“I want to go with you,” the
young man said. He was handsome, and earnest.
Navaneh regarded him with shining
silver eyes. “Why?”
“I want to be with you,” he
pleaded.
She shook her head. He was a
dreamer, with a head full of fantasies. “Go home,” she said gently.
He hung his head and turned away,
stuffing his hands in his pockets and kicking the sand in silver puffs as he sulked
away. Navaneh tried not to smile. The next one came.
“Please take me with you,” the woman said. She was beautiful in her way.
Navaneh could see that life had
given her much and taken as well. “Why?”
“There’s nothing more for me
here,” the woman said. “I could be happy with you.”
Navaneh did smile, and blew a
kiss to the woman. “Go home. Your life has much to offer you, if you will take
it.”
The woman touched her hand to her
heart, and turned away. As she walked, her step lightened. Perhaps she would
find her own happiness.
“Please,” the soft voice said.
Navaneh turned to the child. He tugged at his ragged shirt, and she could see his
thin arms and ribs. “Please take me home.”
Home.
“Why?” Navaneh asked.
“Because I dream of the sea at
night. I feel the waves in my heartbeat. I hear the songs of whales in the
wind.”
Navaneh smiled with welcoming joy
and reached out her arms. He walked without hesitation into her embrace. He
rested his head on her shoulder, and she rocked him against her body and tail as
the waves carried them away from the shore.
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Dogs in house:
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Houdini
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Music:
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Jace Everett, “Bad Things”
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Time writing:
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20 minutes
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May word
count:
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4,147
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Prompt: Mermaid on the beach
ReplyDeleteGerald paced along the shore, waiting. When the tide had drawn all the way out past the long black rocks and the moon had risen in the night sky, he was ready to give up. As he headed back, balancing along one of the slippery tide-revealed rocks, a splash--not accounted for by the waves--sounded. He stopped and squinted out over the inky water.
The splash repeated; it came from two rocks distant. He slid down the sharp sides of the rock to the intervening sand, and scrambled across. Waves wet his feet. At the final rock, he knelt and crawled.
"Samantha?" he whispered.
A series of splashes came closer. "Ger?"
"It's me."
Two hands reached out of the water, palms pale in the moonlight. Gerald leaned down and grasped them. He nearly overbalanced, but jammed his elbows into the hard rock and tugged. Samantha emerged from the water, a final thrust of her powerful tail propelling her upwards to sit beside him.
Gerald took his hands back and clasped them in front of him, for the moment not caring about the continued stinging of his elbows nor the wet seeping through his trousers, as he took in her beauty. Her hair fell in multiple braided ropes, woven through with bright chains of pearl and polished coral. She wore it like a cloak, wrapped around past her hips, which faded into dark, iridescent scales.
"Ger," she said softly.
He started. "Sorry."
She laughed, a sound like rain falling into water. "The ships have been sighted."
Gerald nodded, heart falling at the reminder of their mission and the war. "When this is all over--"
She placed a finger on his lips. "The mer live only in the present, my dear, remember."
He nodded again. Did that mean they also knew no past?
Time writing: 50 minutes, very active baby
Oh, I like this! Nie that they already know each other - and the question of past and present - great hook! WWII or other war? I'd love to see more!
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