This figurehead theme gave me some inspiration. I used 75% chat gpt to bring it to life.
The Embrace of the Deep
I remember the cold, the way it cut into my bones like jagged shards of glass. Salt stung my eyes, and I could taste blood in my mouth. The sea churned beneath me, vast and indifferent, and I was nailed to a slab of rough wood like a broken doll. The crew’s laughter echoed in my ears, cruel and distant, as if it came from another world. My body was bare, exposed to the endless stretch of ocean, and the wind lashed at my skin like a whip.
How had it come to this?
I had only wanted escape. Freedom from the life I knew, the one that had kept me trapped in a cage I couldn’t see. The container ship had been my ticket out, a desperate choice born from sleepless nights and an unbearable hunger for something more. I had hidden in the dark, nestled among crates, clutching stolen rations and praying no one would find me.
But they did.
I still remember the captain’s eyes when they dragged me from my hiding place, the cold amusement in them. There was no sympathy, no understanding—just malice. I was a trespasser, a stain on their carefully ordered world. They didn’t ask why I was there. They didn’t care.
The first blow had been a shock, pain exploding across my cheek as the men jeered. Each strike after that dulled me, beat the resistance out of my limbs. I stopped begging. Stopped speaking. I had no voice in this place. Just pain.
Then the rape started. And it seemed to never stop. I was the only woman among 16 men. They were far from their wives, their girlfriends, of far from the easy women in port. I could not resist. Just pray silently that it would stop.
When the captain finally called an end to the rape, they nailed me to that plank of dunnage, I had already surrendered, body and mind. I was no longer a person to them, just something to be rid of. I could feel the splinters digging into my back, the rusted nails biting into my wrists and ankles, pinning me to the wood like I belonged there.
They lowered me over the railing of the foreship, secured to the bow like some grotesque figurehead, my arms stretched out wide. I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. The numbness had crept through me like poison, but the cold spray of the waves was always there, gnawing at the edges of my consciousness.
I stared at the horizon, unable to close my eyes. There was no escape from the sea, no comfort in the deep blue that stretched endlessly before me. The sun hung high, burning my exposed skin during the day, but it was the night that was worse—the freezing wind cutting through me, the relentless ache that settled in my bones.
I wanted to scream, but my voice was gone.
Time blurred. Hours bled into each other, and I drifted in and out of awareness, wondering if this was it, if death would claim me soon. And then they came back. I couldn’t see their faces anymore, only heard their voices, muffled and distant as they pulled me to the deck.
Weights were tied to my feet, thick rusty iron chains that clinked softly against the wood. I felt them tighten, pressing into my skin, preparing me for the final descent. The sea was waiting for me. I could hear it calling, whispering in my ears, promising nothing but silence.
Without any hesitation they threw me overboard.
The water was a shock, colder than I could have imagined. It swallowed me whole, and the weight of the chains pulled me down, down into the darkness. The world above disappeared in an instant, and all that was left was the cold embrace of the ocean, pressing in on all sides.
My lungs burned, the need for air clawing at my chest. I tried to fight it, but the sea was stronger. The light from the surface faded as I sank deeper, the chains dragging me further into the abyss. My thoughts blurred, and the cold became everything.
Then, the sharks came.
I could see them circling in the murky water, their sleek forms moving silently around me. They were waiting, patient as death itself. I wondered if I would feel it—their teeth sinking into my flesh, tearing me apart. But the cold was already there, numbing me to everything.
I stopped struggling. The weight of the ocean pressed down on me, and I let go, sinking into the darkness.
And then, everything went black.