14 June 2012
*Just a new idea for a story i came up with-there may be more parts to come! Any criticisms/improvement ideas would be greatly appreciated! Happy reading!*
I walked into the tide.
The first step is always the hardest. Taking the leap of faith, that's the test of real courage. I just didn't know if I was brave enough. I didn't know if I could take the risk. Was it asking too much?
I took my first step into the sea.
The water was cold. Bitingly cold at first, but in a refreshing way. A smile formed on my face, growing wider with each passing second. I had done it! It was possible! The man was right!
My parents were wrong. Either that or they had been lying to me.
That thought soured the moment. I should have been overjoyed but I couldn't help thinking of everything I'd been told over the years. By my parents. The leadership. By Todd.
I looked around the beach behind me. There was only a man running along the road above. Just as I thought. No one willing to set foot near here.
Cowards.
But I knew that was another lie. I was different. That much was obvious, even when I was a toddler in nursery. All of the other kids flinched away from everything: dark corners of the classroom, the oven in the tiny kitchen, even the teacher.
But not me.
He had been right. The stranger. Tall and hooded, with a husky voice. I couldn't see his face. That voice was...enticing. It made me yearn to hear more. But what he said-well, I had to listen.
He was from off the island, he said. The sea wasn't poisonous to us and it didn't destroy the boats that used to sail on it. That we wouldn't shrivel up in salt water, our body slowly closing in on us, crushing organs until we eventually die of heart failure. No siree.
That everything I had been told was a lie.
Some people survived the sea, of course.
They spent the rest of their miserable lives in hospital, kept away from everyone else. No visitors. Just a tray of food twice a day. Living hell, so I'm told. Nobody really knows, though. They died a couple of months later. All of them at the same time, like the water had given them so mutated disease. Fatal to everyone.
But not to me.
I took another step into the sea. And another. It was up to my knees by now. I kept walking.
Gentle waves danced across my bare legs, white bubbles frothing against the opal blue. It wasn't clear or bright blue like in the movies. But it was water. And I was standing in it.
I smiled. And took another step.
That's when the screaming started.
And it wasn't coming from me.
~Kirsty~
Lost At Sea • Opuss № I