazzling topaz eyes and an icy, toothy grin.

  SARA A. MOSIER is a Nebraska author, poet, and recent graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she received a BA in English. Her writing focus is fiction and poetry of which she enjoys typing on an old 1950’s typewriter. She has poetry published in several issues of Laurus Magazine, Cocky-Tales anthology, and University of Nebraska Press’s 75th Anniversary edition of “Voices of Nebraska”. Her romantic short stories “Sparkling Human Conundrum” and “Summer Dilemma” can be found in the anthologies Love Dust and Salty Tales on Amazon.

  Family Bonding

  by N.M. Brown

  Papaw and I love fishing. Mama won’t let me go anymore on account of what happened the last time we were on his boat.

  The sun had just set. Papaw liked fishing after nightfall due to calmer waters. He’d taught me how to cast a net the month before, so I eagerly threw it out.

  After asking repeatedly, Papaw finally let me start pulling it up. Only, it was too heavy for me. I screamed when I saw what we pulled in; a bloated, human torso.

  “Papaw’s getting lazy I guess,” he said, ruefully dropping it back into the ocean.

  SINCE N.M. Brown made her first post to a popular Internet forum, she’s taken the horror community by storm. Her ability to create, terrify, and drive home her stories is insurmountable. N.M. Brown’s published works can be found in multiple anthologies for all to read, but be forewarned, if you do... you may want to call your therapist after, her stories are terrifying, disturbing and devilishly unsettling. She is not only a fright visually, but also has a creepy tentacle in horror podcasting as well. Sinister Sweetheart writes, voice acts and is the media director of the Scarecrow Tales podcast.

  Website: Sinistersweetheart.wixsite.com/sinistersweetheart

  Facebook: NMBrownStories

  With the Morning Dawn

  by J.W. Garrett

  Colours of dawn peeked above the horizon in the early morning. Whose idea was it to get married now?

  The crowd gathered, smiled at him and his wife to be, their eyes fixed on the sunrise above. He waited for the minister’s words and the ceremony to begin.

  A roar sounded. He squeezed his love’s fingers tight within his own. The crowd heaved a collective groan.

  An alarm thundered. Chaos ensued.

  A wall of water approached the small island. Terror made him move. Dragging his bride, he ran inland.

  But nowhere was safe from the gigantic wave coming for them.

  J.W. GARRETT has been writing in one form or another since she was a teenager. She currently lives in Florida with her family but loves the mountains of Virginia where she was born. Her writings include YA fantasy as well as short stories. Since completing Remeon’s Quest-Earth Year 1930, the prequel in her YA fantasy series, Realms of Chaos, she has been hard at work on the next in the series, scheduled to release August 2020. When she’s not hanging out with her characters, her favourite activities are reading, running and spending time with family.

  Website: www.jwgarrett.com

  BHC Press: www.bhcpress.com/Author_JW_Garrett.html

  Destiny

  by Jennifer Hatfield

  Jeremy manoeuvred his mini sub around the rusticle-covered hull of Titanic, awed by the anemones, crabs, and coral that called the enormous wreckage home. His eyes widened at the sight of shoes, in pairs, resting on the ocean floor alongside china bowls and a megaphone.

  Upon resurfacing, Jeremy watched the video. A rhythmic discord of unknown vibrations was heard throughout. After equalising sound frequencies, and filtering background noise, his jaw dropped. Shivers travelled down his spine.

  “Destiny Waltz” played through his speakers. A song the bravest staff members aboard played, moments before plunging beneath the surface to perish for eternity.

  JENNIFER HATFIELD spent a large portion of her life being a dedicated mother and wife. She managed her epilepsy diagnosis, and handled the loss of her husband. Grateful to find comfort in the ability to write in an effort to express her feelings, thoughts, and struggles. She’s published 5 poems.

  Beckon me to Waters Sweet

  by Shelly Jarvis

  There’s a man at my window.

  It’s creepy to see him there, not just because I don’t know him and he’s staring at me, but also because we’re at depths no human can survive in open water, and he’s not wearing a suit.

  He beckons me to join him and I want to, desperately. Something in my gut pulls me towards the hatch. But I can’t. I shouldn’t. I can. I will.

  I input my passcode and hear the blaring alarm, a symphony. Override engaged. The water rushes in, the pressure squeezes, and I join him in his watery grave.

  SHELLY JARVIS is a speculative fiction author from West Virginia, US. She found a life-long love of sci-fi and fantasy in the 3rd grade when she found Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” Shelly is an avid reader, a Whovian, the ideal viewer of dog rescue videos, and undoubtedly Ravenclaw. She currently has three YA sci-fi books available for purchase on Amazon.

  Website: www.ShellyJarvis.com

  Expedition of One

  by F.J. Bergmann

  When the lifeboat began to dissolve, he knew that he was doomed. The shuttle had hit some airborne entity on the way down, made an emergency landing in the vast wine-red ocean. A breathable atmosphere, but analysis of the water, or whatever fluid he floated in, was incomplete. Not that it would matter. On the horizon, vast stormclouds veined with lightning were rising. Overhead, vast avian forms spiralled slowly; beneath him, immense shadows circled. If he put his pressure suit back on and sank, for how long might he walk on the ocean floor? What was waiting for him there?

  F.J. BERGMANN edits poetry for Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, serves as vice president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and imagines tragedies on or near exoplanets. She has competed at National Poetry Slam as a member of the Madison, WI, Urban Spoken Word team. Her work appears irregularly in Abyss & Apex, Alcyone, Analog, Anti-Heroin Chic, Asimov’s SF, and venues elsewhere in the alphabet. Her dystopian collection of first-contact expedition reports, A Catalogue of the Further Suns, won the 2017 Gold Line Press poetry chapbook contest and the 2018 SFPA Elgin Chapbook Award.

  Website: mobiusmagazine.com

  Website: sfpoetry.com

  A Beautiful Place for a Bad End

  by G. Allen Wilbanks

  A beautiful place for a bad end, thought Will as he gazed out over the crystalline blue ocean waters below him. He stood at the railing of the cruise ship, gripping the upper bar in his hands.

  It was cold, almost freezing, an
d that was fine with Will. The colder the better. Maybe the ship would even hit an iceberg and save him some trouble.

  No, that was too much to hope for, he knew. When had things ever been easy for him?

  Resigned, he climbed the railing and jumped; arms outstretched to welcome the frozen embrace of the sea.

  G. ALLEN WILBANKS is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and has published over 100 short stories in various magazines and on-line venues. He is the author of two short story collections, and the novel, When Darkness Comes.

  Website: www.gallenwilbanks.com

  Blog: DeepDarkThoughts.com

  Everlasting Life Theory 1520

  by D.J. Elton

  “Fact!” Roderick adjusts his telescope. “Humans expire, then their subtle form goes into the waters, from where it originally came. Returning to the unbounded oceans.”

  “What madness,” says Terrence. “All that time with astronomers, priests and marine scientists. You can’t come up with a better theory?”

  Roderick implored, “You can see them in any stretch of the ocean water. I’ve seen thousands.”

  “Definitely crazy,” snorted Terrence. “I’ve never seen one. Ever. A person dies and goes up to the heavens.”

  “Ha! Not so!” Roderick is passionate. “And have you ever seen one rise up to the heavens?”

  Terrence is silent.

  D.J. ELTON is a writer living in Melbourne’s west. As a child she came from England to Australia, on the last boat down the Suez Canal, where she underwent a sacrificial dunking ritual in the court of King Neptune, and has never looked back. She likes creating speculative micro fiction and short stories, as well as random essays. Her work has been published in several anthologies, and she has written a historical fantasy novella, ‘The Merlin Girl.’ When not playing with a pen, she likes most of all to go to the green country.

  More Plastic for the Ocean

  by Andrew Anderson

  “Let’s go zorbing lads,” the drunken bachelor had said.

  Idiot.

  Inebriated, I’d lost my balance on the hill and veered off-course. My orb emulated James’s peach by going over the cliffs and rapidly being swept out to sea—it escalated quickly.

  I’m sweltering inside this oversized beach-ball, and I’m parched. Worse still, I can’t swim, so I’m in a translucent prison where all my options mean death.

  Drowning; dehydration; heatstroke; shark.

  I can make out their ominous silhouettes moving around in the inky depths beneath my feet.

  A thin wet spray hits the back of my neck—it’s a puncture.

  ANDREW ANDERSON is a spare-time writer of microfiction, flash fiction and short stories, from Bathgate, Scotland. His work has been published on FlashFlood and Re:Written, and published in Black Hare Press anthologies.

  Twitter: soorploom

  The Shallows

  by Anika Claire

  I keep pace as she walks along the beach, the sky black above her, speckled with infinite stars.

  Her face is brooding, her voice angry as she shouts out to the dark ocean. She turns to walk back the other way, tracking down to the wet sand near the lapping water.

  I wait, patient.

  What care I why she’s upset? Why she chooses to walk alone on the shore at night? I care only that she steps closer to the water until the waves wash over her feet.

  I grab her ankle; pull her down. Her screams turn to bubbles.

  ANIKA CLAIRE lives in Brisbane, Australia with her young family, where she alternates between making maps and escaping to other worlds, through either reading or creating them. You can find her reviewing and podcasting about books at;

  Website: teainthetreetops.com

  Instagram: @anni.treetops

  Finite

  by Sara A. Mosier

  Above the sun-soaked sky, there was a massive cloud; it enveloped the entirety of the heavens. They could feel the heat rising from the mountain top, in such a way that nature told them to flee. Their gazes locked forever, their hands entwined, as the thunder enveloped everything around them. As the air grew thin, they plunged into the ocean hand in hand, cheek to cheek, grasping at one another as the world closed around them in a vastness of heat and darkness. Their limbs tangled, their lips joined, as they became stone, sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

  SARA A. MOSIER is a Nebraska author, poet, and recent graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she received a BA in English. Her writing focus is fiction and poetry of which she enjoys typing on an old 1950’s typewriter. She has poetry published in several issues of Laurus Magazine, Cocky-Tales anthology, and University of Nebraska Press’s 75th Anniversary edition of “Voices of Nebraska”. Her romantic short stories “Sparkling Human Conundrum” and “Summer Dilemma” can be found in the anthologies Love Dust and Salty Tales on Amazon.

  Encircled

  by Radar DeBoard

  Michael watched the sharks continue their encirclement of the ship debris that he and Tom sat upon. The sharks had been circling them since they had finished off the rest of the crew.

  Michael looked away from the monsters in the water and out over the waves. He noticed something static far in the distance, something that wasn’t moving with the waves. A rush of hope filled him as he realised it was land.

  He knew he could swim to it if he wasn’t being pursued by the sharks. I need a distraction, he thought as he looked at Tom.

  RADAR DEBOARD is a horror movie and novel enthusiast who resides in the small town of Goddard, Kansas. He occasionally dabbles in writing, and enjoys to make dark tales for people to enjoy. He has had drabbles and short stories published in various electronic magazines and anthologies.

  Facebook: WriterRadarDeBoard

  Bound for the Sea

  by Crystal L. Kirkham

  Bad luck, a woman on a ship, but mostly for the girl who’s found.

  Tied up, thrown overboard, seawater fills her lungs, and the coldness seeps in. It fills her heart and soul. Transforms her. She becomes a creature born of anger, seeking revenge on those that tried to take her life.

  To her, every ship is the same as the one that sent her to a watery grave. When they sail by, she sings the siren’s song. It calls and they cannot resist. Willingly to death they go, their ship sacrificed upon the rocks. Blood bound for the sea.

  CRYSTAL L. KIRKHAM is a multi-genre speculative fiction author. She has published novels across several genres including her fantasy adventure Feathers and Fae (October 2019 from Kyanite Publishing) and her self-published urban fantasy series, Saints & Sinners. She is also a contributing author to multiple best-selling anthologies. Hailing from the wilds of Canada, she is an avid outdoors person, unrepentant coffee addict, part-time foodie, servant to a wonderful feline, and companion to three delightfully hilarious canines - Treble and Freddie the Standard Poodles, and Nahni the Australian Shepherd.

  Website: www.crystallkirkham.com

  Then and Now

  by Brian Rosenberger

  Then.

  Patiently, we waited as they returned from the sea, the distant sailors. We waited for them to lay their eggs in the sand. Their eggs still a delicacy. We were one of many hunters—sea birds, dogs, raccoons, foxes, and crabs. Competition was fierce. Their eggs were mouth-watering delicious.

  Now.

  After the world wars, the bombs and the radiation fallout, and generations after generations of genetic mutations, the seas have dried. When they return from the sludge to bury their eggs, we flee in terror.

  Once we hunted their eggs for food. Now the turtles hunt us as food.

  BRIAN ROSENBERGER lives in a cellar in Marietta, GA (USA) and writes by the light of captured fireflies. He is the author of As the Worms Turns and three poetry collections. He is also a featured contributor to the Pro-Wrestling literary collection, Three-Way Dance, available from Gimmick Press.

  Facebook: HeWhoSuffers

  Unsuitable Home

  by Paula R.C
. Readman

  The sand tickled the child’s toes as she bent to pluck a tiny shell from the rock pool.

  “Hold it to your ear, and you’ll hear the sea?” her mother said.

  A hermit crab within felt it was time to move on. With a hurried squelch, he slipped into his new home.

  “I hear nothing, Mummy,” the child said, dropping the shell.

  The crab moved much deeper into his new home, enjoying the taste of it.

  “Mummy, I see nothing.” The child staggered before falling face down in the sand, twitching.

  “Unsuitable home,” the crab said, slipping from her nose.

  PAULA R.C. READMAN learnt ‘How to Write’ from books which her husband purchased from eBay. After 250 purchases, he finally told her ‘just to get on with the writing’. Since 2010, she’s had 34 stories published.

  Blog: paulareadman1.wordpress.com