Of the Sea

Chapter Seven

     She thought her head might split in two if she didn't stop crying. With every heave, she could feel her temples straining against her skull. Her throat was aching, and raw, feeling as if it were going to collapse. Her eyes were burning with hot tears, and her nose was stopped up.

She laid curled up on her bed, listening to Buoy howling outside her window. She tried to suppress the thought of everyone snickering and whispering about her after she left, but she couldn't push Addison Brumby's smirk from her mind. And what had they done when she left? Continued to drink and pretend someone hadn't almost been thrown off a cliff? She felt truly embarrassed about having screamed out that she couldn't swim. It wasn't completely true, but it wasn't completely false. So now what would everyone think of her? She regretted shoving Alec away when he was the only one trying to apologize, but she knew that if she stood there for one more moment she would have surely done something she regretted.

It was late into the night before her crying just died down to a sniffle. Buoy still pined to be let out of his cage, but there was another sound to be heard that night. It was so ambient and clear that it jolted Astrid from where she lay. It was distant, but she knew she had heard it before.

"Morgan?"

The sound had the range of a howling wolf to a bugling elk. And then Astrid decided it sounded very much like a whale below the surface. How could it be that loud? It was eerie, and morose, and sent a chill up her spine.

She picked up a flashlight and headed for the front door. The winds were wild tonight, and she shivered at the sound of the roaring ocean, but nothing was more macabre than the sound coming from the dock. After quickly letting Buoy out of the kennel, the two headed off to see Morgan. Once they made it to the pier, Buoy stopped, and sat down on his haunches, his hackles raised.

"You beg to be let out, and then don't want to come with me." Astrid rolled her eyes, but was suspicious at the way the dog growled in the docks direction. "Stop that." She scolded. She hurried across the pier, and pushed the door open.

"M-Morgan?" She called into the darkness. Her only reply was the creaking of the structure and the waves lapping against the wood. She fumbled for the light switch, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the light still worked. However, there was nothing to be seen except the blue surfboard floating atop the black water. "Morgan?" She called much more firmly this time.

Had he found the strength to leave?

Astrid had abruptly lost the strength to stand, and crouched down to the floor. She put her head in her hands, that strangled feeling rising in her throat one more before she let out a sob. She felt abandoned, forgotten. She knew what it was like to be alone, having lived the past few years as the only one in her house, but now, as she sat with her head in her hands, tears slipping through her fingers, she had never quite felt as lonely as she did there in that dock. She had never cried so much in one day, and she certainly had a lot more to cry about in the passed years, but there was something about Morgan being gone she could not bear.

She beat her fist against the wood, doing more damage to her knuckles than the board. "It's not fair!" She cried. "That's not fair..." They could all leave, could escape, and she was stuck where she was. Her mind flashed to her dad, and how much she hated him; hated him for leaving, for avoiding the problem, for leaving that damn fishing net out that ensnared Morgan, for forgetting about her.

"Astrid?"

Her breath hitched in her throat, and she looked up to meet a pair of fierce blue eyes. She ran her sleeve across her nose.

"What's wrong?" Morgan reached out a hand to her, and she reached back.

"I thought you had gone." She confessed., wiping her eyes with her other hand. She laced her fingers with Morgan's, relieved to know that he was tangible once again.

Morgan furrowed his brow, and shook his head. "No...there's something else bothering you." She was surprised, almost frightened, when Morgan hoisted himself onto the dock, leaving part of his tail dangling in the water. He cupped her jaw in his hands. "Let me see your eyes." He said gently, causing Astrid's eyes to well up again, but she stared fearlessly back at him as he searched her face.

"I'm just tired." She murmured, hoping he would believe her.

He shook his head. "Your heart...it's sad."

She closed her eyes. "So now you can see my heart through my eyes?"

He shook his head again. "I can hear it."

Astrid had never been very physical with anyone, but she found herself laying her throbbing head on his shoulder, soothed by the coolness of his skin. She continued to sniffle, let out a sob here and there, but was otherwise calmed by just the presence of someone else. If she pressed her ear hard enough, she could hear his heart beat in his chest.

"Were you making that sound earlier?" She asked.

"Those calls, you mean?"

"Mmhmm...those were the saddest sounds I've ever heard." She mentioned.

She heard him chuff, felt his shoulder move as he did, then heard him whisper, "There is nothing quite as sad as your sorrow."

Her eye lids fluttered, and Morgan's skin became warm against her cheek. "I'm just glad you're still here."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Morgan asked, knowing humans tended to be very sensitive creatures.

"About what..." Her voice was barely a whisper, her eye lids drooping low. She had fallen limp against him where he sat, her upper torso leaning greatly over on his.

He ran a finger though her hair. "Nothing." And then head leaned back, wrapping and arm around her so she wouldn't slip from his chest. His sudden shift had roused her, and she murmured, "I'm glad you're here." and then she dozed back off.

 He wouldn't tell her that he could have gone the day his fins hit the sea.