Tale from the Deepwater

Chapter 51

The man washed ashore had been kept in the village infirmary while he was unconscious. When he was to gain consciousness, he was to be shifted out of it. But where? No one knew him, and the rumors were growing. It was being said that he had returned from the black waters. When he opened his eyes, he had been catatonic since. He looked like living dead, all the more rousing the villagers' suspicion that he had been possessed or cursed, and would bring great ill omen to the village. Nothing like that had happened this far. Even though no one knew what to do about it, no one had it in their heart to simply throw him out and let him die. 

 Still, panic didn't die down, till village priest Sven decided to intervene and temporarily, keep the poor fellow with him, atl east till he started talking again. This brought some alleviation to the concerns of the villagers. If it is the priest, surely, he will eventually be able to exorcise the man, they came to conclude. As such, it would be good to have one more person in the village if everything went well.

Sven, having no family, lived alone. He had a small house close to the shrine near the foothills. He cleared a storage room for the man's habitation which was long since not been used. The man could walk, eat and perform the bare minimum motions, but he simply could not speak. He stared fixedly at something, anything for hours. It was as if he was still unconscious with eyes wide open. Someone would presume him for dead even, if they were to see him like this. The only time he would react strongly was when it was very dark, or too bright, or to any sudden change in the average brightness. Therefore, the shades of his window were closed during the day, and as it transitioned into dusk, Sven kept gradually increasing the lights in the room by inconspicuously lighting more lanterns.

He had been into the waters once. At the time, he had had intimations of something far bigger than this world. But it was like a fleeting vision, akin to getting a glimpse of the great mountains while passing through the lowest gap in the valley. He could imagine, with some pity, and some curiosity, what the fated man had seen to make him so. It was one of the reasons why he brought him here. No one else in the village will understand the nature of his narrative or be able to make sense of it, if he were to ever tell it. Even though the priest hoped that he might one day be restored to normalcy, he had a feeling that in reality, it may never happen. It was a miracle that the man survived so far. And that too puzzled him greatly.

He remembered that girl. He was sure it wasn't an ordinary person that night. He had talked with her, and it still seemed like a surreal dream. Now this man. He had a growing desire to know what it is that the man saw. He knew that it was incumbent on him to wish that it all go well, and nothing unexpected befall on the village, but a small part of him couldn't help but think of what he had long suppressed in his heart. Before he died, the aging man wanted to know, even if it be something truly dark and morbid, how close the sea was to whatever he had imagined on long nights on the vessel on a course they had never been able to take.