2/25/11

Alone With The Sea
By Shane Crabtree


She sat alone; staring out over the sea, the moonlight glinting off the surface put her in mind of an underwater sun instead of her Moon. For some reason this idea disturbed her, ignited a spark of fear. What was it like under the dark, inky surface? How was Atlantis? How do the citizens of the underwater city take to visitors? Kindly, she hoped.

The window was open and every once in a while the shutters would be caught by a faint sea breeze, causing them to creak in the night. The smell of salt and seaweed enveloped her senses. It wrapped her body, comforting her, giving her hope. She could feel the ocean, the wetness, the salty taste. But no…that’s not the sea, it was her tears. She had not noticed them falling.

There was a faint chiming in the background, one, two, three in the morning. How long had it been? How many days had she sat there? How many nights? Days filled with sorrow, nights filled with longing. Is that what love was? What it felt like? How could the fairy tales be wrong? Where was her knight; her Lancelot?

How long had he been gone? A short voyage he had said, no more than a week. It was fishing season after all, and this could be the last of the summer. But the week had fled, the pages falling from the calendar like autumn leaves in a forest of oaks. It was in the fourth week and the optimism was dying, but she could not accept the reality. He would come home. They were simply having better luck at the fishing than they had expected. That was all. God, if it could be true, she thought.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of the shutter slamming off the side of the house. The wind was starting to pick up, blowing clouds in from out over the Pacific. The clouds were attempting to block out the Moon but She wouldn’t give up, She was lighting the way for him. The faint glow was shining behind the clouds in the manner a lamp does when concealed behind a hand.

Crack! A streak of lightning ripped the night sky, appearing to open a hole into heaven. Can you hear me God? Can you see him? Do you know where he’s at? Thunder and a torrent of rain was His response. The drops were beating on the tin roof with the fervor of a thousand tiny dancers on opening night.

As the clouds drifted and the Moon could once again shine Her light unfiltered, she thought she caught a glimpse of…but how could that be? Had she finally gone mad? But the following jolt of lightning confirmed it. There was her love, standing out in the ocean. No, she corrected herself, not in the ocean, on the ocean. He was smiling. He looked, not quite happy, but definitely content, and he was waving for her to join him.

She was quickly sliding out the window, her toes squelching in the sand as she landed. She used to love that feeling, the warmth seeping between and over her toes, but tonight she cursed the sand and wished for more solid ground so that she may run all the faster. She looked upon her love, surprised to see that he would not meet her halfway, that she must go to him. But that was like him, wasn’t it? Anything to irk her; to keep her waiting.

As she crashed into the waves she was surprised, the water was much colder than she had expected, but it didn’t matter, not now. He was home, he was safe, but something felt wrong. Where was the boat? The crew? And how long had it been since One had walked on water? But her love and excitement would not allow these thoughts to linger; they were gone as soon as they formed. They simply did not matter.

She was now far enough out to swim, but her beloved seemed no closer. Unperturbed she kicked all the harder, paddled all the faster. Fighting the waves that sought to keep her beached, cursing Poseidon with every other breath. The rain was beating down harder than anyone save Noah had ever seen, causing the sea to raise as quickly as her bath would have.

She swam for what seemed like hours. Her shoulders screaming in pain, her eyes bloodshot from the salt. She looked up, searching for her love. He was nowhere to be found. She cursed her luck, cursed the Moon and Her mocking face, but most of all cursed her foolishness. She had seen a shimmer of moonlight on the surface of the ocean and imagined it to be him, and now she would die for it. She had no strength to swim back; she was barely staying afloat as it was, the ocean’s fingers caressing her bottom lip, sometimes growing so bold as to brush her nostrils.

Resigned to her fate, she stopped the struggle and let herself sink into the depths. Water poured down her throat, igniting her lungs, pushing out the last bit of oxygen and replacing it with salty poison. She opened her eyes. At least she would know what was under the sea, could see for herself if Disney’s representation was in any way accurate.

And there he was, glowing, translucent. Smiling and waving as before, but this time not out of reach. They embraced, and now his smile was one of unrivaled happiness. She held her love, fingers running through his hair and his through hers, their tears adding depth to the ocean. Their souls seemed to intertwine, their hearts beating as one; their hearts slowing as one. When her body had had enough, and her lungs collapsed, she was finally happy. Her body fell away, sinking to the depths, but that no longer mattered. He had come back to her.

***
The rain passed on, looking for another lonely soul to entertain. The waves calmed and became a liquid mirror, reflecting the image of the Moon, watching eternally, alone with the sea.



- - -
I'm a 21 year old college student from Abingdon, VA. I currently live in Johnson City, TN and am a senior at East Tennessee State University. My life is reading, writing, listening to music, and running.