“Three days ago, a local went looking for the end of that thing. Said he’d find where it led. Took his boat out past the ridge and never came back. We searched till the light gave out. Found the boat drifting the next morning. Empty.”
The younger fisherman cut in, his voice low. “You want to know what was still inside? His radio, his nets… even his lunch. Like he just stepped off.” Elias looked past them toward the sea. The horizon was fading into violet now, and the chain gleamed faintly in the dying light, as if listening.