Jump For Me

Danny froze, sweat dripping off his brow, heart pounding in his throat, as the edge of his hearing caught the sound of high pitch wailing. It was starting again.

He dropped his tools and emerged from the cabin onto the deck. A sliver of sun was still visible on the horizon. He spun around, trying to pinpoint the source of the shrill cry, body moving easily with the bobbing of the boat. He scanned the water but all he could see was the merry glitter of white and orange light bouncing off the waves, mocking him. No splash or disturbance to indicate where a threat may come from. He stared at the setting sun again, registering the beauty but unable to appreciate it. His plan had been to fix the engine. Now he had to figure out how survive the night.

Danny had set sail with his first mate and best friend, Kevin, yesterday, with trepidation and hope. They were young to be running a commercial fishing business, as the old timers constantly reminded them, but growing up they had spent more time on or in the water than they had on land and they saw becoming fishermen as their calling. They had never considered any other career.

It had not been a good year for commercial fishing in general. Even their usual spots were not proving fruitful… or fishful. As they studied their maps, Danny’s indecision started to manifest physically making it hard to breathe and for his eyes to focus. One more bad outing and it could be the end of their business.

Then his vision cleared and a coastal area seemed to float up from the page. He could not think of why he had never ventured there before. As they packed for their trip and purchased supplies, one of the old timers heard of their plan.

“No one should be fishing in those waters. Especially not young men like you,” one growled.

But when asked for an explanation as to why not, he wouldn’t make eye contact.

They couldn’t tell if the old man was afraid of competition, territorial, or if he was implying they were inexperienced. Whatever it was, it was too late and they were too desperate to reconsider. They stuck to their plan. And it seemed fate was supportive of their decision as the conditions were perfect as they set out on their trip.

Twelve hours later, as the sun was setting, they reached their target. Feeling there was no time to waste, they dropped their nets and started pulling loads in. They weren’t the biggest loads he had ever hauled but it was more than enough to keep their business afloat. Pun intended, Danny thought, and began to feel the tension in his shoulders ease.

They heard the first wail just after midnight. Danny frowned and winced, pressing a finger to his ear and wiggling it around as if trying to erase the noise. He looked around the boat at the engine or machinery that could possibly be responsible, but it was nothing like he had ever heard before. He was about to shrug it off as a figment of imagination when it came again. This time it was clear the wail was coming from beyond the railing of the deck, out on the water, and that Kevin heard it too. He was driving the boat while Danny fixed the lines but as the second wail echoed, he had stood up from his captain’s chair and scanned the water that was visible by their lights, frowning with concern. Was it human? Was it a scream for help? Was it… singing?

“Slow down,” Danny ordered.

They couldn’t stop completely or else their lines would get tangled but it was easier to hear with the engine lower. It wasn’t the chittering of dolphins. It wasn’t the low moan of a whale. It was a high-pitched howl that carried emotional pain. Anguish.

“Where are you?!” Kevin shouted, panic in his voice.

The cry in response to his question was immediate and seemed closer. Kevin stopped the boat, unable to bear the thought someone might need help. They still couldn’t see anything in the water, but the wailing continued, one cry after another, rising and falling. One sharp as if in pain, the next haunting and hypnotic. They remained frozen, listening, unsure of what to do.

Out of the corner of Danny’s eye, a streak broke the surface of the water. He jerked his head to the right, trying to catch sight of it. Then another to his left. They didn’t move with the wiggle of sharks. They were darting straight, back and forth, zigging and zagging, at impossibly high speeds. Never rising far enough above the surface for their bodies to be visible, just the froth they churned up. It was impossible to tell which wail was produced by which moving streak but the air was layered with their humanlike cries until one sentence rang out clearly.

“Jump for me!”

Danny prayed he imagined it but could tell from the Kevin’s face that he heard it too.

“Jump for me?” Kevin asked, barely audible over the cacophony.

With the confirmation, Danny screamed. “Go, go, go!”

Kevin scrambled back to the wheel and gunned the engine. Danny looked around, searching for a weapon. He wasn't going to let anything pull him or Kevin into the water. He rushed below and grabbed the axe that larger boats were required to have for emergencies. Back on the deck, he spun around, scanning the railing, half expecting to see hands climbing, and then shifting his gaze to the water. Two streaks on the starboard side kept pace with the boat. Three swam along the port side.

Kevin pushed the boat as fast as he dared while Danny watched to ensure the creatures chasing them maintained a respectful distance. The wailing continued all night but no more words rose from the water into the air. Still, the haunting cries were enough to make Danny want to raise his own scream to drown them out.

As a touch of orange light from the rising sun grazed the water and Danny moved his head from left to right and back again, he realized the moving streaks were gone. He lowered the axe and gently leaned on it, needing a break but not ready to relax. Danny waited two hours and when there was no sign or sound from the depths, he ordered Kevin to have a nap.

As Kevin slept, Danny considered their options. Should they laugh it off as a crazy seafarer’s experience? Should they turn back and face ridicule when they tried to explain their early return? Everything had remained quiet while Kevin napped but when he emerged hours later, he had his answer. The relief on Kevin’s face when he saw Danny was enough. He was turning around and Kevin could start driving back while he got a couple hours of shut eye.

It was too quiet when he woke. His alarm hadn’t gone off. In fact, he couldn’t find his phone anywhere. And the engine wasn’t running.

He ran up the stairs and burst out the door to stand in the middle of the deck. He turned, then turned again, circling on the spot, eyes frantically searching for his friend and finding nothing.

“Kevin!” he shouted loud enough that anyone on the boat would have been startled.

He started circling outward, checking in this crate, under that tarp, until he reached the railings and started leaning over.

“KEVIN!” he screamed out towards the water. The water remained peaceful.

It took thirty minutes for him to accept that Kevin was nowhere on the boat and if he was in the water, he wasn’t close enough to see. He had to start driving and circling outwards to look for him.

He turned the key, and the engine wouldn’t start.

There were no tools on the boat capable of doing the damage that Danny was looking at. His phone was still missing. The radio was smashed. He was a sitting duck. And Kevin might be out in the water slowly drowning.

He grabbed the tool box, surprised it hadn’t been touched, but the few things he was able to try, in between rushing onto the deck and screaming Kevin’s name again, were completely ineffective and the engine remained silent.

But the night air wasn’t.

Wails and cries. Screams and singing.

"Jump for me!"

Danny stood, throat raw, body tired and mind numb. He picked up the axe again but it hung by his side. He would be outnumbered, but maybe if he could fight them off, make it to daybreak, signal for help, then he could search for Kevin properly. He raised the axe and adjusted his grip. Bubbles burst on the starboard side.

He stepped closer, trying to see what was rising to the surface while maintaining a safe distance from the edge.

It looked like a dark orb. Black hair broke the surface. The top of a head. A torso followed and then all at once flipped back. His friend’s eyeless face and slack mouth stared up at him, bobbing on the water.

He knew then he wouldn’t escape. He knew then he didn’t want to.

He moved to a break in the railing, stood numbly for a moment, then jumped.

He could not tell if it was waves or arms reaching up towards him.