The speed boat crashes against the waves making her squeal with delight. He laughs, pride swelling in his chest. He will have to remember to thank his brother for lending him the boat later.
“Look over there,” he yells, pointing at an outcropping in the rocks. She shields her eyes from the sun with her hand. “What is it?” “There’s a dark, mystical cave in there.” He pulls the boat up on the beach and cuts the engine. “Just a minute,” he says as he jumps out to tie down the boat. Once he’s confident it’s secured, he reaches a hand out to her. “Why, thank you sir,” she says playfully. He winks, the corner of his mouth up in a smirk. Hand in hand they run off to the cave. “Oh, it’s misty in here,” she takes a deep breath. “There’s a hot spring in the back.” The cold air from the ocean mixes with the heat from the hot springs making the air humid. His fingers tangle in her knotted, frizzy hair. Their bodies quickly covered in mist. “How’d you find this place?” She looks around, amazed. “It’s my secret,” he tries to charm her by claiming the magnificent cave. Again he tries to pull her in for a kiss. Just as he leans in, she turns away to run to the hot springs. “Hey,” he yells after her, “wait up. It’s dark. You need the light to see where you’re going. There are…” “Ouch,” her screams interrupt him. She sits and grabs her foot, her bikini barely hanging on. Quickly he runs to her and bends down at her side, “are you ok? Let me look.” He grabs her foot and shines a flashlight on it to see a deep cut on the side. “I didn’t know the rocks were so sharp.” She tries to fight the tears that are threatening to spill over. Her foot is throbbing in pain. “Let’s go wash it in the hot springs.” He helps her up, keeping a hold of her, he helps her sit on a smooth rock at the edge of the pool. “It is pretty hot, so put your foot in slowly.” She nods and does as he says. The water feels soft. It wraps around her foot like velvet. She eases her foot into the water feeling immediately comforted by it. “Does that feel okay?” “Mmmm-hhmmm,” she moans. He sits down beside her, smiling. She looks so serene; all he wants is to kiss her. He brushes her hair away from her neck and leans closer. He can taste the salt on her skin, his lips brushing lightly on her neck. “Mmmmm,” she moans again. Taking her moaning as approval to his advancements, he kisses her neck moving up to her jaw bone. He kisses her slowly, making his way to her lips. He is curious if they are as soft as they look. He looks up at her. From the corner of his eye, he sees something moving in the water. Not sure what it is, he turns slowly to look at the water. He shakes her arm to get her attention, but she doesn’t move. He looks at her again and sees her eyes are still closed. “Maia,” he shouts. She only moans in response. He looks at her, confused, before looking again at the water. The stuff in the water is black and has wrapped around her foot. “Maia,” he shouts again, panic in his voice. She sways as if in a trance. He grabs her arm putting it around his shoulder to try and lift her out of the water. The black stuff begins to move up her leg slowly. He pulls on her with all of his strength but the black stuff holds her in its grip. He reaches behind him for where he’s dropped his emergency pack. “Shit,” he mumbles, stretching as much as he can to reach it. “Maia, please,” he pleads with her, “please wake up.” The water begins to sparkle and the black liquid moves more quickly up Maia’s leg, now up to her thigh. He takes her arm off his shoulder and holds her hand. It is enough that he is able to reach his pack. He fumbles through it until he finds his fishing knife. “Maia,” he whispers in her ear, “Wake up Maia. Please wake up.” He pleads, shaking her only just slightly. “Arrggg,” he groans in frustration when she gives no response. He holds the knife tight, knowing he must get the black stuff off of her. He looks at it closely and sees that it has attached itself to Maia’s cut foot. He takes a deep breath to steady himself. “Okay, okay. Cut it, grab her and run.” He wipes the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. He stabs at the black liquid three times. Moving quickly, he wraps his arms around her waist and tries to pick her up. He falls to his knees as the liquid holds strong. The liquid, now up to her waist, touches his arm and he screams out in pain. “No, no, no,” he screams. He stabs at the black liquid over and over again. “Let her go.” He yells desperately. The liquid moves quickly, now up to Maia’s breasts. Frantically he stabs at the water. Tears fill his eyes, making it hard to see. He loses his footing and falls into the water. His arms begin flailing trying desperately to break the surface. He can see Maia sitting on the edge, the black liquid up to her jaw. She opens her eyes and looks down at him beneath the water. Her eyes seem to sparkle and she smiles. Slowly, she slides into the water. He flails and kicks, his lungs running out of air. His pleading eyes stare into hers as she brings her face close to his. She is completely covered in the black liquid, her body sleek and smooth with it. She holds his face and brings her lips to his. Without hesitating, he parts his lips for her. She sucks out the last of his air; his eyes open wide in shock. She can see the fear in his eyes. “Don’t be afraid Dylan,” she caresses him with her voice. “I am Maia, Goddess of water.” She smiles at him sweetly. “Thank you for bringing me home.” His kicks are futile. He has no air or strength left. The hot water relaxes his muscles despite the screaming in his brain. “And you Dylan,” she taps him on the tip of his nose, “Will be the God of water.” The light around them starts to fade as Maia pulls Dylan into the depths of the hot springs. Going deeper than he would have ever imagined; to a secret world beneath the cave. (c) Rachel Rennie 2015
4 Comments
My day started the same as every week day does. With my alarm rudely interrupting my sleep at 545 am. But after the 6 am reminder that I need to get up now, things changed for me today. Last night I made a conscious decision that I am done being unhappy about my figure and I am done with doing nothing about it. Being in a car accident limited me which depressed me. Looking in my closet as the clothes seemed to get smaller was also depressing. For a long time I gave in to that depression and openend up that bag of chips and shared the minimum amount so as to not call myself a piggy. When I was given approval from my physician to start with my workouts again, my symptoms returned and I stopped. I vowed to start slow. To focus on three things. More sleep. More water. And more movement. Well, that more, it is simply not enough. This morning, after fifteen minutes of pleading with the clock, I reluctantly rolled out of bed. I remembered the promise I had made to myself. As a blogger friend said, "Every day is the first day." And today was the first day of keeping my promises to me. This morning, I got my sweat on with Shelly Dose, who I stumbled upon on Google+. Check out her YouTube channel. A little while later, my daughter and I went to the library to return some books that were due. I swore that I took three steps to get up to the drop off box. But for some odd reason there were only two to come down. Even more odd was the fact that the pavement was marked for a step that was not there. My brain did not comprehend this and I took a step down only to find my footing off and my foot "stuck" to the pavement. Being my daughter, she laughed with me about my near fall all the way across the parking lot. She wished she had captured the moment on camera. It must have been a sight to see. Thankfully for me, we do not allow our children to have cell phones until a much later age. This afternoon we have a couple more appointments. Before which, I have promised my "curly hairs" that I would transfer them to match their "straight hair" siblings. I keep telling them how much I envy their curls. But they do not care. They want me to do their hair for them. How is your day going? What are your plans? A little taste of poetry from me.... Her name is Rachel. Just like me. She tries to talk to her mom. We’re in a loud gym. The mom says she can't hear her. Rachel repeats herself a little louder. But not too loud. It's private and there are lots of people here. No sooner does she start and the mom turns away from her. Rachel puts her feet on her chair, pulling her knees to her chest to hide her crying. But, I see it. Mom turns to whisper yell at her to put her feet down. With a little defiance she does as she's told. Mom doesn't acknowledge the tears still fresh on her cheeks. Again Rachel speaks. Again she is ignored. And again she raises her knees. Feet on the chair. When mom turns to whisper yell, the feet go down with a bang. Rachel tries to speak. Mom makes a face. Feet go up. More whisper yells. Another bang. Mom turns to dad to take Rachel out of the room The good husband obeys. Mom laughs about it to the friend. Dad returns with Rachel. Rachel hugs her mom and is told to have a seat. Tears run down Rachel’s cheeks. She no longer tries to hide them. Tapping moms arm to speak. Mom glances and turns away. Once. Twice. Third time she speaks. Rachel goes unheard. Just like me. I am fascinated by the moon. I'm not really sure why and I know I am not the only one. Perhaps it is the mystery that surrounds the moon that fascinates me so. Or maybe, the romance. Perhaps the stories of creatures that only come out during a full moon that piques my imagination. One thing I miss about my youth is sitting in the yard staring at the sky. The city has its advantages, but living out of the city and the light pollution, I am looking forward to better photo opportunities of the moon. And then of course, there is the sun. The sun that brightens every day, even if it has to fight with the clouds it still manages to give us "daylight". The sun that warms our faces, gives us hope of new life. Sun rise or sun set, both are equally beautiful.
|