How Deep is their love?
Deep in the abyss, he stirred the sea with his webbed fingers and toes. Caressing the waters like it were Sirens’ hair in moonlit algae pools.
Salt and rust, the Marina tasted more like blood than seawater. Not that it was something he noticed, this was necessity more than lust. Lunging forward through the murky waters he is pulled by a force unknown, a corruption of nature, a martyr to his instincts - he follows.
A purring, low growl calls out to the shallows as he peaks his head above the waters and scans the docks from Sips Head.
Puffing out all his air he prepares to take in the scent of the air above the depths of where he was created.
Long was the heaving journey from the dark of the deep,
Strong are the arms that carried him to the inlet of the bay.
Weak were his legs as he staggered over the pebbles that were scattered over the wet sands of the shoreline.
Vast was the depths behind him, gaping like the open mouth of a God.
Tolba bay on the west coast of Soloman Island, once a haven for flora and fauna of New England, a hotspot for lovers of idyllic islands, now home to the walking, crawling and sleeping dead. Its horseshoe-shaped landscape nestled as an appendix of the Island gathering the dregs of the deep into a shoal of aquatic speed dating.
“Find the maiden”. … .
The stars that shone down through the eye of the swirling mists, reflected over the milky waters below. The moon always appeared as if it were full. Bright and glaring, lighting up the abandoned fishing trawlers now guarded by hulking leaders of the tidal deep. The tiny, wet stones mirrored the reflection of the stars in the water. Their mossy exteriors glisten with moonlight.
Through the mists that surrounded the island and lay heavy over the water, a maiden walks across the jetty towards the vista of the bay. Slowly, she drags her feet over the uncared-for wood. Splinters ripped over her barnacled toes. Without flinching she stops at the edge. Flanked on either side by sloping, crooked steps, she breathes into the night. Worn tires hung along the edge of the jetty, just kissing the top of the waters below her gnarled feet. Slimy traps left by long-gone fishermen lay like omens of what was to come. Their cage doors open and nothing inside but rot and endings.
As she heaved, her bosom draped in seaweed, her scent excited the clammy skin of his body as it rippled around him, like rain pats the surface of the water, as sand scattered by the wind over a still lake. He drools with a hunger that led him there. His desire is unending.
Passing the stakes and pikes that lined the shores, his tail swooshing as if having a mind of its own, brushing over the burnt-out pyres, releasing ash into the air. The smell of embers never overpowering her pheromonal release - He draws nearer.
BANG
A gunshot rings out
BANG
And another.
The Deep one, entranced by his mistress, slumped into the water he came from.
The Maiden toppled over the jetty into a flooded boat underneath the decaying wood.
They both lay motionless.
“This Wabanaki superwoman don’t need no gun, I see you”
Lowering her rifle, still holding the sponge in her hand that she used to clean the counter of Reds Bait and Tackle, Ami glares out into the bay.
Her heart pounded in tribal rhythm, adrenaline turning into maternal relief.
“Mom!” - Her daughter, Kyra runs to her side.
“It’s okay Kyra, they’re gone” - Ami, placing the rifle behind a ladder that rested near the door inside the shop, curling her arm around her daughter.
“Are they gross? When’s Dad coming home? Can we go see Uncle Joe? Can we?” - Kyra, unconcerned by the gunshots and Draug, looks yearningly at her mother.
Ami guides Kyra back into the safety of the store. As they sat by the open fire, which burned with the gathered driftwood and sawn logs, strokes her daughter’s hair and moves her gently close.
“So many questions baby and I only have one answer - I love you.”
Thank you for the opportunity to enter another amazing writing contest.
In game name - Raziel (With a capital i at the end not an L cos someone else has the name Raziel)
EDIT: Added “Familial” to the title.