The things left unsaid - authors commentary

This story started simple and grew into something else. From a mere tale of haunting to a story of viscous terror. I wish I could say it was planned in its entirety, but sometimes stories gain lives of their own.

The idea that the ocean is more than a physical boundary is not new, it is a place I enjoy personally and find myself at my most peaceful. However I am aware of the known and unknown dangers beneath the waves of the sea, having dealt with a few face to face a few times. Yet despite the incident with the massive shark bumping my leg, but not biting, I feel nothing but love and respect for the mystery and majesty of the ocean. Indeed I was not worried when I saw that shark larger than I was by many times swimming away, I actually felt eerily calm. It is the knowledge that I can die at any time in those waters, yet have not yet, that allows this. That sense of serenity of knowing, to some degree, wait lurks in the physical depths of the sea.

This tale was from the start, to be about the unknown. That which is not physical but dwells within the depth of our spiritual fears and collective psyche. The unseen being that longs and hungers, that would copy and mimic that which you adore the most to lure into a sense of calm before trapping you to do as it will. You can draw your own conclusions as to what befell Shore Crest, or Waterstrider as he is also known.

However in the end, it is that unknown that happened in between that should be the most dreadfully terrifying. The utter unknown that you must envision, and the possibilities abound as to which is mad thoughts of fancy or the truth of the tale.

Added on 10/6/17 : I forgot to mention a very important series of tidbits in the first version of this commentary.

The style I chose for this tale is of an older variety, however there was a inspirational source for certain parts of the writing style used. A book from over one hundred years ago, The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce which was published on December 7, 1893. Some of the descriptive formats I used took inspiration from this story from over a century ago. There were a few reasons, the most important being how the implications suggested in The Damned Thing work. It is implied that the town Hugh Morgan lives in is aware to some degree of the things in the woods, they just ignore them. It is also implied that the things are intelligent, and capable of planning. Then you find out they are vengeful, and it is heavily implied they view humans as prey. Finally you realize that there are many varieties of them, and they are truly invisible. The story doesn’t tell you most of this, or other things, outright. It hints at them, a sentence here a paragraph there is all you get to work with. But when you realize the true horror behind the tale, the implications hidden in plain sight, it becomes much much more terrifying.

Now I hide hints in all my works, but this is the first time I’ve relied on them heavily to tell a full story. I hope it worked, and that a few hours or days from now you realize the hidden implied terror of this story.

As for the next bit, within this story I mentioned a ghost ship. This was a call out to a legendary specter that used to ( and might still) haunt a region if the seas. It is none other than The Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait, it has been spotted for over 220 years sailing ablaze over the waters. It’s a real phenomenon courtesy of Canada, yay Canada! It’s described as a beautiful schooner, though in the story I changed the ship to a Galleon. Who wants to go to Canada and try to spot it?

Finally Neighgunquit is a pony version of Ogunquit Maine, because Steven King lives in Maine and I somehow reference him in every story I make.

Now, as to that last part, I am at an impasse.
You see I know what really happened, as the author I often do, however this is not a long story and was never intended to go further. So I have a question to ask of you, the readers.

Should I craft a sequel to tell the rest of this story of seaborne terror?
Either way the story can stand on its own, but I do wish to tell the tale in full.

Would you like that?

Author's Note

I really do hope you enjoyed my tale. But now I must move on to the next one for now. Happy Nightmares everyone. I shall be adding illustrations to this one in the future.

Glen Gorewood