Incarnation [Short Story]

Incarnation

You call to me, Aquarius...    - Within Temptation, "Aquarius"

(Delilah's P.O.V.)

I didn't really know for sure if it was magic or just the way things had always been. Yet one thing I did know for sure:

There was more to this world than the human knew, and much more than the human could ever be able to believe.

The sun was far up the sky, mercilessly and unconditionally burning the scalp of every creature going out at that hour. Maybe we were a bunch of reckless teenagers trying to show how cool they were, or we were just stupid and carefree.  

Perhaps a bit of both. 

My favourite cousin Fayine,  seventeen years old and only a year older than me, was clearly against my plan of swimming at 1 p.m. when the sun was almost at the zenith, but I nagged long enough for her to groan in frustration and come with us. 

The rest of our group consisted of other relatives, some of which I knew and some not. Exactly, I had a large family if that is what you were going to ask next. A very, very big and lovely extended family. 

It's not like I just didn't care enough to remember all of their names, but living on the other end of the world and coming for only four weeks a year doesn't really freshen up your memory. It was okay not to know everybody, we were quite cool with that. 

Finally reaching the Mediterranean after burning our feet against the diabolically hot sand, I jumped into the water without hesitation. The rest joined me a few seconds later. I felt the blazing sun in my neck and the heat spreading across my shoulders....

My mother was doubtlessly going to kill me for swimming in the early afternoon and without any sunscreen on. 

"Yolo." , was my only thought.  I was really stupid back then,  if my actions didn't make that quite clear already.

The rest of the day was pretty eventless, we weren't busted nor disturbed by any of our parents. Sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. my favourite uncle even decided to join us without big fuss. He was awesome, an awesomely reckless and young-minded teen in the body of an old mate. 

By the way, he also wore 'Yolo' and 'Swag'-shirts, exactly the sort of clothing his not so nonchalant wife despised.

Fay and I swam farther away from the beach, directly into the open sea. To my defense, it wasn't my idea. I wasn't a super swimmer and neither was she, but the guys had done that already and we didn't want to look like cowards.

"Yo, Del?" 

"What?"   I shouted over the sound of the raging waves. It had already been dark and the stars looked incredible. It was quite loud out there and the water's waves were stronger. 

"I'm going to pee. Be right back!" 

Couldn't you just pee here? , I thought for a moment, but it seemed to embarrassing for me to say to her. She was also pretty much your girly-girl. You know, all after boys and make up and clothes.

I was alone then, which wasn't exactly pleasant. As I already mentioned, I wasn't good at swimming and certainly not at swimming against wild water. I could see the lights of our camp and a few heads, but the majority of us had obviously left. 

Deciding that it wasn't worth waiting for Fay, I moved and tried approaching the shore. It wasn't easy and my muscles began to burn before I could even finish a few proper metres. My lungs felt exhausted and within a few seconds, I began to panic.

When I opened my mouth to scream, a huge wave forced a mouthful dirty water down my throat and I choked desperately. Coughing and rubbing my sore eyes, my body knew no expedient anymore except for thrashing uncontrollably around.