Wordsmiths Fiction Week 1: The Disappeared Leader
Hello everyone! Today I am here to participate in the Steemit Challenge by the @dove11 (Wordsmiths Team) . It is about the fiction niche and learning the powerful story writing. If you want to join then:
The storm had raged like the angry beast for the two days and it pushed our battered cargo ship in the embrace of an unknown island. 10 of us were on the tilted deck and we were soaked to the bone, our radio dead. Our hope was dimming like the setting sun.
Captain Elias Granger, our leader remained calm through it all. "We will make camp here. First priority is survival," he said with steady voice as stone.
We anchored near the rocky shore using the last of our strength to secure the ship. Supplies were given. Shifts were made. We had seen no signs of life. There were no other ships, no planes, not even birds. The island was quiet.
On the third morning, we awoke to confusion: Captain Granger was gone. His cabin was empty. His boots, coat, and a small lifeboat were missing. Second in command Darrel Knox gathered us quickly. "This isn't like the Captain. We search. We don't leave until we find him," he said.
For hours we searched the dense jungles by calling his name but there were no footprints, no blood, no sign of a struggle. Evening fell with heavy hearts. Around the small fire that night, tensions flared.
"Maybe he abandoned us," sneered Jonah, our mechanic.
"Never. The Captain would not do that," protested Mira, our navigator but her voice was shaking.
"What if... what if something took him?" whispered young Ethan the cabin boy.
We laughed nervously. Monsters belonged in sailor’s tales not in stranded islands. But deep down unease burden at us.
Knox formed a rescue team the next day. He, Mira, and two others took the remaining lifeboat, circling the island, scanning the rocky coastline. Hours passed. They returned with grim faces. "Nothing," Knox said by wiping dust from his beard. "Not even a footprint." Days dragged on.
Strange things began happening. The food stores lessened faster than they should have. At night some claimed to hear whispers beyond the tree line. Shadows moved just at the edge of our vision. Ethan swore he saw someone or something watching us from the cliffs.
A week after Granger's disappearance, it happened. I woke to see him standing by the shoreline. He was staring out to sea, clothed in rags, barefoot, his hair wild and face gaunt.
I blinked. Was it a dream?
"Captain?" I uttered loudly.
He turned and for a moment his eyes glittered silver in the moonlight. Then he spoke with cracked but firm voice "You must leave. Now. It watches." Before I could react, he vanished into the mist.
I stumbled back to camp, breathless, and babbling. The others thought I was mad until Knox found something by the shore the next morning Granger’s locket, the silver one he always wore, lying top of a smooth stone just like an offering.
"He is alive," Mira whispered, clutching the locket. "But what did he mean?"
Knox glared. "Whatever it is we can not stay. Gather what you can. We move at first light."
We equipped the battered ship with makeshift repairs and prayed the engine would hold. As the sun rose a low hum filled the air, a vibration that seemed to come from beneath the island itself. The sea stirred unnaturally. Rocks shifted. Trees bent toward the water as if pulled by invisible hands. It was then we saw it, a black shadow beneath the waves, massive, slow, and ancient. Something was waking. Our ship barely held together as we escaped the pull of the island its terrible secret sinking into the mist behind us.
We never found Captain Granger again. Some say he became part of the island, a guardian against the sleeping leviathan below. Others say he made a pact to save us, trading his freedom for ours.
Me? I think he knew from the start. Knew that when the storm threw us there. It was not by accident the island wanted us. And he chose to disappear to protect us from a fate worse than being lost at sea.
The ocean keeps her secrets, and some men, too. But sometimes when I am alone at night I swear I can still hear his voice carried on the salt wind:
"Keep moving. Don't look back."
I would like to invite @chant, @suboohi and @josepha to join this contest and show up with their own fictional story.
Your story is heart touching one. Thanks for the invitation for I have participated. Good luck to you.
Good to know, this time you have excelled from me by participating early.
¡Holaaa amigo!🤗
Es sorprendente lo que se puede lograr con la ficción. Pues, en un caso hipotetico de que esto esté sucediendo, no creo que las personas tengan ganas de bromear, pero cuando nos enfocamos en la lectura, disfrutamos esa imaginación.
Me gustó mucho tu relato amigo. Te deseo mucho éxito en la dinámica... Un fuerte abrazo💚
Thank you my friend ☺️