Status: Work in progress

Daughter of the Sea

.

The girl padded down the stairs of the little beach house and saw that the sun was not yet visible. She caught a glimpse through the window of the silvery moonlight dancing on the waves. Everything was perfect. She sneaked past the door of the parents’ room near the kitchen and opened the front door slowly. The white-sand dusted wood floor of the front porch tickled her bare feet.
She crept through the silent beach town, the only light came from the lamps at the end of each street. The girl tiptoed past the pastel houses with towers and shutters and screens and wrap-around porches. A screen door creaked in the gentle wind and she stopped in her tracks for several seconds, like a wild animal, sensing danger that might lurk.
She began to move toward a white wood structure which seemed to grow directly out of the white sand beach. She stood on the deck of the structure, looking out at the picturesque blue-velvet ocean, and breathed the salty air clearing her senses. She crept down the steps to finally feel the plush, cool sand beneath her feet and advanced toward the water. She felt the waves lap at her ankles and backed up slowly. She felt something crack beneath her foot and looked down, lifting her foot so that she could see her heel. Blood trickled onto the white sand below. It must wash it, she thought. She stuck her foot into the water and watched it turn red. Her breathing grew sharp as the salt burned her wound. She felt stabbing pains all over and hot blood ran own her body. She spun around, searching for her attacker, whom she felt but could not make out. She ran into the water, thrashing about. The ocean grew red around her and she panicked silently as she tried to stop the bleeding, but it only got worse. Suddenly she grew weak and found herself kneeling under the shallow waters. Then, lying down, breathed the fire-like water into her lungs.
***
The golden sunlight burst forth across the ever changing surface of the sea and an onlooker noticed the girl floating face down in the water, her long dark hair a dance partner to the waves.
A report went out that day: Young Woman, Aged 17, Found Dead in Ocean
Her body was inspected, with no wounds or signs of struggle.

No one claimed to know her, to miss her. No one knew how she struggled during her final moments. She was a ghost, in a way. A daughter of the sea, it seemed.