Princess of the sea

AN/ this is quite altered to how I would have done it but it was course work so I had a word limit and teachers corrections.

Invisible, overlooked and disregarded. That was normal for Ariel. She may as well have been a mute, especially when she was with her sisters who were always 'on fleek'. She felt as ignored as a white crayon, terms and conditions and Kevin Jonas. For one it didn't help that her father would never let her out of his sight in order to keep her 'safe'. Fair enough, she hadn't been so careful that one time the motorbike collided into her leaving her wheelchair bound, but sometimes he was too overbearing and protective. Most of her time was spent gazing out of the window of their beach front tropical villa, watching the waves kiss the sand, wondering what walking on the sodden sand felt like... but that could never happen, so she was left dreaming only hoping and wishing that her story would have a happy ending.

Today was no exception to this. Little Ariel was shopping with her sisters and her father (who felt the need to accompany her everywhere), she was sixteen, not a child - as if he cared. She didn't realise how absent minded she had been until she ran over someone's feet, her head meeting their chest before toppling sideways onto the unfamiliar ground. She could hear her sister's snigger, whilst her father rushed to her assistance worried about his little girl being unable to get up. Flustered, she picked her head up from the dreary shopping centre floor and gazed at the blue, nearly black, orbs. A fairly tall guy with wind tousled jet black hair, pulsing muscles and a mesmerising smile stood in front of her. She was transfixed: he was flawless.

"Sorry," she mumbled trying to conceal her flush with her long red locks.

"It's cool..." he replied, his eyes lingering a while on her slender, distorted now slightly crumpled frame.

"Ariel, and you are..."

"Eric, see you at Starbucks at 3 o'clock princess," and with that he sauntered off, tugging his iPhone from his black jeans and flashing her that mesmerising smile.

When the time came Ariel was a bundle of nerves, awkwardly standing outside Starbucks till she saw his masculine frame approaching. Her anxiety was terribly misplaced as there were no awkward silences, she didn't embarrass herself and they even exchanged kik codes, him promising to message her that night. She knew there was no truth in his eyes but she wanted it to be real so bad that she ignored it. It was almost as if she were in a movie.

However, after several antagonising hours nightfall came and there were still no messages from him. Ariel sat waiting for him to text her, becoming excited when it pinged but it wasn't even him... It was just her sister's trying to annoy her with memes and wanting advice on her clothes. As it got closer to midnight she even tried the classical taking the battery out of the phone and turning it on again routine. She hoped that she at least crossed his mind once so that she wouldn't feel pathetic for thinking of him all the time. Eventually, she passed out from exhaustion. She tried to forget but his words were keeping her up at night. As the endless days passed she saw her sisters moving on with their lives while she was stuck in the villa. It was crushing for Ariel who spent her days in the same spot by the window and long night's staring at the 'R' on kik. Hoping to see 'Eric is typing' appear on the screen. It never did, apparently he just couldn't accept that they would never be like other couples.

Soon she became obsessed, thinking that she wasn't good enough for him. She wanted to be part of his world. She was a headstrong girl and was going to find a way to be 'normal'.

A biomedical research story had been circling for a while by the time Ariel had seen it. It was 'ground breaking research' which could help fix soft tissue damage around the spine with a neural cord stimulator. The chances were slim but if it worked she would be able to walk unaided as if the accident never happened. She was so desperate now, it was worth the risk.

A week passed since her operation. Long painstaking hours trapped within her white, clinical cell, number 1837. The stagnant smell of disinfectant had begun to burn her nostrils. Scratchy sheets irritating her skin. The faint taste of ethanol lingering in her mouth. Sounds of coughing ringing in her ears. Although she decided it was better than the sound of vomiting from across the hallway. She wondered if it was really that easy to forget her. She needed to do something positive to stop these ideas circling in her brain. So she began inviting countless news stations to interview her in an attempt to gain her 'prince's' attention and to spread the news of her good fortune. Naively she thought that she would now be good enough for her 'prince'. Yet somehow it can't have worked because if this was really a movie he'd be here by now.

Released from hospital and still alone, Ariel took herself to her place of solitude for the first time since the accident. It was getting that bad again and the worst part is she knew she couldn't be saved from her toxic thoughts.

The moonlight reflected off the waves, the dark blue of the ocean looked melancholic as if apologising for the lies that she had been lead to believe, as the girl who seemed so unbreakable, broke. She dropped the fake smile and whispered to herself, "I can't do this anymore." The gentle crashing of the waves was peaceful, somewhat soothing. They lapped at her feet, seeping further up her slim frame. She paused, taking a deep breath before walking further into the ocean. The icy water pierced her slender frame but after a while the salt water relaxed every inch of her being, like the euphoria of a drug. She paused, filling her lungs with the salty air, freeing them from the intoxication of his breath. She realised in that moment you don't need water to feel like you're drowning. She took one more step into the deep abyss of the ocean. Allowing her entire body to be submerged. The sea began to shimmer, foam enveloped around her, she was no longer just breathing, now she was alive. She closed her eyes, basking in the feeling of being surrounded by water. The feeling of numbness subsided as she relaxed, permitting her body to be drawn further in. Finally, she felt at peace. Finally, she was normal, as she let herself slip into the reality of her new life as princess of the sea.

If only she had drawn her eyes to the far side of the beach to see a figure stood alone, surrounded by the vapour of the ocean mist, tears streaming down his face as he watched himself loose the one that got away.