Main Story: Chapter One - Burial at Sea

The Deep Ones Project
By David John Reichen

There are things best left unknown. Had I paid attention to such a statement I would have been able to live a long and boring life; however, I have been cursed with curiosity. Here is my tale:

Chapter One - Burial at Sea

I don't know why I never told you.
I don't know why I never tried.
When we shed these bitter skins again,
all of the reasons come life.

But now it's over.
{Prelude 3.0, by Slipknot, from Subliminal Verses Vol. 3}

As the song begins to play, lightening and thunder begins to play outside the car we are riding in. It starts to rain, perfect weather to match my mood on this saddest day of my life. As we make our way down the dreary road, I reflect on what I know of the other person siting beside me, steering the car through most of the puddles.

All I know of him is what I could glean from the news. My parents did not talk to me of him or what they were working on. These are the few facts that I do know:

My parents and he were doing research at the Miskatonic University, here in Arkham, Mass. My parents ran a lab specializing in Evolutionary Biology. He, on the other hand, was working in the Advanced Computational Research Complex.

They started a Frankensteinian experiment, producing a mouse that could survive underwater. Why they would have done such a thing is a mystery to me but I dearly wish that they wouldn't have. The religiously inclined freaked out and claimed that it was an affront to God's Creation and staged protest after protest. The most prevalent signs had this slogan, "Don't mess with the G-Nome!"

After a few days of protests, it happened. There was a fire in one of the computer labs, my parents work area was wreaked, melted slag and glass everywhere. My parents and their partner in crime, for everyone considered them criminals against humanity by then, disappeared and I was left to wonder where they took off to.




Last week, he shows up just as news that my parents have been finally found breaks. They were found about a half of a mile offshore, dead, inside the wreckage of their car. Their bodies partially eaten away but with enough bits and pieces on them so that they could be identified. The car and its grizzly contents never made it to shore. A huge wave washed it all overboard. It was decided to leave it where it sank, which explains why we are on our way to the docks for a burial at sea ceremony.

As we pull into the parking lot, we spot a few protesters lined up at dockside waving their signs which have the usual circle and slash marking with a Gnome in the center. "I hear the price of garden gnomes are at an all-time high now," my companion remarks, tring to get a smile out of me. It didn't work, I frown back at him instead.

We get out of the car and make our way to the water's edge. He passes the reef to me that he took out of the trunk of the car and carried with him. I take the reef from him and throw it into the water and it slowly sinks below the surface. I try to hold back the cascading surge of sadness but it is to no avail, I collapse to my knees and cry. He crouches beside me and hugs me, trying to give me what little comfort anyone alive can.


I don't know why you never asked me.
I don't know why you never cared.
When we hide these little sins again,
all the reasons have to die.

But now it's over.

NO!!!!
{Prelude 3.0, by Slipknot, from Subliminal Verses Vol. 3}