Haunting of the Heart

Haunting of the Heart

The forceful waves splashed against the rocks below me. I could feel the cool spray reach up to my bare feet and taste the salty residue in the air.

Despite the early hour of the afternoon, the sky was already darkening. Its blue flawlessly being dominated by heavy, gray storm clouds.

“Hi Annie.” Tim sat down on the damp rock beside me, leaning over to place a soft kiss on my cheek. As usual I hadn’t heard his approach until he was at my side.

“Hey Timmy.” I glanced at my watch, not at all surprised to see that it had just turned 3.00. “Right on time as usual.” I grinned at him, noting how his dark hair was damp as always and he still wore his work clothes. I had asked him once why he was always in his fishing gear and his response had been that he was always in far to much of a hurry to see me, so a splash of water on the face and hair was all the time he gave himself. Strangely Tim never smelt like he had spent the day on the trawler. Yes, he smelt salty but a lingering freshness seemed to always envelope him.

I had never believed in love at first sight, well at least not until I had met Tim. I had fallen fast and in a way that was different to everything I had experienced before. By our second meeting I was completely smitten. He was kind and quietly self-assured, funny and had a smile that melted my heart.

“How was work?” I asked eagerly. His stories of his day on the trawler were always so exciting or funny, sometimes both. They made my job as a bar maid at the only tavern in town feel so boring and repetitive.

A shadow crossed his eyes. “The haul was even less than yesterday, barely worth the hassle of bringing it back. The boss is worried that if things don’t pick up soon, we might have to dock the vessel until things start picking up. Cost saving apparently.”

Being a small seaside town, trawling was the livelihood of most families in the area. If Tim’s crew were finding it tough to bring home a good haul, I would imagine that so would the rest of the vessels heading out on their daily run.

“What about trying a different area to fish?”

Tim shrugged. “There are trawlers up and down the coast, so the boss isn’t keen to fish in someone else’s territory. The only other option is to fish further out to sea which would mean further travel and our vessel isn’t set up for refrigerating our haul in the long term.”

“Oh. So, what does it mean for you? Are you out of a job?”

“Not yet. The boss wants to try out some night trawling, probably thinks he can trick the fish out of hiding.” Tim laughed, but I sensed that he didn’t think himself funny.

“Is it safe? I mean to go out at night?”

Tim cleared his throat. “It’s not much different to the day, only darker.”

I ribbed him with my elbow. “I’m being serious Tim. You know what the weather is like here, storms appear out of nowhere. At least during the day you can see them coming. Nighttime gives nothing away.”

“Yeah true, but we have a good crew, experienced in all kinds of weather.”

Tim reached for my hand, clasping it within his. His skin always felt cool to touch, and never failed to send a spark fluttering through me. “I will be safe Annie.”

“I know.” I offered, despite the deep foreboding that I was feeling. “So, when do you start the night trawling?”

“Tonight?”

I turned to him, completely surprised. He was staring out at the wish wash of waves. Their power churning up white caps and leaving a line of froth along the shoreline.

“Surely you aren’t serious Tim! There is a storm brewing, and your boss would have to have more sense than to go out in this.”

“The storm will pass over quickly, and the ocean will settle.”

There was so much that I wanted to say but I knew that it was pointless. I knew next to nothing about fishing and a quick glance at my watch warned me that it was time to head for work. I didn’t want to go, which wasn’t unusual. The small window of time that our different work shifts allowed us felt as if they were getting shorter as each day passed.

Tim, sensing my hesitation stood up first, offering a hand to help me up. He was taller than me by several inches, so I had to tilt my head up to drink in the warmth of his chocolate brown eyes. His fingertips gently caressed my cheek as he tucked a wayward lock of hair behind my ear that had successfully escaped the confines of my hair tie.

“No storm will keep me from seeing you again my beautiful. I promise.”

“I will hold you to that Tim.”

“Annie, you are so beautiful. How can I be so lucky?” I felt his hands slip down the smooth curve of my sides to rest on my hips and then he pulled me closer. My heart was beating so wildly I could only take littles sips of breath. I barely felt the first drops of rain as his face bent down in slow motion. Like a dream his full lips touched on mine, deepening as his lips moved against my lips with a gentle urgency. In that moment nothing else mattered. Just the here and now.

It was much later as I was nearing the end of my shift that I allowed myself to think about that kiss. The electricity between us and the pure unbridled passion of that moment was like no other kiss we had shared before. It couldn’t compare. It was so tender, yet so passionate. A dance of two hearts in perfect harmony.

It was a moment that I would remember always.

“Hey Anne, help me with these would you.”

I turned around as Steve dropped an armful of old books onto the freshly polished bar. “What are these?” I asked, reaching for the one on top, before hesitating and grabbing another that drew my attention more. I brushed my hand across the dusty cover.

“These books my dear are our town history. Dating back to when this perfect hamlet was first inhabited.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Did you do up all of these books?” I stared at the ten other books still on the bar. 

“Away with you lass, I’m not that old. The first book was started way back in the beginning to notarise the town’s creation and growth. It must be some four hundred years old now.”

“I am so impressed. Why are you getting them out now for? Are you thinking of putting them on display?” It seemed a waste having these books tucked away, catching dust where no-one could see them.

“I got to talking to old Reg.” Reg was probably the oldest resident in the town and liked to enjoy a couple of cold brews before tucking himself into his cottage for the night. The stories he shared with me often kept the quiet work shifts enjoyable. 

“He reminded me of a trawling vessel that had met its end some fifty years ago tonight. It had been a stormy night much like tonight. One of the worst storms to hit our coast. I was just a young lad at the time, but I still remember the devastation of the accident on the community. Many families and friends had lost a loved one on that night.”

Steve’s light blue eyes widened on the book that I was holding. “That’s the one that I was looking for.”

I quickly glanced at the cover which read – Serenity Cove 1870 – 1970.

“If this is the history of the town, why does it say Serenity Cove?”

“It was several months after the accident; the residents were still reeling from the events and so the council and residents put in a petition and were successful in changing the towns name from Serenity Cove to Peril Cove as a reminder of that fateful night. The new name was to serve as a reminder to all generations to come of the dangers of this coastline and the fierceness of our storms.”

Oh god, Tim! He was out tonight. “And you said that it had been a stormy night? Like tonight?”

“We have a lot of storms here as you know, and we tend to get complacent. But this storm was one of the worst in history.” Steve took the book from me. “In fact, it has been forecasted that tonight’s storm will be much like that of that one many years ago that took that crew.”

Worry gnawed at me, and I found myself struggling for breath. Was it a bad omen that Tim and his crew were out on the water on the anniversary of this accident, on a stormy night much like the one that had taken that crew?

“Here it is. Nineteen seventy it was. A crew of nine lost their lives.”

I moved around Steve to get a better look at the page. At the top was an old-style photo forever immortalizing the crew that had lost their lives many years ago. My eyes quickly skimmed over the faces and the names printed beneath but all that I could think about was Tim being out on that water right now.

“It had been a stormy night, much like tonight. Trawlers in town had met on hard times, their hauls barely covering the cost of running the vessel and crew for the day. Old Warwick, the owner of the vessel, was at risk of losing everything to creditors so in a last-ditch effort to save his livelihood he and the crew set out as the sun was setting off in the horizon. Their demise was not discovered until parts of the vessel were washed up onto the shore the following day. No bodies were ever recovered. Some say that around this time every year they have seen the lights of a trawler far out to sea. I’ve never seen them personally, but it wouldn’t put it passed me that the passengers on that crew still haunt our shores.”

My heart stuttered. “Tim! I have to go! I have to make sure that he is okey.”

“Tim? Tim Granger?”

I didn’t stop as I pushed open the tavern door and ran against the gale force wind along the cobbled pavement. Rain lashed at my face, stinging my eyes but I didn’t let it slow me down. It was not until I reached the sand of the beach that I slowed to a stumbling movement, my eyes scanning the dark horizon.

I knew that it was a wasted effort. I couldn’t save Tim, not from the safety of the beach.

“Annie?”

I was so surprised to hear Tim’s voice that I tripped, falling to my knees. Tim was there in a heartbeat, helping me to my feet. 

“Tim, you’re okey!” I threw my arms around him, hugging him tight against me. His clothes were soaked through, I wasn’t sure whether it was from the ocean or the rain. I didn’t care, Tim was alive. I pressed my ear to his chest, expecting to hear the reassuring beat of his heart, but hearing nothing against the howling of the storm.

“I’m so sorry Annie.”

I pulled away slightly so that I could see his face. “Why are you sorry? You are here with me now, safe. And that is all that matters.”

The sadness in his eyes stopped me from saying anymore because in that moment he didn’t need to tell me. As I looked at the handsome face that I had fallen in love with, all of the faces of the men in that picture I had seen only moments before came to the forefront of my mind. One in particular stole my breath away. A face as familiar to me as my own, a broad smile on his lips as he sat upon a large esky. Then the names beneath and the age that they were on that fateful night.

Timothy Grange – aged twenty-three.

“No. This can’t be so!” Tears were blurring his face as I looked at him, silently pleading with him to reassure me that I was mistaken. He remained quiet with those sad chocolate brown eyes. “Please no.”

“I’m so sorry Annie. I have broken my promise to you.”

“This can’t be.” I was shaking my head. “It’s not possible.”

His lips were suddenly on mine, the softness of them defying this newly discovered truth.

“Good-bye my love.” He whispered against my lips. “My heart will always be yours.”

A heartbeat later he was gone. Disappearing into the chaotic wind swirling around me.

I was alone. More alone than I had ever been before. I sank to the sand, pulling my knees to my chest. Tears fell as I stared off into the treacherous sea beyond.

“I love you Timmy. Always.”

A light appeared far out to sea, and I could make out the dark shape of a trawler, moving away from the coast. The light flickered and eventually disappeared from sight.

“My heart will remain yours always Timothy Granger.”

For sixty-five years I returned to the beach on the anniversary of the accident. Hoping to see the ghost of a young man that still held my heart. 

I never saw him again.