Captain Oda's Diary
Captain Oda's log reveals his descent into madness as strange occurrences plague his ship.
Last Two Weeks of Janus.
‘Twas a long fortnight of little sleep. Me captain duties left the mind and body aweary. The diary thereby remained unused. Aye, either evading the King’s Navy, killing sea-walkers whose eternal hunger goes unquelled, or watching four boats burn the water. I failed in my duties as captain, as I told Merlin to keep us on track. We argued; his idea was to go westward, ‘twas the right one! Alas, a voice in my head said to keep sailing onward. Captain’s intuition, we call it. Now we are in strange waters—no wind, the water is still!
Captain Oda
***
Week Three of Janus, Fifteenth Night
Nary a gust or zephyr all day. A horrible decision has led us here. Why? Why?! I’ve thought of this thought sans stop since awakening in the gloaming morning, even now whilst I write. Why? ‘Twas like hearing a siren’s call, a beckoning for me. Why? Only I heard it; none of my crewmen spoke up. Why? Have the deaths of those four men broken me? I am not one who takes death well, not since. . . I am not one who takes death well. Mutiny polluted the imagination. Crewmen tying me up, throwing me into the still waters, a strange sensation of calmness follows. Nevertheless, I captain this ship. These men are mine, crewmen. I told Merlin to round them all up for a meeting. In the briefest of words, I declared us fucked. I told them: ‘Do what thou wilt to me. My request is to tend to the grave site.’ My troubles were naught. Tiffany spoke, ‘ Not an arm or leg missing. We can’t fuckin’ blame ya shit err in judgment. Let’s focus on livin’, not dyin’.’ They all agreed. The meeting ended therein, and we went off to perform our duties. Oda put the down pen and got into bed. He didn’t mention the sweet melodic, sorrowful voice that called out for him somewhere.
Captain Oda.
***
Third Week of Janus, Fourteenth Night
The day came and went. We did what had to be done and ate. Now, I write this night. Verily I write, not under the influence of wine nor herbs; there were queer ongoings today. The feeling of hands touching mine] back. When I turned around, the coward had fled before I could wring his neck! I thought they were a coward. The person was far more foolish than I had forethought. They stalked me all morning. Hohoho, I prepared for midday. On the deck of the ship when they came, I fired at the air! Everyone came with haste, armed and ready. What could I say? A pirate suspected of being cursed does not bode well on a ship adrift, especially in strange seas. I had told them I was practicing in case the moment came I wasn’t shabby. Merlin spoke. “I appreciate this captain, seeing as we are in a predicament, methinks practice shooting is unwise.” Some grumbled, and they departed shortly.
‘Better they be angry over targeting practice than the truth. Surely if they learn, mutiny will arise,’ I thought alone. Or so I thought. It was therein, feeling the heat of embarrassment, that the coward gently wrapped their arms around my neck. I felt serenity. Even now, I feel the presence.
Captain Oda
***
The night is young and a burly man looks to the silvery moon, he turns his head to see a bald, fiery-faced person approaching. Here on the ship is Oda’s two most trusted crewmen. Tiffany and Merlin.
“I didn’t think ye’d come, Tiff.”
“Ya know there ain’t no otha choice. Whispers are startin’ to git too loud.”
As the two stood leaning against a wall on the poop deck. Merlin uncorked a bottle and took a swig. He offers Tiffany it. The skinny man took it and downed the bottle in gulps. Merlin picks up another bottle.
He speaks, “Oda, he hasn’t been right for some time. Many of the crew spotted him peering around the corner. Talking to himself. The gunshot has everyone questioning his sanity. You’ve been a man of the seas long enough.”
After parting ways with the bottle, a loud burp, Tiffany said, “Fuckin’ right ya are, Merlin. We gots to keep these fucks in order. Fuckin’ hells, me, doin’ captain shit. These waters are fuckin’ cursed I tell ya, Merlin. Fuckin’ cursed. It was good talkin’, don’t stay up too late.”
***
Fourth Week of Janus, Twentieth Night
Pirates are niggardly by nature when it comes to one’s survival. Suffice it to say, being far from the closest port, supplies dwindled. Today a crewman was found stealing bread. Under regular circumstances, he would go hungry. In this particular circumstance, I had to be cruel. I ordered two of his fingers broken, none more! Verily, the decision does not bode well for my psyche. The protection and safety of my crew are more important to me than the Gods themselves. After… Nay. The sentence cannot continue. So, I ordered them to cast a net into the waters. Many protested the action. As they feared, so do I, what dwelt below the waters. But, that is the question; the answer we must seek, the danger we must face, of what? We must fish to discover, be it we live or die.
I gave another order: dive. It was Charles, Emmanuel, and others who cast the net. I walked to the rail and peered over to see what giant of Pohsahydn would come up or pull us down. In lieu of a giant, a hideous creature appeared from the waters, reaching out to me. Let the Gods bear witness, the thing changed into a beautiful woman—whom I cannot describe, as I fail to recall her features. What does remain with me is a sense of familiarity with someone I lost a long time ago. When I looked over the rail, the net came up and wet me with water. Not just still, but tasteless! Phineas joked I would turn into a sea monster overnight. I told him; he’d be the first one I eat.
Withal, describing her, she was not there when I looked again! As for what we fished: ‘What are they?’ asked the boy, Charles. I told him: ‘Thank the Gods we have food.’ Feathery wings they did have before the cook plucked them off painfully. They resembled a fish that had swallowed and taken the form of my pencil. They taste as they look, like shit. He painfully cooked with all the ingredients in the kitchen. Nothing had worked.
Even so, I will never starve again! I’ve experienced starvation. Nay, not when you haven’t eaten in mere hours. True starvation. Whereafter months of only tasting water, you’re nothing more than bones. Thy skin is like an ill-fitted article of clothing. You are rendered immobile. There is loneliness in dying a slow death aboard a ship with others dying rooms over from you. If it weren’t for a merchant vessel passing by, I would not be here writing these words tonight. ‘Twas a miracle, I always say. I remember... “I shan’t write more. A precious memory I have of Donna. One that needs a bottle and tears.” Drats, a teardrop on the paper.
Captain Oda.
***
Charles and Emmanuel are mopping the poop deck when Oda walks past them, a disturbed look on his face. Usually, he would stop for a cordial chat or tell them to clean so well they could walk barefoot. Emmanuel gave Charles a suspicious glance. The boy shook his head. They continued mopping in silence.
***
Fourth Week of Janus, Twenty-third Night
Have the Gods forsaken us? Twenty-three days unmoved. Surely, there is a pious one among my crew! Hahaha, surely! Perhaps the Gods require a sacrifice? Sink mine ship to the fathomless depths, ye bastards, before I give them a sacrifice! Hahaha! Oooh, but of HER? Yes, oh, yes, oh, yes. HER. The bitch that has haunted me for days. A pirate I am; dumb I am not! Simple math it took to realize it. Do not take me for a fool, woman! Once I get my hands around thy neck, I will… I will… write damn, you! I… will… Oh… I…
Shite. I cannot finish that sentence. Nevertheless, when I get my hands on her, I will make love to her where we are at. Her sweet moans will echo throughout these waters. I will thrust until I fill her lady parts with my seed—
Oda rips the page out of the diary and storms out of the room.
***
Fourth Week of Janus, Twenty-fifth Night
She calls my name sans end. So does my gun.
Captain Oda.
***
First Week of Februari, First Night
Sweet, sleep, sweet, sleep. Why do you elude me? Yes, I know why. For the unseen bitch keeps you away. Sweet, sleep, sweet sleep. Why do you elude me? Yes, I know why. She beckons my name sans end. Sweet, sleep, sweet sleep. Why do you elude me? Yes, I know—
“Oda, Oda, Oda. Come to me. Come to me.”
Oda weeps.
***
For the first time in days, Oda has slept. He is going through a familiar memory of his dearly missed Donna. The two had a precious friendship and talked about retiring together after piracy in a country where they wouldn’t have death warrants. They arrived in the capital of Botswan, soaked after the rain greeted them first. She paid for an inn he remembers she roughly translated. There was the sensation of rubbing her hair dry; he thought it felt like touching the water. She had eyes that gleamed like the sun. Once they had dried off and their clothes too, they wandered into the city. The respite wasn’t long, Oda shot down some sketchy merchant who tried to swindle them, and Donna gutted the son. They left the city during the night. They never got caught. When his eyes open, he feels like his usual self.
***
First Week of Februari, First Night
‘Twas a jolly good day. I talked to my crew more than I ever did. Foul-mouthed Tiffany told me his newborn son awaits. A new crewman, Charles, said he became a pirate to pay off his father’s debts. Phineas, the gentle giant scallywag, had married a woman he courted for some months ago. It shall be his last voyage. I promise this shall be your last voyage, Phineas. You haven't consummated the marriage after all! Hahaha! “Twas a jolly good day, but none aboard this vessel will understand the serenity and elation of feeling like thyself again. I have spent days as a stranger aboard a ship I purloined from the King’s Navy ten years ago. Even dead, you are still a great source of comfort. Thank you, Donna. Aye!
***
Merlin and Charles lean against the rails.
“Captain was chatty today, more than when we sailed into these waters. What is the matter with him?” asked Charles.
“Oda changes. Don’t ask why—we don’t know. Ever since he gunned down Donna, he was never the same. He is a rare captain who cares about his crew. After Donna, he became too caring.”
“If the sea doesn’t kill us, I hope to see Captain being too caring. Emmanuel told me about her; was she the missus?”
“No,” he said, “She was his friend, a dearly missed friend by us who knew her.”
***
Oda awoke: a naked woman, eyes shining like the sun, hair of water. Umber skin and ample bell-shaped breast, full of milk—the stench fills his nostrils. Stomach round as though she is enceinte—impossible, I didn't impregnate her yet. Yet? He thinks. The stranger floats there and extends her arm to him. Oda knows she wants him to come with her, and he will. The pirate reaches for her.
“Captain!” Phineas shouted, pulling on his arm. “Bloody hells, I’ve been calling you for the longest now.”
Oda pulls away, realizing he and Phineas are the only two in his room. He did not remark, only got up and got dressed. What if he touched her? Or Phineas—he thought. The Captain asked his crewmen what wondrous sight was there for him today but instead learned the crew felt a gust of wind. It was a short brief gust, wind nonetheless. The thought of setting sail fills his mind with trepidation, not the joy expressed on Phineas's face. What will she do now? He thought. Even so, Oda attempts to suppress another thought; the terrible sense of loneliness, not for himself.
***
First Week of Februari, Second Night
Hear it? Hear it! The wind bewails my name. She cries for me! Mine crew thought I turned fool, wailing for her. Phineas told me to 'lie down for a while. No! I hear it as unlike I did before. SHE calls for me. Our time draws near to leave, and I've yet to join her in the depths where she resides alone. So alone in a world of her own. Always there, beckoning me to her. I've now realized it... The selfishness. All alone. I need to join her. I have to join her. Below the still waters, she awaits in a palace by herself. I see it. I see her arms reach out for me... At last, she smiles.
***
“Fuckin’ man was strong as a bull,” Phineas said. Rubbing his stomach after Oda had kneed him in it.
“Aye, the man finally snapped. Talks of a woman stalking him, seeing faces in the clouds, and looking over the rails all the time.”
The crew looked into the water for him to no avail; they saw no sight of Oda. When his arms submerged in the water, he vanished. Tiffany swore he saw a woman dragging him down.
“There is nothing we can do now. There are strong winds a-strong. We best set sail now before down more men,” Merlin spoke, taking command. They work with haste to get the ship ready. They then set sail and did a U-turn. Before long, it was as if they were never there.
***
“What happened here?” asks a sailor to a dock worker, while writing on a piece of paper.
“Pohsahydn was angry and sent a whirlpool, killing the unlucky fuckers. I saw a few bodies fly in the sky. A poor fellow got impaled.”
“Do you know whose ship it happened to be?”
“From the looks of it, Captain Oda’s ship. That slippery snake hasn’t been seen in over a fortnight.”
“Hm, only a divine force could’ve killed him. Well, thank you, sir,” said the sailor, leaving to take another eyewitness account. The dock was full of onlookers, civilians, sailors, and dock workers. Many watch the dead bodies get dragged down by water-wrinkled hands. None of the onlookers can see a book sinking into the waters. It read The Diary of Captain Oda.
“Good thing I didn’t tell him I thought to see a face in the waters. A horrible smiling face. They’d reported me for sniffing herbs!”
—END—