Captain Flynn was a strange man, and just like the Consternation, he seemed to find me.
I was just about to set out again, when he arrived.
I had almost given up hope, when he tapped on my shoulder. Before I could even turn around, I heard a gruff voice, strangled by sadness.
He knew about the Consternation, but he was sketchy with the details, at first.
He told me to stay away, but I couldn't leave it alone. I think that he knew that, because though he seemed anxious every time I mentioned the wreck, there was a hunger in his eyes, like he wanted to go back, even though he knew he shouldn't.
I felt it too. The danger was clear, but the lure never wavered.
He repeated his warning, clutching my hand with a desperate look, but I could see in his eyes that there was more to the story.
Captain Flynn sat with me for hours, pleading with me to forget what I'd seen, but those eyes were seared into my soul, and there was nothing I could do.
"All you need to know is that his hunger is endless, and he has no mercy."
It wasn't enough. I told him that, again and again until he relented, and told me his story.
He was a young man once, working his way up in the navy. He had his first command, bubbling over with excitement, and everything seemed sweet.
He had a good crew, and a lot of ambition. They were on their way to join some other ships, when they ran into trouble. A sudden storm, wild and unruly. The sky shattered into darkness and their ship was tossed about the waves like a rag doll.
None of them could understand it. All around them were clear skies and calm waters, but the boat was trapped in terror.
They tried to regain control, but it was a lost cause. The bow began to break apart out of nowhere, weapons firing off indiscriminately, systems fritzing as fires broke out all over the ship.
The ship seemed to have a mind of its own, and nothing but mayhem on the brain.
As lightning struck the starless sky, the waves were black, bubbling up onto the ship's deck as shadows surrounded the ship.
The last thing Captain Flynn can remember is eyes. Red as the blood that flooded the deck.
All the crew were lost apart from Captain Flynn, and he barely made it out alive.
Captain Flynn was blamed.
Nobody believed that a strange monster had dragged most of the crew and half the boat down below the depths, of course.
He was seen as a mad man.
A coward.
Dishonourable discharge, the lot, and now, he hung about the site where it had happened, hoping that one day he would be vindicated, but terrified of it too.
Finally the day had come.
I thought about his words, long into the night. I had postponed my trip for a few hours, but I knew that I had to go back. It wasn't that I wanted to. It was that I had no choice.
It looks like Captain Flynn felt the same, because he's waiting in the car outside. He said he wasn't coming with me, but I suppose he changed his mind.
I hope I can find Tommy, and maybe, we'll find some sign of Captain Flynn's lost crew, if we're lucky.
Maybe the truth will come out at last, but maybe the truth will be too much for people to take.
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