Was that seaweed on her head?

It wasn’t like any plant I knew. It was out of the water for starters and yet it flowed like it was being caressed by the tides. When seaweed dried and died, its flavours turned foul. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t like the shoreline, too many rotting tastes. The deep waters were  better; crisp, clean with the tang of salt. The ocean was my home.

Yet here I was, bobbing in the swell and watching a creature of fantasy walking in the world above the waves.

The object she moved on wasn’t an island, there was no rotten taste to the waters and it had no rocky roots down to the seabed. It was more like one of those trees that floated by after a storm. Only it looked … made. Put together by people. Who would do such a thing and why? The ancients had built cities in the still of the depths, but no one had needed to add anything for generations. Why should they, we had all we needed?

Then there was the girl. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She looked lithe, her curves like gentle waves, and her skin glowed amber in the sunlight. She was so strange and yet so startlingly beautiful. Unlike the girls under the sea, she moved calmly in the air, back and forth, as if searching for something she couldn’t. I can’t help but wonder what it is? Maybe I should help her.

Neither my younger sisters, nor their friends, would ever come near the surface. They didn’t like the wildness of the world above. All that wind, thrashing and thundering, and during the day the sunlight was blinding. Their eyes were not used to such bizarre intensity. But I had swum this way so often mine had acclimatised to the sun’s rays and I loved the way my skin warmed up, if I lay on the edge of my world, floating between. I could understand why my sisters loved the cool depths. The world of our senses was so comforting. There was no danger and even the sharks didn’t touch us. We were held sacred by those denizens.

But I felt there had to be more and I couldn’t stop myself exploring, even if I wanted to. It was an irresistible force, a greed my father, the Old Man of the Sea, had warned me. Others had swum those currents and all of them vanished. They had died, he cautioned me, consumed by their insatiable hunger. That had frightened me. I’d stayed down in the depths for two weeks after that conversation. But inside my heart I knew I would return to the surface, and here I was.

All I had wanted was to feel the sun on my skin again, but as I neared the surface I saw the floating structure and when my eyes had held the girl, my heart had swirled like a hurricane. I watched the girl with the light coloured wispy seaweed on her head. Her eyes were blue like the waters near a beach. Inviting and warm. I wished she would jump into the sea so I could say hello. I wanted to touch her skin and hold her close, even though she looked so dry. The hunger built up inside me, the swirling grew and, before I knew it, I was swimming up to the floating object.

But how would I survive in the world above and how would I pull myself out of the water? The sides of the floating object were too tall for me to grasp, and as I swam closer I lost sight of the girl. My heart didn’t ease, if anything it grew more desperate. I needed this girl.

There was a contraption hanging between our worlds from the blunt end. Was this a path? A means of crossing over? My heart raced. I stretched my fingers out. Grasping the rung, I pulled myself up. As I cleared the sea, water cascaded from my body. Sunlight heated my skin as a light wind cooled me. It felt so strange and yet so wonderful.

I hadn’t thought how I would breath. I had lived all my life in the water. The air was just too abnormal. I felt panic fighting my hunger, but the thought of the girl was too powerful and I pulled myself up next to her. I didn’t care, even if it meant I would die.

Her eyes burned bright and I could see the whiteness surrounding them. In the centre of the blue, her dark irises pulled at my soul and I knew I was lost forever.

“Hello?” I said, surprised the noise carried, even out of the water.

She smiled. That beautiful strange creature who had captured my heart, smiled at me. My chest rose and fell, with wonder I realised I could breathe the air. It was a miracle.

“Hello. I knew I would find you out here.” Her words sounded so rich, so full of life, my hunger vanished and my heart settled. “I am called Ruby, and we are soul mates, you and I.” Her eyes brimmed with love.

And I knew I would never leave her…

 

I hope you like this month’s offering. I had fun writing it.

So for next month the words will be…

 Character – Short, Supernatural,
Traits – Arrogant, Curious,
Conflict – Weather
Location – Forest
Objects – Message and Vehicle

 Wish me luck…