- COGNITOHAZARD - Enter at your own risk! This page contains cognitive hazards—information that can damage a person's metaphysical, physical, and/or mental well-being simply through knowledge.
The damage is transmitted through reading and/or conversation, and while it is not inherently permanent, there is a small possibility of discomfort, injury, or, in extreme cases, death before the information is re-buried in the reader's brain.
Read only if you believe your mind is sufficiently stable, and remember not to actively search the internet for further information about Pistrix.
Below are classified material related to the case of child neuropsychiatrist Camille Lefevre.
I'm Camille Lefevre, a specialist in child neuropsychiatry. I was asked to assess the behavior of one of the girls who attend Sainte Jeanne d’Arc Elementary School in Guissény, with the utmost discretion, but also with the utmost urgency.
The girl in question is Sabine Fuka, a bright young girl, an orphan with a gentle face showing Asian features (and a perfect French accent, which immediately reveals her birthplace).
When I first met her, it didn't seem at all that she was disturbed
or in need of my help. Very often, adults become alarmed by nothing:
a violent drawing, a made-up story, an imaginary friend. I'm often
called in to raise concerns, common behaviors for children, who need
to express their fantasies, even "violently," if necessary,
as long as no one gets hurt.
Sabine's case has proven, over
time, to be somewhat unusual. Here's what happened (I'll also attach
part of the transcripts of our meetings, so you can get a better idea
of what happened).
Before meeting Sabine, I watched her play with her peers. She's strong, can climb quickly, and has great mobility. I thought it would be a shame to obstruct her fluid movements with the big, flowing skirt she was wearing, but I digress.
Her teachers told me that Sabine told them about some kind of curse and that that was the reason one of her classmates had committed an "extreme" act. I'm not talking about a suicide attempt, although some interpreted it as such.
But let's start in order.
Principal Muller let me borrow her office, a beautiful, airy room
with modern shelves and hardback books with colorful covers: that's
where I met Sabine, escorted by Ms. Faure.
Sabine looked only
slightly confused, and then again, I would have been too if I hadn't
had any idea why she'd been summoned. Madam Faure put her hands on
her shoulders, reassured her that she wasn't in trouble, and left the
room, leaving her with me.
This is a transcript of the conversation I recorded (after asking my little patient's permission):
"«My name is Camille. I'm here to talk to you about what happened to your little friend, Jules. Thank you for letting me record this conversation between us»
«Okay, so if you forget what I said, you can listen to it again later. I like listening to podcasts!»
«Oh, me too! What podcasts do you like?»
«The ones about dinosaur stories, for example. What's it called? Wait, it's called... it's called Dino Adventures! It's this story where people go back in time to discover all the dinosaurs»
«That sounds really interesting»
«They found a spinosaurus! A huge spinosaurus, but it couldn't actually kill a T-rex»
«Oh yeah?»
«Yes! What's your favorite dinosaur?»
«I like mosasaurs»
Here Sabine paused in silence, her face petrified. I thought I'd struck a nerve: mosasaurs were aquatic creatures... like the monster her teachers had told me about. I hoped I hadn't bothered Sabine too much, but the reason she'd reacted that way was different than I'd imagined.
"«Mosasaurs... Mosasaurs, Camille... they're not dinosaurs. Sorry no one ever told you. Sorry, but they're not dinosaurs»
«Oh. I didn't know that»
«They're reptiles. Reptiles that live in water»
«And dinosaurs... aren't they reptiles? Big lizards?»
«No! The dinosaurs alive today are birds, birds aren't reptiles. They're called 'avian dinosaurs.' I'm sorry no one ever told you»
«Well, you told me»."
Sabine breathed a sigh of relief. It was as if she was afraid that if I corrected me, I'd get angry with her. She seems to be used to not correcting adults, to being punished in some way. She went on for a while about dinosaurs, and about the adventures on her favorite podcast, until we got back to the subject.
"«Do you think there might be mosasaurs still alive, Sabine?»
«I think... I think... I don't know. There are many things in the sea»
«Oh yeah. What kind of things are in the sea?»
«Um... there are fish»
«And mosasaurs?»
«Mosasaurs became extinct many millions of years ago. I think so. I don't know, but I think so. But there are mysterious things in the sea»
«Mysterious things, Sabine? Like, for example...?»."
Sabine, here, actually had a strange reaction. She looked out at the sea, her eyes narrowed, and clutched her chest. The École primaire privée Sainte Jeanne d’Arc in Guissény isn't that far from the sea; from the window of the principal's office, you can see the beach and the waves.
"«You're not going to yell at me, are you?»
«I promise you, Sabine. I won't yell at you»
«There's a monster in the sea»
«Why should I yell at you about the monster in the sea?»
«Because you think it's not real»
«But you're someone who knows so many things. About dinosaurs, for example! I want to know what you think of this monster. And I'd also like to know what the others said to you, because they scolded you.»
«I told them. Not a lot, I didn't say a lot! I only told them a couple of times, and I only told the truth»
«What did you say?»
«That the Pistrix is everywhere»."
This was the first time Sabine had mentioned the Pistrix. The word was somehow familiar to me, and seeing how interested the little girl is in the natural world, I immediately assumed it must be the scientific name of some real creature. A mosasaur, perhaps? Or another similar creature, a huge lizard that lives in the water?
"«What is the Pistrix?»
«It lives in the sea. It has a big red crest and a long body, and it has hands»
«Hands? Like a person?»
«Um... I think so. Anyway, it's everywhere. Once you see it, you understand»
«What do you mean?»
«The Pistrix, once you see it, you understand it's everywhere. It's a secret, but a strange one, because once you see it, it's no longer a secret»
«I'm interested, you know? This Pistrix you're talking about... where can I see it?»
«Everywhere»
«Oh yeah? What if I wanted to see it now?»
«Wait, let me finish speaking! Everywhere, if you know where to look! Because it's a sea creature, so you have to look wherever there's a sea»
«And where did you find out about it?»
«Jules and I saw it on a poster»"
Finally, she was talking about Jules. And about the monster. She was doing it spontaneously, with her eyes wide and her hands resting on the desk: she was clearly asking for my attention, while showing her excitement about the story.
"«A poster, Sabine?»
«Yes. Now the poster isn't there anymore; someone took it. But there was this poster, with a drawing of the Pistrix, and on it was written, "This is the Pistrix, now you'll see it everywhere" And it seemed strange to me, and it seemed strange to Jules, too, but then it really happened! We started seeing it everywhere! It had always been everywhere, but we hadn't noticed it»."
At first I thought it was pareidolia: a vague shape, which in their childish minds is recognized even where it isn't there, like when in the dark you end up getting scared of a sweatshirt hanging from the doorknob, or you play at seeing faces and muzzles in the shapes of electrical outlets, in cereal, in clouds.
"«The Pistrix has a red fin, with a kind of... a kind of crown. A long part, on the head. And it has a long body, like a snake's, but flat, because it's a fish»
«I don't think I've ever seen this animal»
«And yet there are so many of them! You've definitely seen it!»
«Can you show me one?»
«I need the sea»".
There was a history book on the desk, and I thought it wouldn't be particularly rude to touch it, even if it wasn't mine. I opened it. I looked for a picture of the sea, found an old nautical map showing Europe (as the ancients imagined it) and a small piece of the Atlantic Ocean.
Sabine lit up, pointing to the page, pointing to a creature that looked exactly as she'd described: a huge snake-fish, with a dorsal fin that extended from its head, forming a high crest.
"«There it is! The Pistrix! See, it's everywhere!»
«Wow. Looks like you were right. And Jules? What does he think?»
«He's seen it more than I have. The Pistrix wants to talk to him»
«The Pistrix wants to talk to Jules?»
«Yes, yes! Jules told me»
«And what does she want to tell him?»
«I don't know. I don't know exactly, wait, I don't know exactly, but I know. She wants to tell him they can meet»
«And how do you know?»
«Jules told me»
«Why do they have to meet each other?»
«I can't explain it to you. You can understand it too, when you start seeing the Pistrix. Now you've seen it, you've seen it too! You'll see it everywhere!»".
Regarding the Pistrix, Sabine refused to say anything else. She told me about her classmates, her homework, and animals she caught in the grass, but she didn't add any information about the monster.
I thought there was nothing abnormal about Sabine, or her imagination: the accident that had happened to Jules was, indeed, an accident, and probably related exclusively to his behavior. Jules was still in the hospital, I couldn't talk to him yet, and it didn't seem particularly important, at this point, to prolong the conversation with Sabine.
The little girl is perceptive. When I thanked her for the time
she'd given me, she understood that our little meeting was coming to
an end and fell silent, her expression suddenly grave.
I think
Sabine felt the need for someone to talk to: not just about the
Pistrix and Jules, but about everything that was close to her heart.
I explained to her that I'd like to meet her little friend as soon as he felt better, when I asked her to He immediately accepted to accompany me. I think seeing me in company of his close friend might help Jules open up more quickly and naturally, especially if I have to investigate a sensitive topic like the mental state behind her actions.
Coming away from that first experience, something stuck with me.
I'd been summoned because Sabine had mentioned a curse, but the little girl never used that term. Seeing the Pistrix, seeing it everywhere, doesn't scare her. It's not a bogeyman chasing her, or a simple puppet created by Sabine and Jules to represent their anxieties: there was a shadow behind this sea monster that I didn't think I fully understood.
---------------
March 3 – 8- Year-Old Boy Rescued After Falling into the Sea in Guissény: He Talked of a Mysterious Creature
Guissény (Finistère) – Moments of great fear occurred yesterday morning along the coast of Guissény, where an eight-year-old boy, Jules V., a student at the École primaire privée Sainte Jeanne d’Arc, was rescued after falling into the sea. According to reconstructions, the child was spotted in the water by passersby around 10:30 a.m.
Rescue operations began immediately: two women present at the scene dived in and rescued him, while SAMU staff responded to the scene. The child was taken to the hospital in critical condition due to drowning, but his condition is now significantly improving.
"He is out of danger and is recovering," hospital
sources said.
However, the incident has raised questions about
the circumstances of the accident. Several witnesses report that
Jules had been behaving unusually in the preceding weeks. The child
had openly confided to classmates, teachers, and family members that
he heard and saw a creature called "Pistrix," which
appeared to him "everywhere": in picture books,
documentaries about marine animals, video games, and while surfing
the internet. According to the child, this entity "spoke"
to him and could have asked him to perform dangerous actions,
including the one that led to yesterday's episode.
At this time, no in-depth psychological assessment has been ordered on Jules, but social services and the school team are closely monitoring the case.
"He's a quiet child, but very imaginative. Lately, he seemed very influenced by something," a person close to the family said anonymously.
Local authorities, in collaboration with the gendarmerie, are
verifying the exact circumstances of the incident, which is currently
classified as an "accidental fall into the sea." The
child's parents thanked the rescuers who promptly saved his life.
The
incident has reopened the debate about children's exposure to digital
content and the boundaries between fantasy and reality in the age of
ever-present media."
---------------
«Jules... Jules...».
The boy taps his foot on the floor while sitting, looking behind him. He's distracted, as if he can see something, but there's nothing outside the closed window, the curtains are drawn, the silence is total except for the chirping of the cicadas.
«Jules!».
Finally, the boy turns around.
«What, Mom?»
«Tell me about this monster in the sea».
The mother glances at the camera she's been asked to turn on and place somewhere in the kitchen to film the conversation.
«I don't want to anymore» Jules kicks under the table, cupping his hands under his chin
«Why, my darling?» the mother asks. A strand of hair has slipped out of its bun and is sliding down her cheek.
Jules grimaces slightly, placing her little hands on the tabletop, fingers spread wide apart.
«Everyone asks me about the monster, but they don't believe it anyway»
«I... I want to understand, Jules. I want to know if I can believe it»
«You're not hitting me, are you?».
The woman laughs, embarrassed. She looks like someone who doesn't want to be seen on camera in this situation, she doesn't want the psychiatrist to think she's hitting her son.
«Of course not, love! No, of course. I just want you to tell me, that's all»
«But you didn't want to know before» Jules scratches his cheek «When I told you about the Pistrix, and showed you the drawings, you told me they were nonsense»
«I'm sorry, my darling. I should have... I should have...».
The woman's eyes are a little watery, she only glances briefly at the camera. Her son notices, but says nothing. From this moment on, he also occasionally looks into the camera, between sentences.
«You don't have to cry, Mom»
«I'm just a little sad because I didn't listen to you»
«But you're a big girl. Grown-ups don't cry»
«Sometimes they do».
Jules looks at the camera, then frowns.
«But, but... you always tell me... that I shouldn't cry because I'm a grown boy and grown-ups don't cry».
The woman sniffs and begins to fiddle with the milk and a small saucepan, heating the drink. She has her back turned to her son, not looking at hime.
«This monster is really scary even for grown-ups, Jules. Maybe it can make them cry»
«I didn't cry» The boy puffs out his chest, raising his chin «Not even when I was dying»
«Honey... oh, honey...»
«And the monster isn't as scary as you say»
«And what's it like?»
«It's beautiful. I mean, it's... it's very cool. It's a very big fish, very long, with a body that looks like a snake, and it has fins and red hair»
«The monster has hair?»
«The things... the things on its head» Jules gestures with her little hands, trying to make it clear that it's a crest «A kind of crown, but it's a fish, so it's hair because it's made of his body»
«So it's a fish»
«Yeah»
«And why did you go into the water to see it? How did you know it was there?»
«Because it calls me».
Jules looks at the camera, then turns his head to look at the drawn curtains, as if trying to see through the veil. His mother is opening a bag of cocoa, but her hands are shaking; some powder lands near the stove, causing a faint crackle in the flames.
«Is it... calling you? Fish don't talk, honey»
«That's why I say it's a monster. It's a monster fish, because it has arms, like a normal one, a normal man, and it talks»
«And it's calling you?»
«Yes. It's calling me» Jules places his fingers on his temple «Sometimes I only see it, but I know it's calling me, because it's only showing itself to me»
«Are you the only one who sees it, honey?»
«Isn't it a... what do you say when you're the only one who sees things, like you're crazy?»
«A hallucination, honey?»
«It's not a hallucination. It's in the drawings; if I show it to other people, they'll see it too, so I know it's real. But then sometimes I actually hear his voice, but that only comes from the sea»
«Did you think it might not be real?»
«THAT'S IT!» Jules blurts out, stands up, and bangs his fists on the table «That's why I didn't want to talk! It's true, it's true, it's true! But you're always like this, you tell me it's not true, everyone tells me it's not true!»
«Honey, I didn't mean to... I was just saying...»
«You tell lies, like how Armande didn't have the new bike her mother bought him for his good grades, but then she did! I don't tell lies! I never do! You tell them!»
«Jules... Jules...»
«What, mom?».
Silence falls over the kitchen. Jules is silent: he's waiting to understand why his mother interrupted him, what she has to say. He instinctively understands that, in front of the watchful eye of the camera, his mother can't say nonsense, can't dismiss his questions or accusations, can't tell him "that's just the way it is" or send him to bed without dinner. So he waits patiently.
His mother sighs. She stirs the milk, adding sugar and cocoa powder, with a wooden spoon.
«I made you a cup of hot cocoa for you» She says «Nice and sweet, just the way you like it»
«Thanks, Mom»
«Sorry. It's just that thinking that a monster fish exists... it scares me so much, so I'd rather it weren't true»
«He's not bad, Mom. He likes children. I think there are others, at the bottom of the sea... I've seen them».
Jules's voice has dropped to a whisper. His mother is clearly scared; as she pours the hot chocolate into the cups, she holds one hand pressed to her heart.
«And what were the children doing in the sea?» She asks, her voice shaking
«They swim, I think» Jules shrugged «They learn to breathe underwater. Otherwise, they die, right? And then they get eyes like fish!»
«What do you mean... like fish?».
Jules puts his fingers around his eye sockets, widening his eyes.
«Round and clear, shining, like fish eyes» Jules lowers his hands «But they never blink».
---------------
I stopped watching the video and leaned back on the couch. I had asked Jules's family to record his testimony in a quiet place, with people he trusted, so as not to stress him psychologically after that time in the hospital.
Maybe I shouldn't have... his mother usually didn't believe him, that was more than obvious, and that moment must have put him under pressure. How sad.
But perhaps I had solved the mystery: the child must have invented that whole story, using elements he'd actually encountered in his life, to get his family's attention, and when that failed, he had resorted to an act that was truly a desperate cry for help: throwing himself into the sea. And only now, after being discharged from the hospital, was his mother asking him about pistrix, reinforcing in his mind the idea that he had to hurt himself, or put himself in danger, to get the adults to listen to him.
Luckily, there was a treatment for this problem, and it was quite easy to apply: his parents just had to learn to listen to him a little more, and with time, Jules would stop trying to worry them to get noticed.
I began writing my report, the diagnosis, a small set of simple rules that parents should apply. I had just finished writing Lefevre, my last name, when I realized that because of the
While the player was in standby mode, the television had switched to a documentary channel (the one I usually watched at that time of night) and was showing a man lowering himself into the water, in a dense, pitch-black darkness.
A flash of silver in the darkness, the long, ribbon-like body of a fish, filled the screen and made me jump. It was just a regaleco, or oarfish: the narrator said so. I calmed down, then the voice added: «These legendary creatures, rarely seen alive, seem to have given rise to the legend of sea monsters. They are also called 'doomsday fish', due to an ancient superstition: seeing one of these creatures means that something terrible, even disastrous, is about to happen...».
He went on to say that scientists disagreed, that there was no correlation between the appearance of those fish and the natural disasters blamed on them, and although I believed him, the knot in my stomach remained there for the entire evening.
---------------
I'd just spoken to Jules's mother (his father was apparently at work, but she promised me her husband would follow the rules) and had gone out when I saw the boy. He was sitting outside with his friend Sabine, whom I'd interviewed some time earlier, and they were reading something: it was a huge book, so much so that they were holding it open on both of their laps.
Sabine waved at me, waving.
«Ma'am Camille!» She said «There's the Pistrix, come see it!».
I felt that sensation again, a knot in my stomach, but smiling, I approached them. It was a fantasy book they were reading, with islands I'd never seen before, with fanciful shapes, a map designed to look ancient, though to an adult it was obvious it had been created digitally. Among the jagged islands, in the sea, was a sort of serpent, with a high red crest and a pair of muscular front legs. It was just a fantasy creature, a common sea serpent, and yet it made my stomach clench.
I told myself it was completely normal that, meeting two children obsessed with that concept, I would once again encounter a creature with that shape: a large blue/silver ribbon, a red crest... the symbol of an unexplored sea.
I stayed to talk with them for a while; they told me the story of
that book, about elves who traveled from one island to another on a
silver ship, looking for a new home. Then Jules's mother called the
children, and I went back to the car.
I went out to eat that
evening. It wasn't an old restaurant I chose, nor even a seafood
restaurant. There was no way I'd encounter a "Pistrix"...
and yet I did.
It was on a boy's shirt: a cartoonish creature, with a snake-like body, a gaping mouth, and a tall red crest. Between forkfuls of pasta, I watched the boy trading cards with his friend. They were laughing, talking, using the names of creatures I didn't recognize. When I finished my pasta, I stood up and approached them.
«Hi» I said, raising a hand.
First the boy with the pistrix on his shirt, then the other one, looked at me. They were still smiling, but they were a little perplexed.
«Sorry, just one question» I clarified, watching the tension drain from their faces immediately «What's that creature on your shirt?».
The boy lowered his eyes to his chest, and when he raised his face, he was smiling even wider.
«It's a Shiny Gyarados» He said to me
«Unfortunately, I don't know what it is. It comes from somewhere...»
«It's a Pokémon»
«Ah, okay! Thanks so much! It's a really cool Pokémon, I wanted to know what it was called. Nice shirt!»
«Thanks!».
I said bye and returned to the table. It was a Pokémon, a creature from one of the world's largest and most pervasive franchises, yet I'd never seen it before. I pulled out my phone and searched for gyarados. Actually, I searched for several words that vaguely sounded like gyarados before finally finding what I was looking for.
The first games in the series apparently described it as "Uncommon in the wild. Huge and vicious, it can destroy entire cities in a single attack." A rare creature, whose appearance brings destruction. The doomsday fish. The Pistrix.
How silly! It was just another fantasy creature, nothing like the
imaginary monster conjured by an over-ignored child... or rather,
that was the basic concept, but...
I ate the second course, some
meat. I didn't have the stomach for fish at that moment.
On the way back, looking out the window, I saw a fishmonger's shop. On the wall were tiles, and on those tiles were drawings of fish. And the biggest fish of all? A long, crested ribbon, with a protruding face, a dragon of the deep. Luckily, I'd already eaten.
March 29
I'm not making any effort to find out more. I haven't looked it up
online, I haven't gone to the library to borrow books about the sea.
I'm not making any effort, yet it keeps showing up.
I'm writing
these words because, rereading them, I think I'll understand how
silly my concern sounds.
A little patient of mine brought me a stuffed animal: it was a sea serpent, with a cream-and-blue body, two drooping red-pink crests. Another Pokémon, it seemed, was a certain Milotic. I looked for other Pokémon after meeting the boy: it's unusual for them to look like that; sometimes they look like insects, sometimes mammals, sometimes even objects. I don't understand how it's possible that the only two "sea serpents" have just come across me.
Or maybe they've always been before my eyes and I've just never noticed? Maybe my little patient already showed me that stuffed animal, some time ago. It wasn't new.
March 31
I watched some YouTube at lunch. There's no way YouTube knows what's going on inside my head, right? And I clicked on videos that were supposedly nowhere near the possibility of seeing a specific monster resembling a specific deep-sea fish.
I like watching people play video games while I eat; it relaxes me. My favorite YouTuber had released a new video, so I clicked on it... and apparently he'd decided to resume playing a game he'd put on hold for a while, Subnautica. I'd been avidly following the previous episodes, so I didn't care if it was set underwater; it would certainly be relaxing.
And instead, I found myself already banging the laptop screen when the player started screaming because a huge sea serpent, with a very long red dorsal fin and a frankly terrifying face, started chasing him. I slowly reopened the laptop. Hm. A Reaper Leviathan.
It was certainly a coincidence that was starting to get creepy.
April 1
My mother had a pistrix embroidered on the shoulder of her dress. When I pointed it out to her, she simply said, "I didn't think it was a snake, I thought it was a flower." Well, it was neither.
I decided to watch something on YouTube that didn't involve dangerous sea adventures: Animal Crossing. The player who uploaded the video fished out an oarfish. I didn't even know there were oarfish in the game; it made no sense. Why, why an oarfish?
I didn't know how to distract myself; I was starting to get scared of starting something new and seeing it there too... because if that happened, it meant it was real, that that figure was haunting me, that from the moment I'd noticed its presence, it had started chasing me.
I went out for a walk. I knew I wasn't safe. I saw a sticker on a pole. "FOLLOW THE PISTRIX," it said. My heart began to race: this wasn't some fantasy monster that could even vaguely resemble the object of my fears, it was him, name and all. The writing wrapped around a long, silvery fish with a high red crest. There was a QR code in the middle. I didn't scan it; I don't care what it leads to, no.
No, no, no.
April 2
I didn't open the internet, I didn't turn on the television. Since I didn't have to leave for work, I simply placed a food order over the phone and waited inside. Safe from the pistrix.
Someone rang the doorbell. Obviously, it was my food. A very pretty Chinese girl handed me my sushi box. I smiled, paid, thanked her, and when I returned, after placing the food on the table, I sat down with my heart pounding. On the sushi box was a long creature, with a gray and red dorsal fin, and two muscular but short front legs. It was an oriental dragon, obviously, not a pistrix... but it was as if, despite all my precautions, the abyss was trying to reach me, offering me its form once again.
April 3
Perseus defeated a sea monster. Did you know that? I know now. A pistrix, named Cetus. I saw its image on a photo of a Greek vase, displayed in my dentist's office.
And did you know that Tiamat, the famous dragon from Dungeons and Dragons, actually existed in human mythology, and was a sea serpent? I know this because Alexandra, our DM, sent me a very long voice message telling me about her sudden inspiration for the end of our campaign, where our characters have to face the dragon underwater.
It can't all be a coincidence, can it? I'm not going to the Dungeons and Dragons session tomorrow.
April 4
My mother sent me a photo of an oarfish. She, who never cared about animals.
Look, I'm writing like an idiot! It's all incoherent. I write like a little girl. I don't know how many times I've
The tense has changed. What's happening to me? I'm going outside. I can't be afraid of a scarecrow invented by a child.
If only... if only I had been like Jules's mother, who half listens and half forgets, if only I had never known what she saw.
April 5
I have chills all over my body, I can't stop shaking. I have no words to describe what happened. I'm pasting the newspaper article I clipped here, because the detached tone of someone who doesn't really know the facts, of someone who simply has to write something they've heard, is the only good way to tell what happened.
---------------
Guissény: 8-year-old girl lost at sea near the Sainte Jeanne
d'Arc school
A new tragedy strikes the Finistère coast. Sabine
F., a student at the Sainte Jeanne d'Arc private primary school, fell
into the water at the same spot where her classmate Jules fell months
ago.
The child was saved, but it's worth noting that before the accident, he had spoken at length about a "monster" called a pistrix. After his recovery, all references to the creature ceased. Now, authorities fear the cause of Sabine's accident is the same.
GUISSÉNY (Finistère) – The search has continued relentlessly since yesterday afternoon off the beach of Guissény, a few dozen meters from the Sainte Jeanne d'Arc Private Primary School. Sabine F., eight, is missing after falling into the sea. An eyewitness witnessed the scene and immediately raised the alarm, but neither first responders nor the vessels that responded were able to locate the girl.
According to initial information provided by the Plouguerneau gendarmerie, the little girl broke away from her classmates during an extended outdoor recess—a common practice when weather permits—and headed toward the low cliff that borders the schoolyard. Without apparent hesitation, she reached the exact spot where her friend Jules, a boy in the same class, had fallen last month. That fall, too, was sudden, but was quickly rescued.
Jules was admitted for observation to the hospital in Brest and released after a few days in perfect health. At the time of the incident, the child had repeatedly reported seeing a sea monster he called a pistrix "everywhere." His descriptions, initially attributed to the imagination of a frightened child, were investigated by school psychologists. As the weeks passed, however, all mention of the pistrix disappeared from Jules's accounts, and he resumed his normal school and sports activities.
Yesterday, around 4:30 PM, the tragic sequence repeated itself.
"Sabine was walking straight toward the water, as if following something or someone," reported the witness, a parent who was on the seafront. "She didn't scream, she didn't run. She simply entered the sea."
The sea conditions, calm but with a strong rip current in that stretch, thwarted immediate rescue efforts. Divers from the Brest fire department, the SNSM (National Sea Rescue Society), and a Civil Security helicopter responded to the scene. The search, coordinated by the Finistère prefecture, continued into the night with naval vessels and underwater drones. The little girl is currently considered missing; no personal belongings or reliable traces of her have yet been found.
The management of the École Sainte Jeanne d'Arc issued a brief statement: "The school community is in shock. All staff are available to support families and authorities. Our thoughts are with Sabine and her foster family. The school will be closed on Monday to allow the students to receive psychological support.
Investigators are not ruling out any hypothesis, but sources close to the investigation emphasize that "there are strong fears of a connection to the March incident." The fact that Sabine chose, apparently for no reason, the same critical point on the cliff has rekindled questions about what really happened to Jules and why, after months of silence, the "pistrix" seems to have struck again.
The search will continue at least until tomorrow. The population of Guissény is asked to report any object or clue that could aid the operation.
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April 8
I look out at the sea. Salty splashes bounce off the cover of my diary. What have I come here to do?
I tell myself that I'm doing this because being afraid of this is crazy, and that I need to see with my own eyes that nothing is haunting me. Once I realize it's just my imagination, I'm sure my life will return to normal.
That's how it works. I do therapy on my own, telling myself I was stupid. There's nothing in the sea: only its gray waves under an equally gray sky, white foam forming broken lines at the top of the waves before they crash a foot from my feet. I move closer. There's nothing. Nothing.
Maybe just that reflection of light that looks like two eyes, but it's just light. It's called "pareidolia." Our brain is naturally driven to recognize faces, so much so that sometimes it sees them where they don't exist. Once upon a time, it was an excellent mechanism to keep us alive, to make us recognize the faces of tigers spying on us from the branches, the whites of the eyes of enemies aiming their arrows at our hearts. Today, pareidolia makes us see a face in the shape of a handgrip, in the arrangement of two stones, in the light reflecting off the surface of the sea.
Except that there's only one sun in the sky. I look up, then down
again. Only one sun in the sky, a single light source, which cannot
produce two white, close-set circles.
I lean further into the
water. Splashes, salty splashes against my legs, against my fingers.
Not the reflection of light, but eyes, down beyond the rocks, beneath the gray waves.
I quickly walk away.
If you ever read these words of mine, don't pay attention to them. There's no pistrix, forget it now... take it as a child's joke, a prank meant to make you nervous, because if you take it seriously, then you'll start seeing it everywhere. It will call to you.
If, as Nietzsche said, you gaze too long into the abyss, then the abyss will gaze back at you.
And it might not be pleasant at all.
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