M y gramps passed away a a few weeks ago. My parents said it was colon cancer and old age. I wasnt able to go to the funeral because of the virus. My cousins and I would call him "Old Bugs" for fun since even though he was grouchy, he would play with us and tell us fantastic stories. As I grew up though the stories became strange. He would only tell me these stories when nobody else was around, like when my parents would leave me with him while they went on business trips. He'd tell me these strange stories while sitting in his giant leather armchair. He worked on a submarine in the Navy when he was younger as a radio operator. For months on end he lived in the cramped spaces of a military sub underwater in the Atlantic, taking and receiving calls, listening for enemies talking. All he heard usually was static but one day when the sub was operating deep near the ocean surface, he heard something odd. It was a deep gutteral voice speaking in repeated tones but in no language he ever heard before. In a few seconds the voice disappeared only to be replaced by static.

One day a few months before he died he told me to wait for him while he went up into his attic to find something. I wanted to help him since he was old and wobbly but insisted that I stay downstairs. He came back, huffing and puffing from the excersion with an object in his hands.

"I want you to have it," he told me almost in a whisper and gave it to me.

The object felt heavy like it was made out of a stone but touching the dark greenish gleaming surface always felt strangely warm. It was a small figurine of...something, like a fish-tentacle pagan god with wings, worn from however long it was underwater. It still looks really creepy but I dont want to get rid of it since its the last thing I have left of Gramps.

I asked Gramps what it was and he said he found it one time when the submarine surfaced, lying on the deck covered in seaweed. He didnt know what it was but wanted me to have it.

"You're a smart kid. Find out what the hell it is," he told me.