Point Zero
The Oceania flounders in the stormy Pacific when I track it down in the gusty winds and sensing that the people on board are terrified of an imminent danger I swim closer to it and hover around but I do not see anyone at the helm and I see something in the middle of the boat and I think someone is dead indeed it is a body that lies inert when I click and whistle and hear someone scream on the ship that the captain is dead after all and the boat carrying over forty passengers en route to a pacific country and this is that route I know however the dead mans body is on the floor amongst the men sitting crushingly close to one another on the small boat for they are quite lost and know not how to deal with this situation until the decomposing body itself gives them the signal for the putrefied smell is far too much to nose evidently the boat sails off the shores of the Bay of Bengal because I note many boats like this before and I know that the Oceania travels from here when the captain looks in his mid-forties the men scream at each other saying that at the time of the journey he greets them with a smile and he helps them get on board he stacks on the boat at least a months food and water for the entire period to the destination while the boat is near a rock in the middle of the ocean and the passengers see it too but are clueless because they have no sense of place or time as they have no watches to clock in days and nights that their devices are useless without a network they observe big waves come at night and small waves in the day time for they vaguely remember about their whereabouts and what not where is the compass anyway where is the boat heading anyway however at the start as the captain does mention something of the sort about a rock formation out of the splendid Pacific which turns into a veritable island and steering this boat against the large bellowing waves is no easy feat even for an expert navigator like him but he has a heart condition which he conceals that the men on board whisper to one another as to the cause of the sudden death of it all without any warning I wonder too if it is a stroke in the throes of such panic on this rickety boat when survival is alarmingly challenging for the men on board I happen to be with them by a stroke of luck while the boat swerve off course and I find them not captained at all for a while yet passengers pick up the body and throw it overboard when I also stop hovering and come up close with a ruse that I somersault high over the stormy waves so passengers can see me and be awakened for one man does rise from this hapless state to take the wheel and he steers and navigates the boat toward the short distance now sees the island where frolicking waves lave its shore while I swim abreast the boat as long as it takes then this man who brings them to this rock island also known as Point Zero is hailed as a hero because hey the boat people take some really massive hit and nearly die at sea with the captain of the ship when I see something else and now acutely aware of pulsing white lights on the wavering sea surface beckoning me.
Mehreen Ahmed is Bangladeshi-born Australian novelist. She has published ten books to date and works in Litro, BlazeVox, Chiron Review, Centaur Literature, Ice Floe Press and other venues. While her novels have been acclaimed by Midwest Book Review, Drunken Druid Editors Choice, shorts have won contests, Pushcart, James Tait, and five BOTN nominations. Bluesky: @ahmedmehreen.bsky.social. Twitter: @Ahmed2Mehreen
Art: Grid/Ship a vispo construction by Robert Frede Kenter (c) 2025. Twitter: @frede_kenter Bluesky: @rfredekenter.bsky.social.
IceFloe Press 