The Call of the Sea

By S.F. Gouldesbrough

In a haunting coastal landscape in North Yorkshire, a creature lurks beneath the waves, captivating one unsuspecting woman and beckoning her towards a dark destiny. Sophie, a skeptical soul who dismisses tales of monsters and mermaids, is about to discover that reality can be far more terrifying than she ever imagined.

 

When Sophie and her closest friends embark on a tranquil minibreak, little do they know that their journey will lead them to the edge of their beliefs. The sea holds an enigmatic secret, an impossible creature with glimmering skin and lifeless eyes, patiently awaiting its next victim. As Sophie's encounters with the mysterious mermaid become more frequent, an inexplicable force compels her towards the treacherous depths.

 

Desperate to resist the siren's allure, Sophie strives to distract, yet her resistance wavers, and she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the mermaid's haunting call. In a heart-wrenching realization, Sophie understands the grave mistake she has made, but it may be too late to escape her fate.

When two fishermen, Cliff and Freddie, make a grim discovery to the authorities, Freddie becomes plagued by an eerie and otherworldly call emanating from the depths of the sea.

 

In this atmospheric tale of suspense and supernatural allure, the boundaries between reality and myth blur. As Sophie's fate intertwines with the fishermen's harrowing search for answers, the lines between life and death, love and obsession, and belief and disbelief become indistinguishable. Can they resist the allure of the sea's dark enchantment, or will they too succumb to the treacherous call of the mermaid?

 

Prepare to be enthralled by The Call of the Sea—a gripping tale that explores the depths of human curiosity and the chilling consequences of embracing the impossible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macabre Minima
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223280972

Book preview

The Call of the Sea

S.F. Gouldesbrough

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Macabre Minima

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Copyright

THE CALL OF THE SEA is

Copyright © 2023 S.F. GOULDESBROUGH

First published in Australia in July 2023 by Macabre Minima

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The author retains the copyright of the works featured in this publication.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this production may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

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Edited by Jodi Christensen

Formatting by Ben Thomas

Cover design by Dawn Burdett

Contents

1.Chapter One

2.Chapter Two

3.Chapter Three

4.Chapter Four

5.Chapter Five

6.Chapter Six

7.Chapter Seven

8.Chapter Eight

9.Chapter Nine

10.Chapter Ten

11.Chapter Eleven

12.S.F. Gouldesbrough

13.Macabre Minima

14.Coming Soon

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Chapter One

The sea is quiet this time of night.

Midnight sits heavy over the winding streets, shadowing the cobblestones, hiding the chipped, worn edges of the window frames from sight. The sky is clouded, the moon and stars little more than suggestions through the sea-haze, and as time crawls by, the haar creeps slowly between the houses. Damp beads across the car windscreens, the pub tables, a discarded yellow bucket and spade. Corners of the fishermen’s-cottages-turned-holiday-homes are blurred by the fog, obscured in the silence.

The sea laps at the stones of the harbor. The slipway is lost beneath the glistening dark of the water, and sloshing flicks of spray slap against the lobster pots, the piles of discarded rope, a buoy with a hole slashed in one side. The air tastes of salt, and the stones are slippery underfoot. A lone streetlight stands at the side of the straggling road, but its orange glow barely pierces the fog.

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Sophie wakes to the rustle of the wind around the eaves of her borrowed bedroom.

She lies still for a long moment, not quite sure why she’s awake. There’s no sound coming from the rest of the house, as far as she can tell. No creak on the stairs, no rumble of conversation from the bedroom next door. The village is a tiny thing, clinging to the side of the cliffs, houses spilling over one another as they pour down to the waterfront, so there are no cars roaring by, no sirens wailing in the darkness, no drunken revelers stumbling home. It’s quiet.

Quiet, but not silent.

There’s a strange whisper, so soft she barely hears it, skimming the edges of her mind.

She tilts her head in the darkness of the bedroom and frowns as she listens. It hovers in and out of her hearing, coming from faraway, another land, another life, and she thinks there are words, but she can’t make out what they’re saying. She can’t even be sure what language they’re spoken in, and she props herself up on her elbow,