Everyday Happenings

The Sea Lady

The passengers can still see the lights of Rio de Janeiro when the luxury boat, The Sea Lady, overturns. As the storm rises, newlyweds are caught in the middle of a dispute. A young woman stands on deck, her dark eyes cast downward. A gown whips around her legs; the deep purple fabric does little to shield her. She turns to her red-faced husband next to her and says something. Sweat beads and rolls down his brow and he raises his hand. Chaos engulfs the boat and passengers begin rushing around the couple, pushing them against the railing. Wave upon wave crashes into the side of the vessel and gravity itself loses influence over her. The young woman is separated from her husband in the turmoil, and the panic of her fellow passengers is drowned out by the rushing of seawater into her ears. She flails her arms uselessly, incapable of matching the strength of the squall. Her dress and jewelry catch on the waves and drag her unwilling form beneath the waves.

Darkness surrounds her as the lights of the boat turn foggy and dim, drifting away from her. The salt attacks her eyes and her lungs begin to ache for air. In desperation, she tears the weights off of her wrists and sends her necklaces into the void surrounding her; her wedding band, too, cast into the deep. She finds the laces of her evening gown—styled in Paris, buried at sea—and sets upon freeing herself from it. The dress falls away and the corset soon follows, but her lungs find no air. The sea wraps around her ankles and she abandons her boots, but the vacuum still pulls her. In spite of her attempts, she is dragged further from reprieve.

Suddenly, a force slams into her body, propelling her against the wishes of the water. She feels against her body that of another, larger being, its details obscured by the darkness. Her head pounds and her vision blurs as the creature pushes her. She reaches blind and terrified for the unknown silken being and finds purchase on a featureless hand. It continues pulling her as her thoughts become blurred and indecipherable. Her muscles ache and the world becomes a dim dream as her grip loses that of her savoir. She reaches fruitlessly for the phantom, but instead of the warm body, her hands find a gritty surface that falls away beneath her fingers.

A woman emerges alone from the black waves into the warm Brazilian night, the small vessel that betrayed her no longer resting on the horizon. Overhead, the clouds thin, allowing the light of the white moon to stroke her weary body. Her skin is bare and her once extravagantly styled auburn hair falls matted to one side of her head. She kisses the earth beneath her and collapses.