No one swims at Gethin’s Beach. Not anymore. True, it is a sheltered spot, and the currents here seem gentler than is generally the case around Hopeless. There used to be a small settlement here, but they are long gone. Or at least, they are no longer present as people.

At high tide, you cannot see them at all. But, as the waters recede, they reappear. With each tide they become a little less like the people they once were – these days if you did not know what you were seeing, you might mistake them for rocks.

Once a year, Reverend Davies brings people out here to shout the names of the dead. We do not really know if they are dead – they don’t move any more, and people who spend that much time in the sea can hardly be expected to be alive. And yet, we do not know if they still hear us. All we can do is come to them, year on year, and call out their names so that they know we haven’t forgotten them.

It’s a good time to shout the names of the recent dead, too, and those other souls lost to the sea. Do not get close to the waves. We do not know what befell the people of Gethin’s Beach, and while the beach itself seems as (un)safe as any other, it may be that something in the water transformed them and trapped them here.

(Photo by Keith Errington, text by Nimue.)