Undertow

There’s a reef not marked on any map. Just south of a headland nobody names. You won’t find it in the guidebooks, and the locals won’t talk about itBut every now and then, someone finds themselves there. its Undertow was captured. Or maybe found is the better word. The ocean changes out there. The colours deepen. Sound drops away. The way the water draws back like it’s breathing in. Wave forms that shouldn’t be real. But it doesn’t break straight away. Like it knows you’re watching. The wave doesn’t explode. It folds. Thick, deliberate, like it’s reclaiming something. And if you’re too close, you’ll go with it. Not out to sea, but down. A mate reckons he saw someone out there once. Not surfing, just sitting in the channel. Came in and said “Some waves are meant to be ridden. Others are meant to be remembered’