Libre Magazine

The ocean was a null void, an expression of calm seclusion amidst the foul cries of the seagulls wandering at a regular pace in the sky. The unreachable mass of blue beckoned the lone yacht further and further, into the mysteries unfolded. The yacht sailed beyond, being the only white object noticeable to a vacant eye. A dark bold enticing ‘MAYA’ plastered across the tail of yacht.

Kinsley Matthews adjusted the speed of his yacht as he took her deeper into the ocean. After a brief update on the weather situation from the control room, he felt secured in exploiting beyond the territories. He went up the deck to bask in the sunlight rays glistening in the water. The sky pushing the clouds ahead as it floated along the yacht. Kinsley peered into his binoculars aimlessly but all he could see was stretch of blue waves. The perfect setting for their honeymoon.

He turned at the sounds of the footsteps and smiled. His wife Maya was coming towards him with two glasses of champagne to celebrate them. He extended his hands, pulled her into his arms, Maya his one, only love of his life, and gave her a long thorough kiss.

‘To us’, they clicked a toast and stared at each other. Maya wrapped in a violet floral sarong and a white bikini, stared at him above the rim of the glass, a seductive smile playing at the corners. She leaned over the rail, her auburn hair flowing in loose curls that shimmered under the sun.

‘I’m glad we came here’, she breathed in the salty air. Kinsley took her into his arms once again; she was a very vital pulse of his life and did not dare to imagine a life without her.

They went on to lounge on the wicker chairs placed on the deck, sipping champagne in broad daylight. Kinsley wondered what Maya was pondering about, he always wondered what went on in her mind. Despite of the intensity of their relationship, Maya was a mystery, had always been and that is what troubled him at times. He quickly cleared the gloomy thoughts from his mind. He was on his honeymoon and Maya was with him, ‘It is a good thing the meteorological office did not forecast any storm otherwise it would have been a pity to miss out such raw beauty.’ He spoke aloud penetrating through her thoughts.

‘Hmmm, oh yes, it is so peaceful out here and … oh, look I see a lighthouse. Let us go there and explore’, she pointed out far ahead excitedly.

Kinsley took the binoculars from her and shifted his sight towards where she was pointing, ‘Indeed it is a lighthouse. I’ll go and sail the yacht towards that direction.’

As they sailed further north towards the lighthouse, there was a slight change in the weather. Kinsley frowned and turned back to see the light of the day they enjoyed earlier was slowly cascading backwards. The deeper they went, the darker it became, the air that was null without the slightest of breeze threatened to penetrate hard. It was as if they entered a total different zone vastly different from what they left behind. The docile sky transformed into an angry mass of darkness. The waves started to grumble heavily causing the yacht to fight for its position. Kinsley reached for his binoculars to see the distance between them and the lighthouse. It was merely 5 yards away from them through the binoculars but without them, he couldn’t trace it at all. That’s odd, he thought. He went to call for help on his radio but in vain, neither his compass indicator was working, the direction of the compass froze to the point where they had started as if they had never moved beyond. After several futile attempts of controlling the yacht, the motor died down. The storm was getting stronger by minute that refused to tame down.

He went up for Maya who was struggling to keep herself from flowing away with the wind. He held her protectively near the railings. Why is the lighthouse nowhere noticeable, I am certain we were closer to it? He wondered. He couldn’t understand the sudden change in weather either.

Just that moment another boat emerged amongst the waves at its fullest speed. The boat seemed unaffected by the betrayal of the stormy weather. Kinsley eyed it oddly, the size of the boat was not appropriate to be out this far in the ocean, yet it was and unperturbed of its surroundings. He strained his eyes against the air to get a glimpse of the figure standing. As it came closer, an old grey man became visible to them. Layers of wrinkle lined his face that might have boasted of a rugged handsome feature once, long silvery hair tied back in a ponytail. His face was dark against the grey beard he wore. A mysterious smile lurking around his mouth. Nevertheless, he might be our saviour. Kinsley hoped. He went forward towards the edge of his yacht and leaned over to have a word with him.

‘Jonathan Lair’, the old man introduced briskly. His entire focus was on Maya. There was an unexplainable expression rooming on his face. As Maya came forward to stand behind her husband, Jonathan exclaimed, ‘Maya…is that you!’ and pulled her into his boat.

Maya shrieked and yelled for Kinsley, Kinsley tried to grab hold of her but got hold of her sarong instead. The boat was quicker than he was and sped off into the stormy darkness ahead.

‘Maya…Maya!’ Kinsley cried out a howling sound. The waves were rising above him submerging the yacht into its clutches. The last sound he heard above the crashing of the glass and the gushing of the waves pulling him in was his, ‘Maayyya…!’
The waves were brushing against his body, when Kinsley regained his consciousness. He grimaced in pain and turned to face the glaring sun. He raised his hand to realize it was bleeding through the wound. His head was circulating in monotonic sirens of the incident that occurred. How could he ever forget? An unknown being snatched his life away. All he had left of Maya was her sarong that was surprisingly still with him. He had to find Maya. He looked around to see whether his yacht survived the ordeal, it had and it was rocking calmly along the waves. He limped towards it to inspect any major damages but couldn’t find any. The yacht looked as if it never been on a voyage, not a single trace of damage. That’s strange; I had heard a glass crashing but there’s nothing wrong here. The kind of storm that had surprised them carried aftermaths but it certainly had not affected the yacht. He walked away from it with great difficulty, there was blood gushing out form his knee as well. He had a vague memory of this place after searching around. This is from where we sailed, he remembered suddenly. But how did I get here and the yacht too? There was a small fishing village above the cliffs, where they had stayed for a couple of days before their excursion. Kinsley noticed an old angler working on his raft distance away and called out to him.

‘Aye, that looks reel bad meester,’ the old man quipped at Kinsley’s wounds. Kinsley ignored the comment on his wounds; he had to find his wife no matter what.

‘My wife went missing in the storm yesterday. Is there any local authorities where I can report the incident?’ he asked hurriedly.
‘What stouam are you tawk’n ‘bout, meester? There ain’t any stoaum yest’day’, the old man replied airily.

‘Storm! There was a fierce storm out there yesterday, that ruined my yacht and my wife went missing. How can you say there was no storm yesterday, surely there must have been some effects here as well?’ Kinsley cried incredulously.

The old man eyed him strangely,’ me ain’t know what you tawk’n ‘bout meester, but they ain’t no stoaum yest’day; eet was as hot as ever!’

Kinsley gave him a long hard look; he didn’t have time to argue. He had to find his wife before it was too late.

After tending to his wounds, Kinsley managed to walk up to the local authorities with the help of the old man. His visit to the authorities bore no fruits either, his detailed explanation of the ordeal, the sighting of the lighthouse, storm prevailing, an untimely visit from an unknown being and the kidnapping of his wife resulted in the same peculiar looks from the police. Several repetitive narration of his incident in the next hour or so developed no understanding from them.

‘Jonathan Lair…He introduced himself as Jonathan Lair’, Kinsley repeated exasperatedly, he gave a brief description on the stranger’s appearance.’ My wife Maya and I were sailing towards the lighthouse and an unexpected storm twiddled out of nowhere. Suddenly this man emerges and kidnaps my wife.’

‘Mr. Matthews, we already told you there was no storm yesterday infact there is none in the forecast for some time now. We just confirmed it from the metrological office right in front of you.’ the senior police officer replied curtly. ‘Here’s the map of that area, as you can see there is no lighthouse that you are talking about.’ he pointed to the large blue print of in front of him.
‘But there was a lighthouse; I saw it with my own eyes…right here!’ Kinsley tapped the spot on the map where he had seen it.’ You think I’m making this all up. My wife’s missing for Pete’s sake.’

‘Mr. Matthews, we are not suggesting any such things. I will suggest though you have a long rest to clear your head. Come back when you are able to give us a rational explanation. As for the man you told us about but we’ll check our records to find him and your wife’, the officer gave him a calm composed look that meant the end of their discussion.

Kinsley left the station without much accomplished. Lot of questions swam in his head as none of this made any sense to him. He rubbed his forehead that began to throb practically, his body suffered from bruises all over. I have to find my wife, was all he could think of. He decided to go on a search with or without the help of the authorities. He made his way back to his yacht and lingered there. He held Maya’s sarong near his face and closed his eyes. Maya, where are you? What if I never find you? The thought bought a sharp pain into his heart.

The next morning he paid a visit to the police again who informed him that the person he was looking for was dead! He was dead for the past 2 decades! The officer produced his death certificate as the evidence. They were even beginning to doubt the existence of Maya.

Kinsley was lost for words; this was as if a sick joke was played upon him. They referred the entire episode to a boating accident and suggested he go to a doctor instead.

Without any clue, he decided to go on a search himself on his yacht. The ocean was once again the epitome of seclusion hypnotizing him to wade deeper. He kept a sharp eye for locating the lighthouse. He had to find it and prove it existed. As he sailed closer to that spot, all he saw was a vast stretch of ocean. There was no sign of the lighthouse; it was as if it had disappeared. How can that be? It has to be here somewhere, Maya saw it, and I saw it. For several days, he searched the ocean frantically hoping to find any clue that would lead to Maya, until his searched travelled in circles with no result. There was no sign of the lighthouse, Maya or the stranger whom the authorities claimed to be dead. He felt helpless to the core.

Kinsley decided to search for one last time, the expectations of any result were lost but as he moved closer, he felt the sudden change in the atmosphere exactly similar to the previous one. He looked up to see the sky was slowly spreading the heavy clouds and the restless waves pushed the yacht forward. He looked around helplessly when he noticed it coming towards him. He recognized it immediately! That very same boat slithered through the waves, this time there were two figures on the boat. He strained his eye to get a closer view, Maya! She is alive! His heart started to pound at the sudden revelation. He shifted his eyes towards the man next to her but something was amiss here. He was definitely Jonathan Lair, but how can that be possible, he was already dead? When suddenly it struck him hard, the man was the younger Jonathan Lair, Yes definitely, he had the same rugged features that stretched smooth of wrinkle and the beard he had worn. He portrayed the same mysterious smile. Maya was next to him in the same bikini she was wearing that day, except for the sarong. However, she wore an unperturbed expression when she looked at him. In fact she stared past him without any recognition. That scared him. He couldn’t lose Maya again after finding her. As the boat came closer, on an impulse Kinsley pulled Maya into the yacht. ‘Kinsley…..’Maya touched his cheeks and whispered. The sudden gush of waves dawned on the yacht drowning them into it.

 ‘Kinsley…! Kinsley…! Maya shoved her husband lightly.

‘What…Maya…! You’re all right’, Kinsley held her tightly, ’Oh Thank God, you are alive!’

Maya gave a short nervous laugh, ’Kinsley, whatever happened to me?’

Kinsley stared at her and frowned, ‘Whatever happened to me? Maya you were kidnapped n missing for several days! Don’t you remember that, how can you forget it?

She stared at him blankly and wide eyed. Kinsley froze for a second and looked around; they were still sailing around the same melancholic silence of the ocean. He felt numb all over.

‘Oh look Kinsley, a lighthouse! She pointed excitedly above his head, ‘let us go there……’

The lighthouse was very much visible to any naked eye.