The moonlit night was tranquil, stars littering the edges of inky blackness not touched by lunar rays. It’s these nights that brought him back to the sea in spite of her temper, past the breaking waves and out to the still waters that quieted his aging mind. He used to fish before the break of dawn, but now he sat on the bow of his vessel and relished in the silence.

The ocean never frightened him like it did his wife. She refused to join him on his escapades for fear of the unknown lurking in the deep. He never quite understood her superstitions and comforted himself with experiential knowledge of his many years at sea. There were a couple of close calls, but most of them were the consequences of his own drunken tomfoolery. Besides, he knew how to swim.

But on this night as he began to prepare his vessel for the voyage home, he noticed a disruption in the twinkling abyss on the horizon. Each star dispersed and rippled to the side as a shape inched towards him, just below the surface of the water. The moon cast eerie shadows on the shape just below the surface, almost imperceptible to his tired eyes.

Whales weren’t uncommon in these parts, but their movements were usually slower, lazy. This creature advanced towards his ship at an alarming rate, creating waves in its wake that began to reach his craft. The boat bobbed up and down as he tried to glean a better look at the thing barreling towards him. Straining, he braced himself against the rail and leaned forward. Curiosity and a twinge of fear overtook his mind as he grasped the sheer magnitude of the unknown being.

And then it was upon him. The night sky reflected in the water around his boat disappeared into inky blackness, choppy waves and the ominous creaking of his sails accompanying it. For a moment, he panicked. Perhaps it was an orca ready to claim its next meal, toying with him like it does a seal on an ice float. Or perhaps it was something worse, a spawn of the depths not yet known to man. At least, not survived by mankind.

In an instant, his boat lurched, sending him sprawling backwards on the deck. His head banged against the metal, leaving him with a ringing in his ears and a blurry image of the white ring centered above him. He never noticed how lonely the moon looked before, shining weakly in the sky only to be replaced with a brighter light. How it waxed and waned only to have a single night to appear complete to the earthlings below. The comfort he once found in its solitude became a warning: he was alone.

His wife was right to fear.