The Drowning Note
A message from the deep - signed by someone long gone.
One note. One name. Five years of silence — When a bottle drifts to shore, it stirs the ghosts of the past in a coastal town that never forgot.
Five years ago, Ayaan Fernandes disappeared at sea. No body was found. Only a torn life jacket, a piece of driftwood, and a grieving sister who refused to believe he was truly gone.
That sister, Tara, never stopped walking the beach. Every week, every tide, she watched the sea. Locals called her the Ghost’s Keeper. Her café, "Salt & Ink," overlooked the shore - a place filled with missing posters that had long yellowed, with only one name still lit by a candle.
Clue: On the morning of August 12th, a green bottle rolled onto the sand. Inside — a letter signed, “Ayaan. August 10, 2025.”
Tara's hands trembled as she read it. The paper was dry. No algae, no barnacles. Fresh ink. The handwriting was unmistakable. “I’m sorry I left without goodbye. I thought I could run from it, but the sea always remembers.”
The authorities dismissed it. A prank. A hoax. But one man didn’t - Rajan, a retired coast guard officer and family friend. “I know what tides can do,” he said, eyes narrowing. “And this bottle… this didn’t come from the ocean.”
They retraced the currents. No storms in the past month. No ships logged in that zone. But at 3:17 AM that morning, a fisherman swore he saw a man walking waist-deep into the waves, glowing faintly under moonlight.
Could it be? What if Ayaan never drowned — but disappeared… willingly?
The note contained coordinates scribbled at the bottom. An uninhabited island, just 7 km off the coast. Tara and Rajan hired a boat. The island was quiet — birdsong, broken rocks, and a single ruined lighthouse.
Inside, they found a makeshift room: faded clothes, canned food, and journals. Pages upon pages describing "the silence of the sea." But the final entry chilled Tara’s soul: “Tomorrow, I send my final message. If she finds it, tell her I was always near.”
That was dated August 9. One day before the note's date.
But no sign of Ayaan. No footprints. Only one thing - a camera wrapped in plastic, with one video file.
Clue: The video shows Ayaan, alive, whispering: “You were right not to stop looking. But now... it’s your turn.”
Then silence. The screen cuts to static. And then - a frame. Just one. A map. Hand-drawn. Marked: "The Second Note."
Tara turned the bottle over again that night. Taped to the base, unnoticed before, was another slip: “The sea gives back what it once took. But only if you ask the right question.”
She stared into the waves, the same ones that had tormented her for years. But now, they whispered hope. The story wasn’t over. And somewhere, her brother - or the truth of him - was still waiting.
What do you believe? Was Ayaan ever truly gone - or did he choose silence over sorrow?
Comment your theories below. What was Ayaan running from? Who placed the bottle? And what lies at the next coordinate?
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