Whale Fall

How To Start

How does one start a story like this? It strange for starters. Here I'll start like this:

You can hear the waves from the bedroom window that I share with Rob. The sound is soft and hushed and remind me of the surface waters we used to play in when we were young.

Wait see you won't understand surface waters because you don't know. How could you know? It would be too unbelievable. Okay let's start again.

You can hear the waves from my bedroom window and they are soft and hushed like a secret. A secret waiting to be told to you, a girl sitting across from me. But how do I tell you, how do you explain something that is unexplainable.

"Dell what's happened?" you lean in close to me and put your fingertips to my forehead.

"Dell you're bleeding" you say this in a whisper your face so close to mine I can feel the mist of your breath. I want to tell you how underwater blood is like a vapor floating around your wound in scarlet swirls. My blood on land is sap and feels heavy against my skin. It is drying fast and pulling my skin taut, like in the summers when Rob and I would keep our heads out of the water too long and the salt crystals pulled tight around our eyes.

"Who did this to you?" you are looking at me again so deeply with eyes unblinking like so many eyes do underwater. I should tell her about the fight and about the plan they have. Risso and Rob will be waiting for him to come to the beach and leave before Leucas returns but I can't leave without telling you.

"It's fine. I'm fine" I'm backing away from you afraid to melt into your breath and return to the safe blanket of water and mist.

"Dell you don't look fine. I think you should go to the hospital you could have a concussion or something" you're looking into my eyes and I can barely hold in your stare. I want to tell you everything. I want to tell you about his anger and how hard Ross fell like the weight of a wave crashing against a rocky shore. The look on Leucas's face has imprinted under my eyelids, a white light after every blink.

"No, it's ok. I don't need the hospital" I can't remember what a hospital is. Think Dell. It's a building right? A place they take people. A healer. Could a healer fix Ross? No. He is no longer a body they could understand. They would not be able to move him from the beach where we left him. He looked peaceful on the beach like he was sleeping after a long migration. But he would stand out. His body and tusks would give him away. They would have to move him.

"Laura, I need your help"