She stood in the surf. The waves crashed around her and the wind buffeted at her back. As though beckoning her further in, the sea parted and the waves broke either side of her small frame. Her short hair whipped back and forth covering her eyes like a blindfold as she moved further and further from safety, away from the flapping of red and yellow, the calling voice of common sense. The sea clutched at her wrists and ankles, holding her in place, ready to pull the instant she tried to escape their grasp. She lifted her head to the sky and the blindfold of hair fell behind her, trailing across her shoulders. Blinded by the enormity of the ocean which stretched before her she found herself caught in a dilemma. For just a moment she stared wistfully out, perhaps if she just allowed the ocean to take her; it seemed to be asking for something, someone, and in that instant she found herself wanting to volunteer.
She took a hesitant step forward and a monster wave washed over her crashing just beyond her shoulders. The currents picked up gently nudging her as the wave rushed back out to sea, eager to join its friends. Her feet lifted gently from the shifting ground beneath the waves and she relaxed, allowing the waters to pull her slowly outwards. The tug became faster and slowly her mind cleared of the previous sense of euphoria that had washed over her. Just as she began to struggle the pull stopped and another wave washed gently over her, forcing her ever so slightly back to shore. She smiled at the sea around her, mind becoming more and more diluted against the power of the ocean’s pull. With a final tug she was lifted completely off her feet and forced over a wave.
With a sudden shout of realisation she reached for the ground and sunk beneath the waves as her feet grappled out of the water tying her down, dragging her down. Finally her toes felt some semblance of stable ground and she pushed off emerging from the water’s grasp. Slowly she could feel the ocean beginning to billow around her, the waves started to crash around her ears. The waves joined and separated, in a constant state of arguing, shall we take her or not? Reaching out, vicious tendrils snuck further up her arms and legs, nearing her torso until the sea pulled her into a strangling embrace.
She raised her head briefly above the waves and gasped for breath, panic settling deep into her mind as water forced its way into her mouth. She could feel it, the water finally taking over her, filling her, becoming her. In a moment of calm, the sea relaxed its grip briefly, believing the battle won. In the brief lull her feet found ground and she looked up. The sky opened out above her and she could feel it, encouraging her onwards, encouraging her to fight back and return to where she truly belonged. The sky above her, so inviting she knew she must be in it, floating with the clouds, arms stretched. She struck back towards land. The sea pulled and dragged but she kicked out at it, tore through it and conquered its warrior waves. Stumbling on to the beach she fell backwards, a fine layer of sand breaking her fall. The sky opened out above her and she felt it pulling her up, out, out of her body. She swallowed slowly, took a deep breath, her lungs filling with water and finally joined the birds above.
