Selkie Skin

The dock stood along the edge of the town. White foam crept along the barnacle infested planks. The rotting wood laid about chipping from the years of damage from harboring ships. They screamed below delicate shoes as mildew caught at the bottom of the leather soles. Sweat rolled along my hand onto Lucy's fingertips. The tickle made her squeal. Blue eyes looked back to me. Their gleam danced above dimpled cheeks, her lips reaching toward wiggling ears. The boards began to tremble as little feet began to rise and fall in a consistent rhythm. Tonight brought the Trinity Festival and with it an overwhelming urgency that demanded the attention of every member including the working seamen.

During this time, for three days this lunar cycle was said, by the townspeople, to affect the prosperity of the coming year; the day there was a new moon, followed by the harvest moon, and on the third day there came the blue moon. Seaman wives were allowed to represent their husbands during the first two days of celebration due to their longevity at sea. However, as the head of the house, they were demanded to attend the final day of the festival in order to bring good fortune to their households. It was believed that women could not manage to bring such success for we were said to be too weak to hold the family together. This idea was especially popular with my capturer; Paul. Ever since Lena, he was never the same. So I've been told.   

"Papa!" Lucy screamed. Her fingers slipped from my grasp, my arm falling back to the side of my hip. The humidity made her black curls stick to her brown skin.

"Lucy!" Paul exclaimed. His arms opened like heaven's gates as Lucy rushed into his arms. She was a spot against his pasty skin.

"Mila," he said. His voice deepened. Veins throbbed under his skin. The blue in his eyes drowned in the black of his iris. Air burned my throat raw as I swallowed. My heart slammed against my rib cage like a trapped animal. He lifted Lucy over his shoulder, our eyes locked, never averting.

"Come." He motioned toward the house.

 Window shutters clicked and slammed as we swiftly moved across the muddy road, weaving in and out between houses until we reached our destination. As I inhaled, the salty air intoxicated my lungs. The smell of grass and sand danced along my tongue as the distant smell of rain from the coast raised the hairs on my back. A pelican nested on the roof of our isolated home. It was the only structure settled on the edge of the coast surrounding the outer rim of the town. Lucy landed on the surface as she unlocked the door, the white oak pale against the decorated stone wall. It opened with a click and Paul persisted to chase Lucy into the house. I stepped over the threshold, my arms folded under breasts. Frozen air escaped my lips floating like dust fogging my field of vision. I watched as Paul kneeled to Lucy.

"Keep mama busy. She needn't roam aimlessly through the house. Wouldn't want her to get herself locked in the dungeon." He said smiling.

"No papa." She said giggling.

"You're such a smart girl." He said turning to me.

"I'm going to buy wood. Feed my daughter with what's left of our meals." He said closing the door with a crunch as bits of wooden oak clung to the floor.

~

I was swimming against the current. I began to feel weak from my journey, the sun drinking the water from my skin as I sprawled onto a rock. Cracked lips peel back from my gums. Eyes prickled and drooped straining against the waves of heat. The shore was close; a house rested quietly on the edge of a cliff above. The water redirected my path shoving me in the direction of the current, but I hungered and prayed for an empty bed. My sense of direction was indecisive, the waters had been enraged and the sky lashed out with whips of lighting separating me from the herd the night before. The sand burned under my flipper; it sizzled and popped as water escaped into the air. My hands rested along my neck. I pulled at the hide; it separated with a ripping sound. Muscles snap like elastic. Strings of the flesh dangled as I lifted my head from the meaty pockets. I wiggled hips, maneuvering legs and thighs from my suit. I was free. The brittle fur scratched my mocha skin as I folded it into a shell pouch.