Prologue.77

  It was Nona's first time seeing the ocean. Growing up in Nelsonville, Ohio, her parents did what they could just to get by. The thought of going on elaborate vacations was completely out of the question. Instead, she'd spend her childhood inside reading or exploring the wilderness with her childhood sweetheart, Rhett.

  By the time she'd graduated from high school, Rhett had already proposed. He didn't have the money for an actual ring, so for the next few years, she wore a piece of chicken wire twisted around her ring finger as a substitute. Rhett had stayed in town, while Nona had started taking classes a couple towns over at Ohio University. Four years later, she had an early childhood education degree, and a job offer to teach kindergarten in her hometown.

  Rhett had established himself as a small business owner. Directly out of high school, he'd worked under a local exterminator to learn the ropes. He had always been an avid hunter, so he wasn't bothered by the field of pest control. While the thought of killing anything put a knot in Nona's stomach, Rhett had grown numb to killing animals. Moving from hunting deer and rabbits to exterminating vermin was an easy transition. He was a natural, so when his mentor decided to retire, Rhett formed his own extermination company and inherited his mentor's customers.

  Using his newly increased salary, Rhett was able to replace Nona's chicken wire with an actual diamond ring, and it was not a cheap one. Their wedding ceremony was scheduled shortly after Nona's graduation, making sure their honeymoon could occur before Nona was expected to report to her new job. In all regards, Nona's relationship with Rhett felt like something straight out of a fairy tale.

  If she had any complaints, it was that Rhett was still pretty immature. He had always gotten a kick out of pranking others, which sometimes bordered on the line of bullying. She knew that he never meant his actions maliciously, but Rhett didn't seem to understand that not everyone appreciated being the target of his pranks. It was easy for Nona to forgive him, because as soon as she voiced her concerns to Rhett, he immediately apologized to the victim. Rhett was just a typical country boy who enjoyed hunting, rough-housing, and competing with his friends. He was far from anything that Nona would consider toxic.

  Not long after the wedding, Rhett had introduced Nona to an activity they could do together. He had been learning about different ways to make jerky, so he proposed the idea of them making jerky and selling it at the local farmers market. They would use the meat from his hunting expeditions, and he planned on trying all sorts of marinades and smoking methods. It didn't take long for this new shared hobby to become a staple in their happy marriage. No matter what was going on in their lives, they were always happy to spend time theorizing new recipes and creating delicious jerky.

  After a while, an interesting Pavlov's dog... Pavlov's doggish?.. Pavlov's doggy-style?... Anyway, something similar to what happened with Pavlov's dog took place. Since both Rhett and Nona associated their jerky with happiness, it became a habit for both of them to eat jerky when they were sad or angry. Just the act of eating the jerky seemed to magically replace the bad feelings with happy ones.

  Unfortunately for Nona, the habit of eating jerky when feeling down was a poor mix with her issues over her body image. At one point, Nona had put on a little weight, which normally wouldn't be an issue, however some of her students and a couple of the teachers made some comments that made Nona self conscious of her weight. The more she overthought the situation, the more she got anxious. The more anxious she got, the more she leaned on eating jerky to make her feel better. The more she ate jerky, the more her weight issue increased.

  Nona was by no means morbidly obese. If anything, Rhett actually liked how she looked with the extra weight. But when a person starts dealing with body-dysmorphia, it doesn't really matter what others say. She would consider every compliment that Rhett gave her as a polite lie to make her feel better, which made her hate her weight even more. If she saw people talking quietly to each other, she would assume they were talking about her flabby body behind her back. She stopped wanting to socialize with her friends, and spent more and more time in her room rereading her favorite Lovecraft stories.

  Rhett felt helpless watching Nona struggle more and more. He really did love Nona regardless of her weight, and he honestly loved her new curves. But she was clearly struggling.

  It was right around the time Rhett was struggling to find a way to cheer up Nona that he stumbled across an ad for a Lovecraft themed couples cruise. Their fifth wedding anniversary was approaching, and if anything could bring Nona out of her funk, it would be that. It was all just too perfect, so he immediately bought the tickets. Rhett wasn't being completely altruistic, he also really wanted to see Nona's curvy body in a bikini.

  "So babe, what do you think?" Rhett's voice brought Nona back to reality. He gently squeezed her hand, reminding her that he was there to support her.

  "I'm wishing you hadn't talked me into buying that bikini." She awkwardly pulled at the hem of her oversized white t-shirt as she dreaded the thought of exposing that much skin in front of strangers. She was currently very conservatively dressed, but her mind couldn't help but think of all of the judging eyes that she'd face.

  "Come on babe, you look gorgeous. You shouldn't be worried about things like that." Although his intentions were good, his words only added to Nona's self consciousness. "But I was asking what you thought about the ship. Pretty bad ass, right?"

  She tried to pull her mind away from the invasive thoughts about her body in order to look at the ship. From where she stood, it looked like a normal cruise ship. She'd never been on one before, but she'd seen plenty of commercials.

  "It's so much bigger than I thought it would be." Nona found herself marveling at the size. In a way, it actually made her feel silly for thinking of herself as being huge when she stood next to something impossibly large like a cruise ship. However, the thought was fleeting as her focus moved from the ship to the crowds of other passengers making their way toward the ship's gangway. More people meant more eyes, more judging. And they were all so skinny and perfect. She could never compare to them.

  "I want you to have the time of your life. This is all for you, babe." Rhett grinned warmly while scratching the top of his mullet. It was at that moment that Nona realized that she wasn't the only one outside of her comfort zone. Rhett was a social person, but he'd always shied away from cities. He was most comfortable in the wilderness. But this cruise would put him in a situation where he'd be surrounded by people, and he'd be very far from the quiet woods he loved so much.

  "Thank you, Rhett. I mean it." She squeezed his hand as she slowly made her way to toward the ship. They were both out of their comfort zone, but unlike her, Rhett had put himself in this situation for her sake. She owed it to him to try her best.

  "I'm not short, I'm five eleven and a half!" Nona's attention was drawn to a conflict between an awkward short man and a much taller and well-built man with what appeared to be a fashion model hanging off his arm. The shorter man tried to stand his ground, but clearly the bigger man couldn't even be bothered to take him seriously.

  The fight was over in seconds as the larger man grabbed the weaker man's back waistband and yanked it upward. Even from a fair distance away, Nona could hear the sound of the victim's underwear ripping from the attack. She had seen her students do this action from time to time, but she'd never seen an actual adult attack someone with a wedgie. It was hard for her not to feel sorry for the clearly physically inferior man.

  "Holy shit, that's hilarious!" Rhett could barely contain his laughter as he nudged Nona with his elbow playfully. He held one hand over his belly in an attempt to hold back a torrent of laughter while pointing at the scene in front of him, clearly finding the situation to be one of the funniest things he'd ever seen.

  When the muscular guy with a man-bun lifted the smaller man into the air by his waistband and threw him into a nearby collection of trash bins, Rhett completely lost any sense of composure. He released Nona's hand and dropped to his knees, slapping the ground as he literally doubled over from laughter.

  Nona was reminded of Rhett's immaturity. While she felt nothing but empathy for the pitiful man buried under a pile of trash, Rhett could only find the humor in the situation. To Rhett this was a hilarious prank, but to Nona this was cruel bullying. She'd seen it constantly in her classes, and could only see the situation as tragic.

  "Aren't you even worried if he's hurt?" Nona glared at her husband as he continued to laugh.

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  "What are you talking about? He's a man. I'm sure he's fine. It was just a couple of guys goofing around." He started to pull himself together, but was still unable to hide how hilarious he found the situation.

  "It didn't seem like both parties were goofing around." Her frustration grew as she realized that Rhett didn't see her point of view. "What would you do if it had been me instead of that poor man?"

  Rhett immediately stopped laughing and turned to Nona with a confused expression. "I'd kick that guy's ass. A man shouldn't put their hands on a woman. But this is different, it was just fun between two guys."

  The frustration boiled over. Nona turned from Rhett to march over to help the man in the trash, but Rhett firmly grabbed her shoulder. "It's not different! Let go of me!"

  Instead of letting go, Rhett pulled Nona into a tight hug. She struggled at first, but when she looked up, she could see his face was filled with regret.

  "I'm sorry, Winona. I got carried away, but you're right." Although Rhett was far from an impressive physical specimen (wiry limbs, and a slight beer gut) his arms felt strong and secure around Nona. She nearly forgot why she was mad in the first place. Nearly...

  "I love you Rhett, but you need to act your age, especially about stuff like this. If you really mean this cruise is for me then please work on that side of yourself." She took a moment to compose her words before continuing. "When I see stuff like this, it reminds me of all of the mean things people at school said about me... So if you laugh at this stuff, it makes me feel like you're just like the people who make fun of me."

  Nona's words made Rhett realize he was no better than the vermin he exterminated every day at work. No, he might even be worse than that. Was he really that insensitive? He needed to to better.

  "Hey, Nona?" Rhett awkwardly shifted as he tried to meet her eyes. He had to make it up to her somehow. He needed to get out of his comfort zone so he could prove to his wife that he wasn't that type of person. He wasn't like the people that hurt her. "I saw something on the schedule about those little dice games you used to play in college. I don't really know anything about it, but I remember you used to smile when talking about it. Maybe we can go together and you can teach me?"

  She didn't need to respond with words. Instead she pulled him into a tight embrace, burying her face in his chest to hide her tears. Nona was reminded of why she married this man. Despite his flaws, Rhett was one of the good ones.

  Days passed until it was finally time for the TTRPG night. Nona had expected Rhett to be disinterested, but instead he appeared to be excited to participate.

  Over the course of the cruise, they had both made some friends among the other passengers. They had also had quite a lot of fun. Rhett even managed to talk Nona into wearing her bikini one of the nights when they went to the hot tub for a late night soak. Her anxiety over her appearance was a constant battle, but the enjoyment from spending this adventure with Rhett was winning the war.

  When they arrived on the deck for the TTRPG night, Rhett had immediately bumped into a few of the friends he'd made. They weren't Nona's favorite people by a longshot, but Rhett seemed to enjoy their company so she tried not to let it bother her. She left Rhett to talk to his friends as she made her way toward the table to get nametags for the two of them. Rhett found his friend Reese's nametag hilarious and wanted Nona to try to make a similar one for him. Dick C Rect was Reese's nametag, so the bar wasn't very high for Nona to try and top it for her husband.

  As she made her way over to the table, she bumped into a pretty blonde woman in a sunflower patterned sundress. The woman was incredibly pale as if she hadn't been in the sun very much, which was a little strange for a passenger on a cruise ship. Nona dismissed it, realizing that some people can't tan, and just have to pile sunscreen on to protect their skin. She couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy over the woman's petite body, it was exactly what Nona wanted her body to look like. Instead, Nona felt like a whale in comparison.

  "Sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you ok?" Nona met the woman's hazel eyes with concern. In response the woman searched Nona's eyes.

  "I'm alright. I was just looking for someone." Her voice had a sweet tone sweet but held an air of cold detachment.

  "Maybe I could help you look. What do they look like?" Her time as a kindergarten teacher allowed her to get very good at finding individuals in a crowd. Kids had a habit of disappearing into crowds no matter where they went.

  "They... Don't worry about it. I'll know when I see them." She took one last hard look at Nona before turning and walking off without another word.

  Nona was a little confused, but tried not to take it personally. The woman was strange, but maybe she was just flustered over losing her significant other.

  By the time she reached the table with the nametags, she'd completely forgotten Rhett's request. Instead, she had the man working at the table write their actual names on them.

  After grabbing the nametags, she glanced around one last time to see if she could see the blonde woman, but she was nowhere to be seen. She continued to look out of curiosity as she made her way back to Rhett.

  "Nona, you won't believe this! Raif was just saying that he's close with a few of the members of The Frothy Wandas. You have a couple of their albums, don't you?" As Nona approached with the nametags, Rhett playfully slapped the man with the pink mohawk in the back.

  "The lead singer can't keep her hands off me. And the bassist? She follows me around like a little lost puppy. It's pretty pitiful." The punk laughed as if he'd said something hilarious. The man with the man-bun, his girlfriend, and Rhett all joined in on the laughter. Nona couldn't figure out what was actually funny about what the heavily tattooed man had said.

  "Here you go honey." Nona handed Rhett's nametag to him. He immediately looked disappointed when he saw it simply said Rhett.

  "Babe, I thought you were going to put something funny on it." He hesitated before eventually sticking it to his shirt. He was clearly holding his tongue, not wanting to upset Nona by voicing his obvious frustration.

  "You expected too much of her. It's just scientific fact that men are funnier than women. Isn't that right Megan." Reese, the muscular man-bunned individual stated bluntly while turning to the woman on his arm. Her nametag read Meegan, so either it was a typo or Meegan didn't mind that Reese had called her the wrong name. Instead she just nodded while smiling at him.

  The conversation continued in a way that Nona found increasingly insulting and uncomfortable, but she was happy that Rhett had joined her for this activity so she didn't want to spoil his mood. When the games got started, they would be able to focus on enjoying themselves together.

  In the meantime, Nona tried to mentally distance herself from the conversation. She scanned the deck, looking for the blonde woman or anything else of note. She didn't see the woman, but she did notice a man in a black t-shirt walking away from the crowd toward a dark part of the deck. It appeared that he had enough of the crowd and was choosing to have some alone time. Nona couldn't help but feel a little bit envious of him. She had been keeping her internal conflict in check, but she desperately wanted to be somewhere that didn't make her feel watched or judged. Surrounded by Rhett's friends, she felt especially objectified in all of the worst ways. Her eyes never left the man as he walked into the darkness.

  Something about the man looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. She'd seen so many new people while on the cruise that it was hard to say whether the man was someone she'd spoken to or just a random person she'd seen walk past in the background. He might not even have been the person she'd seen or spoken to.

  When the man finally disappeared into the shadows, she reluctantly returned her attention to the conversation surrounding her. The first thing she noticed was that the abrasive punk guy was no longer in the group.

  "Man, who's that smoke-show that Raif's chatting up? I don't normally go for goth chicks, but I'd tap that... You know what I mean?" Reese playfully poked Rhett's side. Both Rhett and Meegan looked uncomfortable, but neither spoke up. Since it was a couples cruise, Nona assumed Reese and Meegan were an actual couple, so either she was mistaken or Reese had absolutely no consideration for Meegan's feelings. "I'm gonna go get in on that. Why don't you hang here Maggie and chat with Rhett's lady friend. I'm sure you have plenty of girl stuff to talk about."

  At that, Reese ditched Meegan and joined up with Raif and the green haired punk girl. Since Reese had given a completely different name from Megan or Meegan, Nona was certain that the woman's name was Meegan like her nametag suggested.

  The following few minutes were awkward beyond Nona's comprehension. Meegan had tried to force a conversation per Reese's suggestion, but there was absolutely no overlap between Nona's and Meegan's interests. On top of that, Nona did her best to avoid asking anything about Meegan's relationship with Reese because that was an absolute landmine that she was not willing to step on. Thankfully, Rhett noticed Nona's reluctance and took control of the conversation himself.

  There was nothing to prevent the inevitable awkward silence. Rhett and Nona could always have a conversation between the two of them, but neither one wanted to make Meegan feel alienated. And no matter how nice Meegan seemed to be, that didn't help bridge the gap between the two country bumpkins and the city girl. The awkward silence hit so hard that it felt like everyone on the deck had been brought to silence.

  Nona suddenly became aware of how cold the deck had gotten at night. She regretted not bringing a jacket or hoodie with her when she left the room. Thankfully, Rhett sensed her discomfort and put his arm around her and pulled her close.

  That was the moment where the giant tentacle beast burst forth from the depths of the Atlantic to loom over the ship. Nona had been wrong when she was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the cruise ship, because this eldritch abomination made the cruise ship appear insignificant in comparison.

  Although it was impossible to properly describe an eldritch beast of this magnitude, Nona immediately made the assumption that she was looking at Cthulhu. Voices of other panicked passengers reaffirmed her assumption with their terrified screams of the eldritch deity's name.

  Regardless of whether this beast actually was Cthulhu, Rhett and Nona realized they were in very real danger. Nona reached out for Meegan's hand, but Rhett grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

  "We don't have time, we need to save ourselves!" He yelled over the cacophony of terror.

  They had just reached the railing when a massive tentacle split the ship in two like one of those Is this cake? videos gone horribly awry. Spoilers, the ship was NOT cake.

  Rhett desperately held onto Nona while gripping the railing with his other hand. He was the only reason that they had not fallen into the gap between the two halves of the recently split ship.

  Hundreds of smaller tentacles reached from the depths to grab at the few passengers remaining on the deck. As she looked deep into Rhett's eyes in pure terror, Nona felt something slimy tightly wrap itself around her ankle. Before she could respond, Rhett immediately released the railing and grappled with the source of her ankle's discomfort.

  He looked so brave, willing to give his life to protect the woman he loved.

  Unfortunately, the longer he grappled with the tentacle to try and force Nona's release, the more his expression devolved into despair. His eyes no longer contained the confident lucidity of a protector. Instead, they quivered with an insanity that Nona had never seen on another human being. As much as she hated it, she couldn't help but feel afraid of her husband.

  The grip did not loosen. And Rhett no longer grappled with the tentacle, choosing to grip tightly onto Nona instead. Their combined weight became too much for Nona to maintain as she desperately tried to keep her grip on the railing. Her fingers slipped and the lovers from Nelsonville fell into the abyssal depths. The tentacle pulled them under much faster than the undertow ever could.

  Everything around them went black, but Rhett never released his grip on Nona.