Re-Coyle: Deep Water

There is nothing like a beautiful sunny day at the beach. The warm rays caress your skin as your feet glide through the soft, silky sand. Out in the water, surfers and wind-sailors gingerly balance on the tips of rolling waves without a fear. Could there be a better way to spend a weekend than relaxing at the beach?

As you walk along the water's edge, the waves lap at your toes. Glancing over your shoulder, you notice the waves have removed all evidence of your existence, washing away your footprints as if you were never there. Walking past the last of a huddled crowd of sun worshippers, you notice the serene, but vacant, end of the beach bordered by a large rocky seawall. Curious as to why no one would desire to be situated at such a secluded spot, you continue to walk.

The crashing waves grow bigger and darker as they reach farther up the sand in their attempts to capture your feet. The air has become heavy with a salty mist and breathing becomes more difficult, yet the rocky walls beckon you to keep coming. The noise of the crowd fades to a faint tone as the mounding waves slap at the seawall, attempting to drag it back into the sea, rock by rock. The hair on your neck bristles as the immense size of the rocky seawall looms in front of you, and you realize that you are truly alone.

Looking out to the water you watch a small one-man sailboat leap wildly out of the waves then vanish under the surface. Muffled screams for help shooting across the surface force you to enter the churning water. The waves are angry and cold as they quickly swell around you, clenching you tight. Without warning the water has surrounded you, twisting and pulling your body out to the deep and murky unknown. Waves attempt to dash your hope for survival, pushing and pulling in all directions.

Panic-stricken, you thrash about with flailing arms and legs as your heart bangs wildly against your chest. Water flows into your nose, seeking the path to your lungs and certain death. An empty sailboat, helplessly carried by a thousand watery hands, brushes by you before it is unmercifully thrown into the rocky seawall. Your screams are suffocated by a constant flow of water.

Somehow you escape the tentacles of the deep that have been clawing at your legs, dragging you down into their light-forsaken home. Your feet beat rapidly against the hard wet sand as you run as fast as you can. The waves howl at your heels for you to return, but you have felt the cold, slimy touch of the beast, reaching out from the deep waters, just waiting to devour you.

The loud music is a relief as the crowd grows near. Only then can you glance, fearfully, over your shoulder, at the peaceful end of the beach bordered by the rocky seawall. But now you know what the others know. There is an invisible beast, quietly beckoning you to come back to the lovely serene end of the beach, quietly waiting for you to enter its home in the deep water.

Will you be the writer brave enough to confront this beast—and its story—in the pages of a novel?

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.