Beneath the Waves

Libro De Mari Monstrum

...ck!"

After a quick google search, Ria confirmed that the book title, yes, meant sea monsters, and yes, according to the first few pages, it was an ancient text that was removed from the holy book (yup the bible) as God for some reason changed his mind about them?

So in her basement, there was a room, and inside that room, a book that used to be in the Bible but was taken out because it was too controversial for the general public to ever see. So her family...HER FAMILY, her boring family, had some historic involvement in... what exactly, she didn't know. She opened the book again and started reading (thank god the rest of it seemed to be in English and not Latin).

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. With the birth of light upon the waters of the deep came the birth of creatures yet to be known. The Spirit descended upon the waters to know His first ever living creation. As the Lord looked upon what was birthed from light and water, a child of His bold creation, he saw that it was good..."

Footsteps coming down the stairs broke her focus and snapped her back to reality. She closed the book and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind her and hiding the book in a box she would be taking to her place.

"Ria, where the hell are you‽" she heard Chris calling running down the stairs.

"Riaaaaa Jesus Christ come ONNN we're gonna be late."

She took a deep, steadying breath and ducked out from behind a pile of boxes.

"Sorry, sorry, here I am."

She grabbed her girlfriend's hand and pulled her into a hug, her hair smelling of the same lily shampoo it always did. A scent that now smelled like comfort, like home. Probably just love, she guessed. After everything she had to process a few minutes ago, it felt good to have something familiar to hold onto and anchor her to reality.

"You okay?" Chris asked.

"M'okay" she muttered into Chris' hair before kissing her forehead and letting her go. "Let's get out of here," she said, grabbing her box and making her way up the stairs.

Chris, still not really trusting that Ria was, in fact, okay followed shortly behind.

*

The day was supposed to be a special one, the 4 year anniversary of her relationship with Chris. But all she could think about was that damn book in that damn box in her damn car's boot. She told Chris that she had a headache and that everything was fine, but in the middle of a walk to their secret camping spot, Chris stopped and turned to her.

She was concerned. Or angry? Sometimes they looked the same.

"Ria, I've known you almost my entire life, our families are close, we grew up together, and I knew from the first moment we met that we shared a bond different from other people."

Ria couldn't believe what she was hearing out of Chris' mouth right now. Was she about to...? Was this what she thought it was? Why did Chris sound so nervous?

She snapped back to reality, catching Chris' next words just in time, "The moment you threw that sand ball at those bullies who were chasing me, I knew that I loved you. We were only 7 then."

Ria's brain went into overdrive (Oh shit oh shit this was it this was really happening, she was about to be proposed to and OH MY GOD... now this whole day made sense, something had felt different the whole time but she had no idea what it was. Maybe Chris was nervous this whole time and she didn't know how to do it, omg she was really freaking out right now, they're so young, was this really happening whatwasshesupposedtosaytothat omg okay focus Ria focus... listen to your girlfriend okay fiancé... wife WIFE?! WHAT THE HELL... okay okay listen to Chris, focus),