Truth Of The Land

“Charlotte, we love you!”

“Charlotte, you are the very best!”

“Just a second, Mrs. Pierre!”

“Your autograph, Charlotte!”

“A picture, Mrs. Pierre!”

Charlotte Pierre beamed benevolently on the sea of faces beckoning for just a moment of her time.

“A picture? Sure, come on, then” she called out.

Someone squealed just as the flash went off.

Charlotte was momentarily confused as the voices suddenly died down and were replaced by an eerie silence.

No, not total silence. She realised as she blinked her eyes open.

She could hear the faint sound of the water lapping at the yacht even as she tried to make sense of her environment.

The flash was still there but it was nothing like the camera's light that had been going off on her face moments ago.

“Go away” she groaned as she batted her hand against the ray of sunlight peeking through their cabin window to ruin her fitful sleep.

She rolled away but the light seemed to follow her in its brilliance.

“Just great,” she muttered bitterly as she ran her hand through her ginger-coloured hair and held her head.

“The damn dream again” she scoffed and reached for the half-bottle of scotch close to the bed.

Her eyes blearily took in the cabin arrangement as she uncapped the bottle and took a swig.

Like soldiers on opposite sides, her things and that of Carl were arranged in precision on either side of the cabin.

The temporary workplace he had set up for her was opposite the foldable table where his laptop currently was.

It was supposed to be a week-long cruise yet he still brought along his damned work. She thought with a sneer.

She at least had a valid reason. What was his?

She sighed wearily as she flopped back against the bed.

The bottle fell out of her hand and the bronze liquid sloshed out, staining the pristine, teak floorboard.

Charlotte turned her head and simply watched the drink snake its way towards the shaggy Perusian rug.

The rug was Carl’s favourite.

“Another thing for him to complain about,” Charlotte thought wearily without making a move to save the rug from ruin.

She closed her eyes tightly and wished she could be anywhere else at the moment. Anywhere but here. She didn’t want to come after all, but just like everything else these days, she had no control over what she wanted to do. It was her choice if she wanted to lay curled in bed with the drapes drawn without moving for days, wasn’t it? But he had to take that from her too.

The memory-turned-dream was like a poking rod in her wound.

The bright-smiling woman back there was like a figment of her imagination.

They had called her the next Nora Roberts, yet here she was unable to type a single word.

Charlotte turned around and stared at her workstation again.

“Maybe it would be different this time?” she wondered as she slowly got off the bed and headed towards it.

She stopped suddenly as she blinked hard to be sure of what she had just seen.

She could have sworn she saw the workstation move backwards, but when she looked at it again, it was exactly where it was earlier.

It was…

“You’ve got just one in you, you know. That is all. Done and finished.”

Goose bumps raced over Charlotte’s skin as she jerked her head around the cabin.

“Who…who is there?” she asked in a shaky tone.

Seagulls called to each other in a far distance. The rhythmic sound of the sea against the yacht continued. Charlotte’s harsh breathing filled the room. But aside from that; no one responded to her question.

She tore off her nightgown and pulled on the muslim gown she wore the night before.

And almost tripped on the scotch bottle as she raced out of the cabin.

***********

Charlotte almost knocked into someone as she rushed out of the hatch.

Katherine Monroe gave her a sceptical look as she stepped back with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s wrong, Lottie?” she asked gently.

Charlotte swallowed hard and tried to force her terror down her patched throat.

“Wha…?” she cleared her throat and tried again. “What are you talking about?” she asked blankly.

Katherine gestured at her messy hair and pale face as she answered, “I mean, you look…uhm. Did you have trouble sleeping?”

When Charlotte only kept staring at her, Katherine smiled brightly as she waved her hands around the deck, “It must be all this quiet, right? I swear it drives me crazy too. I can’t remember the last time I took time off just to go somewhere this calm. Thank you for inviting me.”

“No, I didn’t invite you, Carl did.” Charlotte blurted out before she could stop herself.

Katherine’s smile dimmed a bit as she nodded and stepped back. “I know but I wouldn’t have been here if you did not allow it, Lottie. I am here because of you, not Carl.”

“Kathy, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t…I didn’t mean it like that. I was just…”

Katherine stepped forward and cupped her friend’s hand in hers. “It’s fine. I understand. No offence taken. What matters is we are here together and we are going to have the best time. Ease up, girl,” she winked as she let go of Charlotte’s hand and stepped back.

“I was coming to call you for breakfast. Now that you are up, you better get to it before those two finish it,” she added with a wink. “I will be at the rear. I just can’t get enough of watching the waves fall behind us.”

Charlotte nodded with a wan smile and watched Katherine leave.

Dressed in a purple cashmere sweater, cream, flamboyant pants and nude pumps, Katherine looked like she had just stepped out of the cover of Vogue. The breeze from the sea flirted with the curls of her copper hair around her heart-shaped face while the sun teased out its brilliance.

Charlotte sighed as she unconsciously tugged on her mousy brown hair. She shook her head at herself and turned towards the direction that Katherine had pointed at.

She had to calm herself when she suddenly saw someone coming towards her. It took her a second before she remembered it was the maid/cook they had hired for the trip.

Carl’s idea again.

He had wanted her to do nothing but rest. She had insisted on coming with her writing tools. The ones she had not been able to use for months now.

“Good morning, ma’am.” the young lady said with a beaming smile that almost made Charlotte shrink back. “Would you like me to get you a cup of coffee?”

“Yeah,” Charlotte nodded automatically, then added. “But first, can you clean up our cabin? There’s been… a mess.”

“Right away, ma. I will be back with your coffee soon.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte said and continued on her way.

Her eyes danced to and away from the serene water. The sun danced brilliantly on it and something in her yearned to move closer.

Yet she couldn’t shake the chill she felt anytime she looked at the water.

“I tell you I would do it at the right time. Stay off this, man.”

Charlotte’s brow quirked as she heard her husband’s voice.

She didn’t hear what the other person said but the anger in Carl’s voice was evident.

“Drop it.” came Carl’s voice again right before he raised his head and saw Charlotte.

“You are awake,” he said in a flat tone as he watched her approach them.

Charlotte supposed she must have imagined the anger because his face was as passive as ever.

Mark Rohan had his back to her but stood up when he heard Carl’s statement. “Mrs Pierre,” he said in greeting with a slight bow.

“Charlotte,” Charlotte said automatically as she could remember telling him before.

“What were you discussing?” Charlotte asked as she reached them and took the chair that Mark pulled out for her while Carl looked out to sea. “Thank…”

“Nothing,” Carl answered tersely.

Charlotte’s hackles rose at his tone but she said gently with a forced smile. “Doesn’t sound like nothing to me. Are you hiding something from me, honey?”

“I said it is nothing! Drop it, okay? I am tired of your goddamned suspicion and questions!”

Charlotte only stared at him as he tossed his hands in the air and turned back to look at the sea.

Mark cleared his throat behind Charlotte and reached for his plate of rolls and coffee.

“I will be on the foredeck,” he said to no one in particular before leaving.

“Wow,” Charlotte said so quietly that Carl couldn’t have heard.

But then he turned around with a contrite look and said, “I am so sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to snap at you that way. I shouldn’t yell at you in front of my business partner. It’s just that your anxiety and paranoia these days make you question everything and it just makes me feel…”

He stopped talking when he saw Charlotte turn her face from him. He came closer to take the seat Mark just vacated. “I am sorry, okay? It was just some business. Mark and I are not agreeing on some figures.”

Charlotte nodded and said nothing.

“You were out all night, I see the sea air is doing wonders. Aren’t you happy that I suggested this trip?” Carl added as he reached for a French roll and slathered apricot jam on it for her. He plaited it and set it before her with an expectant smile.

“Yes, happy,” Charlotte said automatically. She had not been out all night and she had not seen him every time she jerked out of sleep before drifting off again.

“The captain said there is an island around here. We could dock and stretch our legs for a while. I bet you are dying to get some solid ground beneath you too.”

“Yes, dying,”

“Awesome, he said we would get there around evening. Plenty of time for you to freshen up.”

“What a way to call me frumpy,” Charlotte thought as she bit into her rolls.

The savoury bliss melted in her mouth and she closed her eyes to enjoy it.

It's better than having to look at the lying bastard in front of her.

He was hiding something. She was sure of it.

************

They soon arrived at Kilmaroo Island and the captain informed them of a local pub which was a hot spot on the island.

Carl invited the captain and the help along to the pub as well.

Charlotte doubted it was a good idea to leave the yacht unattended but no one was listening to her anyway.

Katherine, with her perfect smile, told her she was being a scaredy-cat and even Mark mentioned that the island was the safest in the world.

When she asked him how he knew so much about something the captain just mentioned, he merely answered, “I looked it up, ma’am”

“Not so safe,” she heard the captain say.

But by the time she turned to him, he was bent over some weird-looking sea shells by the shores.

He didn’t look like he had said anything and Charlotte didn’t want to ask him so she didn’t sound crazy if he wasn’t the one who had said that.

“It must be the voices again.” she thought with a shiver before she caught up with Carl and Katherine.

The moment in the cabin had not been the first time, Charlotte was beginning to think more of her maternal aunt Hewitt.

Hewitt had sawed off her fingers because she was following what the good lord had said; If your fingers would make you sin, cut it.

No one got to learn of the sins Hewitt had committed. They never got the chance after Hewitt finished what she started a few days later. This time she stabbed herself. It was said that she mentioned something about some voices in her dying breath.

“No, I am not going crazy,” Charlotte thought firmly as she accepted the tankard of ale in the dimlit pub.

Charlotte could feel a sort of gloom over the place but no one else seemed to notice it. The locals sat hunched over their drinks and steaming meals as they converse in hushed whispers.

An old man with gnarled hands strummed a melancholic tune on the raised platform close to the bar.

No one seemed to have an issue with the dreary atmosphere and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The help was currently tucking into the beef roast she was served with gusto.

Katherine was smiling at something on her phone while Carl and Mark were engaged in a hushed conversation again.

Charlotte ignored her urge to know and turned to the captain who seemed enthralled with the tune the old man was playing.

He had his head tilted to the side while his finger tapped rhythmically against his temple.

“You know the song?” she asked curiously.

The man turned his eyes towards her, then sat up when he saw that she was looking at him. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention, ma’am. What did you say?”

“The song.” Charlotte pointed at the man with the cello. “You know it?”

“Ah, yes, ma’am. It is a very old tune. It is the tune of this land and I hear that it is borne of the truth of the land.”

“Truth of the land? What is that?” Charlotte asked.

“Oh, uhm…” the man looked around as if to be sure that no one was watching.

The patrons of the pub couldn’t have cared less about some bunch of strangers.

Charlotte furrowed her brow as the man looked back at her and cleared his throat. That got the attention of the others around the table too.

As if that was what he was waiting for, the man explained the story behind the tune.

Katherine was the first to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of the story.

Her tinkling laughter sounded strange in such a place but she didn’t seem to care. Even the help smiled before going back to her roast. Carl called it a load of horse crap and Mark said it must have been a story woven by sailors who were too drunk to think straight.

The captain didn’t say anything to contradict what they all said. After they had all gone back to what they were doing, he merely said quietly, “The souls the sea has claimed would beg to differ.”

Charlotte wondered if the man was crazy but then he looked sane enough to her. Carl was so careful in all his transactions that he wouldn’t take the chance of entrusting the yacht to a madman after all.

But then she couldn’t take the story off her mind.

She couldn’t shake off the chills that snaked more and more beneath her skin as they took a walk before going back to the yacht.

A a point she tried to put her feelings into words for Carl, but he had chosen that moment to shrug her off while he continued his talk with Mark. Despite her anger at his action, she supposed it was for the best. She doubted she could have explained to him in a way he would understand anyway.

There was a time in their five years of marriage that he would have probably understood. There was a time when he would have been patient enough with her until she came out of her shell to tell him what was bothering her.

Those times seemed to be in a dead past. Now, he got so impatient with her at every turn. It didn’t help that she had been having difficulties too. She was certain he was thinking of divorcing her. He had called her paranoid when she said it and had practically dragged her to a therapist. The getaway trip had been the suggestion of the therapist. What the man had not added was that they should bring others along.

“For moral support,” Carl had told her when she asked him why he invited Katherine.

“We need to discuss some things that would take a while. We might as well use this trip for it. You know how much I hate wasting time, babe.” he had said when she got angry because of Mark’s invitation.

They had not had a single time to have any of those talks the therapist had advised. And now she had to deal with creepy stories too.

As they stepped on the yacht again, Charlotte could feel a terrible wave of foreboding. She could feel eyes on her. She looked around discover that others were not looking at her at that moment. She had made the mistake of pushing Katherine further away when she practically snatched the pepper canister out of Katherine’s hand to pass to Carl that evening. “Some support.” she scoffed in self-blame.

“I am going to bed,” she called over her shoulder.

She was sure they didn’t notice her absence.

“Get some sleep, captain. We can continue tomorrow” she heard Carl called out towards the bow.

The faint smell of detergent lingered in the air from what the help had used to clean up the scotch earlier.

Charlotte was breathing hard by the time she got back to the cabin.

It had nothing to do with tiredness but more to do with how hard she tried not to look back on her way down the hatch.

It was that damn story! She could have sworn she felt eyes watching her.

The voices were not just from her head now, they were from outside too.

The hair at the back of her neck rose just before she entered the hatch. She felt it. Oh, she was so sure of that one. The touch had been fleeting but it was there. Something had whispered over her skin.

Charlotte knew she was not just making these things up. The truth of the land was true after all. It wasn’t just a story. It was waiting. It was calling. The voices were mingling with the ones in her head and it was all from there. From the sea.

She stumbled over her feet as she rushed towards her workstation. She pulled her laptop open so fast that it almost snapped into two.

The light of the screen watched over her pale, wide-eyed face and she almost jumped back from the excess light in the darkening room.

She opened her writing document and cleared off the few incoherent lines she had tried to put together when her editor was pestering her months ago.

Without sitting, she bent and started typing fast.

“The legend has been passed down from generation to generation. It says that there are forces in these waters that prey on damned souls. They lure them into the water with the call of…”

“Leave your worries behind and join us.”

Charlotte screamed as the whisper came from behind her. She turned around and as expected, she saw nothing. Her heart raced as she slammed her laptop shut and the room got plunged into darkness. The little light left earlier was nowhere to be found. She jerked upwards and tried to run towards the light switch. Her feet caught against something and she fell hard against the floorboard.

She froze as she tried to get up but her hand came away wet and sticky. Shivering uncontrollably, she crawled till she got to the wall. With bone-shaken terror, she hastily ran her hands along the wall until she hit the switch. The overhead light flooded the room and Charlotte automatically covered her face.

She squealed when she remembered what was on her hands. Shaking badly, she slowly opened her eyes and gaped at her hands. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing on her hands. They were as dried as possible. She rushed forward to peek at the spot where she had fallen and peered at the floorboard intently. There was nothing on the floor. No wetness. No stickiness.

“Let go,” “Join us” came the whisper again.

“Nobody would miss you. Nobody wants you here.” came the voices in her head.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Charlotte crooned as she held her hands tightly to her ears.

“Just one story. That is all you’ve got. One. one. One. Done. One. Done.” the insistent voices echoed in her head.

“We take care of our own. Be one of us.” echoed in the cabin.

Just a one-time success.

Join us.

Let go.

Let go.

Let go.

For the second time in the space of a few hours, Charlotte tore out of the cabin like the hounds of hell were on her heels.

She didn’t care how crazy she looked, she had to find Carl. Carl with his formidable presence would be able to send the voices away. She was not too ashamed to beg for help this time. Hell, she would even accept Kathy’s support without complaint. She just needed all these to stop. She needed to be able to write again and she wanted to be normal again.

Her thoughts did nothing to drown out the voices. They only got more insistent as she neared the hatch doorway.

Let go.

Join us.

Let…

“Let go of me. Are you crazy?”

It took Charlotte a moment to realise that voice was different. It was nothing like the sinister whispers.

She bursted out of the hatch as a familiar voice answered. “What are you scared of? She is not coming up again tonight.”

“But still, I mean…”

“Do you want us to miss this opportunity? That moment in the restroom is hardly anything. Kat, you can’t tell me you don’t want…”

“You said you were going to tell her, not to continue to play house.”

“Well, I brought you on this trip, didn’t I? Think of this as the appetiser for the many more trips we would take together after…”

“After you divorce me?”

The two sprang apart as they heard Charlotte’s voice.

“Lottie!” Katherine exclaimed aslightning suddenly raced against the dark, moonless sky.

It streaked downward and seemed to merge with the sea.

“Babe, I…”

“Don’t even dare!” Charlotte snapped as she tried to keep the insistent voices at bay.

Focusing on the betrayers before her should keep the voices away but no such luck.

“When were you going to tell me, uhn?” she asked no one in particular as she started forward.

The yacht suddenly rocked and she lurched forward.

“I thought I heard some…”

Mark happened to be the first thing Charlotte grabbed onto to stop her fall.

“What is going…?”

A blasting noise jolted Charlotte again and she would have faceplanted if not for Mark’s quick reflexes.

“Please, everyone stay in your cabin. The tempest is upon us.” came the voice of the captain over a megaphone.

As if on cue, the yacht rocked again and Charlotte finally looked out at the sea.

The brewing storm was not the first thing she saw, it was the woman walking towards her. Riding the storm, she was…Charlotte blinked hard and she could see nothing but the gathering storm.

The captain’s warning came once again.

“Come on, we need to get back to…”

“Where do you think you are going?!” Charlotte pulled out of Mark’s hold and stalked towards Katherine.

Before she could dig out the eyes of the betrayer though, Carl stepped in her path. “Babe, you…”

“Now you are protecting her from me?” Charlotte asked in a pained whisper. “How long has this been going on?”

Let go.

Join us.

Let…

“Shut the fuck up!” Charlotte screamed shrilly as the wave crashed violently again and the yacht bucked.

“Are you alright, Mrs…Charlotte?”

“You knew about this, didn’t you? All of you. You have been lying to me. How long has this been going on? Somebody tell me!”

Silence. “I am sorry. I need to go give the captain a hand.” Mark said before he turned away.

Charlotte shook her head as a maniacal laughter escaped her mouth.

She was truly alone. She had been nothing but a fool. Everybody had been lying to her.

Join us.

We will help you.

Join…

Charlotte charged at Carl like a ram and butted him backwards with a feral cry.

“Babe, what the…”

“Leave him alone, you crazy bitch.” Katherine said as she suddenly pushed Charlotte away from Carl.

The storm reared again at that same moment and rocked the yacht so hard that the push turned into Charlotte’s greatest nightmare.

She couldn’t stop until she felt the guardrails behind her.

The whispers grew more insistent with her back to the sea.

She could feel tendrils of touches on her back, prying and calling.

Join us.

Behind her was the enchantment of escape while before her were those who probably wanted her gone.

Katherine’s hand was to her mouth as she stared wide-eyed like pushing her was not her doing.

The yacht rocked again and Charlotte just looked from her friend to her husband. She could see it now. She had been the outsider. The business exec and the polished fashion consultant belonged more together than she could ever be with Carl. Katherine had been in the picture all along. She had been too engrossed in her book to notice when it started but Carl’s changes had started long ago.

“Was it in Miami?” she asked in a near-whisper while looking at Carl.

The look said it all.

“God, I have been so stupid,” she said with a heartbreaking cackle as she saw the answer in his face. He had been cheating on her since four years ago. That was the same year they met Katherine. It was during their first anniversary.

The voices in her head and around her crescendoed as she screamed, “I wish you the worst!”

She swiftly climbed the guardrail rung and launched herself into the turbulent storm.

“Charlotte!” Carl shouted as he tried to run towards the spot she was standing earlier.

The storm rocked the yacht again and he was flung back.

“Everyone, get back inside!” came the urgent warning of the captain again.

“Charlotte!” Carl shouted again as he staggered forward.

Charlotte was long gone before Mark came running.

“What happened?” he asked with a shout to be heard over the roaring storm.

“Charlotte… she…”

Mark’s eyes widened and he ran towards the guardrail. “Charlotte!” he bellowed as he held the rail and tried to leap.

The waves rose and crashed onto the deck, knocking him back with its force.

He fell back against Carl and the two of them lay there in a soppy mess before Mark turned around swiftly and swung hard at Carl’s face with his fist. “You killed her, you bastard!”

He raised his fist again and just left it suspended as he repeated, “You killed her. Happy now?” he sobbed.

He rolled off Carl and fell on his back before turning his head to look at Katherine, who sat up from where the waves tossed her earlier.

Her widened eyes were still fixed on the spot where Charlotte was earlier.

“You will pay. Both of you. That is a promise.” said Mark in a deadly calm tone.

The turbulence raged beyond the yacht, paying no heed to the bickering humans nor any special attention to the unfortunate soul it swallowed.

Soon enough, the storm began to subside. Eventually, the water became as calm as ever, gently lapping against the hull of the yacht innocently.

The captain wiped the sweat off his brow with his cap.

He had heard all the commotion even while fighting to keep the yacht in one piece.

“The sea has claimed another one,” he said solemnly.