Heart of the Sea // Monstax

1- Harsh Waters

The crisp breeze of late afternoon softly made its way into the small café that overlooked the ocean. The small number of people in the café talked in hushed conversations as to respect each other's privacy. A tall woman with short dark hair that was pulled into a small ponytail at the base of her neck, her bangs cascading to shape her face, took orders with a light smile on her face.

She greeted each customer by name, as living on an island would entail you to know pretty much everyone. Her black apron wrapped around her torso, her nametag displayed on her right chest, Abel.

"Good morning, Koa! How's school going for ya?" She asked as the next customer walked into the café. The teen smiled and waved.

"Mornin' Abel! School is how school always is... Annoying." They both laughed and she took his order, calling out his drink to the woman in the back who nodded.

Their short curly hair was pulled back with a white headband, allowing them clear sight of the drinks. They made the drink with ease and placed it on the counter with a small complimentary chocolate chip cookie on the house.

"Koa?! Strawberry Island Tea for Koa! Order up!" They called, smiling as the red-headed teen walked quickly up to the counter to retrieve his order.

"Thanks, Ahli, you always make it perfect! I'll catch you guys later!" The teen waved with the drink in his left hand and the cookie in his mouth as he exited the café.

Ahli is a shorter woman with tawney skin, dark curly hair, and brown eyes. A black tribal armband tattoo wrapped around their upper-right arm in homage to their roots. They turned to look at the clock on the wall and sighed as the shop would be open for another 2 hours.

The next 2 hours were for the tourists as the island people were rarely in this part of town currently. Most tourists were kind, but there were always those that made sure they had their way at the expense of the two café owner's energy and giddiness.

Finally, as the sun began to set behind the cliffside, they were finally able to turn the open sign to closed and cleaned the café.

"Why do tourists find every way to make us uncomfortable? It's really not that hard to just be polite." Abel whined as she swept the floor.

"I have no idea. Maybe they had a bad day and they decided to make it everyone else's problem?" Ahli suggested, shrugging while wiping each table before placing the chairs upside down on the tables.

"Huh, you might be right but next time a tourist decides to tell me to shut up, I will be throwing hands." Abel said, using the broom to mimic whacking someone with it. Ahli laughed, shaking their head.

"No, you won't, we can just kick them out. We don't want to lose our job AND home, now do we?" Ahli reasoned, looking over to Abel and raising their eyebrows.

"You're right I guess... Hey, why don't we hang out at the beach and eat dinner there? Like a little picnic? It is Friday, after all, we have tomorrow morning off!" Abel asked, placing the broom in the supply room.

"Huh, it is pretty warm tonight. And it's a full moon... sure why not?" Ahli agreed and the two got their dinner prepared along with a blanket and basket.

The two had changed into clothing fitted for the beach. Abel wore a loose white collared blouse tucked into blue shorts and black sandals. Meanwhile, Ahli wore a white short sleeved shirt paired with beige long shorts and white sandals. The friends sat down on the warm sand and set up their picnic.

The sun was just above the horizon. The two talked about anything and everything as the waves softly crashed onto the shore, the sounds of the sea gulls slowly came to a stop as night began to coat the sky. Although the air became chillier, it was still warm enough to sit on the beach.

Soon, the two women were playing around, Ahli being dared to climb the rocks that the larger waves crashed onto. They did it, and stood on the large rock, looking over the calming sea. With the full moon as a soft light, the water shimmered in reflection of the moon and stars. Abel stayed ashore, standing a couple inches in the water also looking out onto the horizon.

Ahli stopped breathing when they heard a soft song being sung. It was so beautiful. They saw a figure out in the dark water. Scratch that... two there were two figures that were just in the middle of the dark water. They turned over to Abel, who was also looking at the figures in confusion. Ahli thought they might be some teenagers skinny dipping, so they decided to call them out.

They cupped their hands around their mouth and called out, "OI!! YOU TWO SHOULDN'T BE IN THE WATER RIGHT NOW! IT'S PASSED SUNSET, GET ON HOME!" As they lowered their hands, they could see the two figures duck under the water once again. They sighed and continued to look out onto the ocean at the ledge of the rocks.

Without warning, the calm sea became angry. The waves became large and harsh as they crashed into the rocks, wetting the rocks with cold salt water.

"AHLI GET DOWN HERE!" Abel called out. Ahli nodded, turning to carefully get off the rocks, however, before they could even take a step, a large wave came just above the rocks, a hand reached out and took hold of their arm, dragging them into the dark waters.

Ahli grunted and tried to pull away from the person holding onto them with a tight grip, however it was no use as the more they'd thrash, the tighter the hold. Oxygen was running low, and they struggled to keep their eyes open. Their eyes snapped open when two hands cupped their face. An almost glowing light blinded them as they made eye contact with a man. His long white hair seemingly glowed under the dark water and his, almost dazed, eyes gleamed a soft white tone that reflected against his pale skin. Ahli's eyes made their way behind the man to see what seemed like the end of a long fish tail.

He stared at them with apologetic eyes before quickly pulling them into a tight kiss. With this, Ahli felt the burning sensation of their lungs subside, however their vision went dark, sleep finding its way to blanket their senses.