I wrote this short story today. Enjoy. “Andromeda” The scent of sulfur was clinging to the breeze, though the ocean sought to rust it away, the night after Independence Day. Hannah breathed in the gun powdered ocean air. St Augustine was sighing. The old city was weary from its’ visitors. Anastasia Island yawned. Rattlesnake Island vibrated and its’ “Om” reverberated across the sands. Even the beach morning glories were tucked inward for the night. Hannah was alone. She left her sandals beside the wooden crossway. Sea oats reached out to her as she swept by. Her feet were sinking with every step, and she could feel her muscles fighting. She lifted her long skirt to her hip and jogged doggedly along the Atlantic face of the dunes. Hannah’s hair fell in long black curls across her back. Hannah ran to release the energies she held back in the day, and she ran to let go of “holding back.” Two bells sewn to the waist of her skirt jingled along with her rhythm. In the darkness of the night, she became saturated by the shadows. Her legs became maroon, and the tie dyed variations of her aqua skirt faded into the night. She tripped and landed in the pearly sand. That is where she left her shirt and skirt. Bare, she felt a connection growing from her feet to the far-reaching mass of tangled roots and threads that stabilize the sandy beaches. She stretched her leg and dipped her toes into the water. The froth of salt water tickled her ankles and drew her in. The salt water was welcoming, and playful. It pushed and pulled her body, gently rolled shells past her legs, and held her when her feet left the ground. Hannah spread her arms and opened her palms to the sky. “Thank you!” She yelled into the great darkness, “Thank you for the stars, a light to guide me in the dark, and for the promise of a new moon!” The last glimmer of the waning moon winked at her. “Great ocean, carry away my sins. Bring me a revival of my innocence.” She let the water rush against her skin, and she knew within her gut that she had been heard. “Come with me,” A clear voice answered from within the darkness so loudly it seemed as if her imagination had created it. Still, her instinct turned her body. Facing east, towards the deepness of the sea, she could see the faintest outline of a head and shoulders, just past the safety of the sandy shelf. She was as a woman possessed. She had to know who had heard her precious, private prayers. Hannah dove beneath the water and swam towards the break. When she surfaced for air, she found herself in the daytime in a chlorine filled swimming pool. Her stomach twisted painfully. “No! Not here!” she cried painfully as she found herself trapped where she stood. Two children, little Hannah and her brother Eli, were competing to hold their breath. “If I can hold my breath for nine minutes, I will win the world record! You have to hold me under, Hannah!” Her brother excitedly explained. Those illusions tormented the grown Hannah as she watched the two figures carry out the act. Little Hannah held her brother under the water until life was gone from his body. “No, no, no,” Hannah muttered. Those delusions were so real, as if she were really there again. “Hannah, Hannah,” the little boy shouted. This was not how the memory had ended. “Hannah, we are together again!” “No,” she groaned, “I killed you. I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I did not know what I was doing.” “Are you sure? I seem to have forgotten,” Eli smiled, his grin missing a bottom tooth, just as she remembered him. “Then I will forget, too.” Hannah stammered. She felt her body being ripped from the scene. She was thrown into a vortex of sand and dark salty water. She kicked and reached out for something to hold. Hannah found another hand and grasped it tightly. She was pulled out by the dark figure that had called her into the deep waters. The figure was neither man, nor woman, nor human. “What is your name?” Hannah demanded, her voice strangled by the water. “Dae-soon.” Once again the figure spoke psychically, and its’ voice remained clear. Dae-soon’s face was remarkably human; with almond shaped eyes, high cheek bones, and thin, pursed lips. Long, white hair grew straight, and was kept neatly braided in a bun beneath a crown of shells and jewels. The body was different. Dae-soon had no breasts or nipples; instead, soft blue skin on her belly turned to scales along her spine. She had a dragon’s tail and clawed feet. Dae-soon, the moon goddess, judged that Hannah had a fair heart, and chose to free her from her past. “Where there is remorse, you make yourself guilty,” Dae-soon told her, “So you never feel it again.” She placed her finger to Hannah’s chest and when she withdrew it, the memory was rendered nonexistent. Hannah’s body was pulled to the surface by the waters. She landed on the shoreline, where the waves splashed against her face. She could not breathe the air. She pushed her face into the water, but without Dae-soon she could no longer breathe there. Her throat burned with trapped air, and in the stillness, she began to die. “Forgive me,” she said quietly.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 21:47:08 +0000
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