𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 12𝚝𝚑 1834

𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝.

𝙿𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚒𝚝. 𝙰𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑, 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍. 𝙷𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝙰𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚕.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚜. 𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍. 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎.

Edmond had had enough as the sun was setting. He put the pen down and stood from his desk. He barely even cared about the salary anymore. He wanted to go home. Now.

He went above deck to find Keller, Hammond, Shaw, and Halcreek doing their rounds. Halcreek had insisted on doing patrol almost every night. It was as if he held a personal vendetta against these things and meant to shoot every one of them. At least any that tried to climb the ship again.

"Let down the sails." Edmond said sternly when he approached the men.

"But the fog?" Hammond asked.

"To hell with the fog. To hell with these devils! I'm going home to my wife."

Halcreek didn't need to be told twice. He set about getting the sails opened as soon as he physically could.

Edmond didn't care anymore. He was going to sail. He didn't concern himself with the direction. He didn't concern himself with hitting anything. He only cared about seeing Maryann again.

The sails caught the wind, and they were off. Halcreek finally had a reason to smile. He was finally getting his way. Edmond figured that even if they did hit land, at least they had freed themselves from this loss of direction.

Edmond manned the helm. Feeling the ship glide through the waters again felt right. The rising and dipping of the bow. The spritz of the ocean back on his face. The wind stroked his hair. He was going to continue forward until he found something. Anything.

And sailed they did. Until the sun tried to fight its way back through the clouds only to fail yet again. Willas came to meet him at the helm.

"You haven't slept." Willas said. It wasn't a question. It was evident all over his captain's face. His bags were just another piece of luggage for the voyage home.

"I'm going to get us home." Edmond stated plainly.

"Let me take over." Willas suggested. "You get your sleep. You need it. And we need you to be at your finest."

Edmond trusted Willas to handle the control while he took some rest. Maybe during the day he wouldn't be haunted by the cries or the singing. He was sure that his mind was melting from lack of sleep. He could have passed out right there on the deck. Instead, he opted to head below to his quarters.

His bed welcomed him warmly. Even though, his sleep didn't. In his dreams, he held Maryann's hand while she was giving birth. Her hair stuck to the sweat of her face and neck. He helped to hold one of her legs back as she pushed. The midwife coached Maryann through it. Telling her when to breathe, when to rest, and when to push. Edmond felt the pressure every time his wife was told to push. Her squeezing his hand made him brace, too. Each push could be the final one.

She screamed in pain. The sheets were saturated in blood. Something was wrong. Maryann clutched at Edmond's shirt, pulling him ever closer to her. "Please!" She screamed at him between breaths, "Please help me!" He felt the fabric tearing from under her grip. She would tear the shirt right off of him at this rate.

"I'm here!" He told her, He let go of her hand to push the hair from her forehead, "I'm right here! I'm not going anywhere!"

"Push!" The midwife instructed.

Maryann let out another scream, her head thrown back, as if cursing the very heavens above. She pushed with everything she had, her body tense to the point of trembling.

Finally, the wet squelch of the baby was heard as it was released from her body along with various other liquids. Maryann was still, her head back, her eyes closed.

"Maryann?" Edmond touched her face and squeezed her hand, "Maryann!" He couldn't get her to open her eyes or even respond to his touch. He cupped her face with both hands now to give her a gentle kiss before begging her one more time to look at him.

"Your beautiful baby." The midwife bundled the bloodied infant into a blanket.

Blood.

There was far too much blood.

There shouldn't have been this much.

The midwife left bloody handprints on the blanket as she passed the bundle to Edmond.

He released his wife in the moment to take his infant into his arms. Pulling the little one close, his fingers brushed the blanket over to check the baby's face.

A horrible monstrosity stared back at him. More jagged teeth than he could count. Bulbous eyes. No nose. Scaly grey skin.

The weeping.

He heard the woman weeping again.

He looked back to his wife. She was awake now. Her tears were blood that trailed down her face. That same repetitive crying he heard almost every night.

"Maryann?" He gasped to see her like this. Was this even his sweet Maryann anymore?

Her face darkened and twisted into that of the monster he had seen on the ship that night. Her weeping got louder and louder until it morphed into a hideous cackle.

Edmond flung himself up in bed. His heart pounded so madly; he thought it would burst right through his chest. Sweat drenched his sheets. He took a moment to collect his breathing. What time was it? He wasn't certain. All he knew was that it was night. Again. He had managed to sleep the whole day. He must have been more tired than he thought.

He threw on his clothes and rushed up to the deck. He had to know where they were now.

Only to see that fog still engulfed them all around. He found Willas still in place.

"We've traveled all day?" Edmond was confused to see the surroundings all the same as from before.

"We have." Willas looked exhausted now. "Who knows where the end of this fog is."

"Or when we will run aground."

"Better land than sea as far as I'm concerned." Willas made it clear that he, too, had seen more than enough and wanted out.

"We should have been out of this by now." Edmond just didn't understand.

DeVitas came up to the captain with a bowl of thin soup. "You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry." Edmond insisted. "I want to know where we are."

A long crack of lightning spit the sky above them followed by a low rumble of thunder.

Dread washed over the men's faces. They didn't think they would survive another storm. Not if it was like the last one.

The clouds opened up to release rain that pattered along the deck.

Edmond sighed in defeat and told his men to raise the sails.