Sapphire Bones

Red

Updated: April 17, 2019

L

The gentle brush of tidewater on legs is one of the calmest sensations in the world. A blanket of salt infused ocean reached up to the calves, just below the knees only to be called back to its mother again. Just as the water retreated, the warm sun filled the void. Summer heat beat down on bare flesh. A game of ping pong between two forces of nature; the gentle call to wake, to spit out whatever of the ocean lingers in the mouth.

Another wave of water finally broke through the surface. My eyes peeled open to never-ending black. I couldn't be dead. If that were true I'd be able to see. The nightmarish fold over my vision was supposed to dissipate the second my life crumbled, yet it remained. I blinked, hoping the hazy emptiness would fade but it only deepened the longer I tried to push past the wall. My fingers clenched into a million sand particles. Wet sand molded around my body as I gained back control of my limbs. They were numb. A fuzzy, prickling feeling stretched my entire form, a jolt of pain raced in my muscles each time I tried to move. Little by little the fuzz in my limbs faded. Slowly, I lifted my head from the sand. A wave of sound reached my ears. Birds, so many birds, cawed and chirped above me. Their songs were music to the insufferable silence I went through since waking up – a defiant ring the only sound to penetrate my eardrums prior to seagull harmonies. As soon as my legs and arms were free from the static I rolled onto my side. A bubble of salt water coughed its way out of my mouth. Nose full of sand, I huffed hard to free up my nostrils. Soaked rocks continuously thrashed by deadly waves, a hint of salt and sea life, and whatever lived in the sand, filled my nose. The smell erupted through my brain, igniting a new source of power within me. I pushed down with my arm and heaved myself up into a sitting position. My shoulders were blanketed in wet sand and as I went to wipe them clean I only made the matter worse. Coughs burned the fragile flesh at the back of my throat but I forced the remaining traces of water and ocean air from my mouth. I turned my face up to the sky, and the second I did a bright red ball came into my vision. It burned my retinas, the edges were blurred spikes threatening to reach down and pry me open like a specimen in a lab. I yelled out, my voice strained with sea water. My hands shielded my eyes, palms pressed firmly to my eyes squeezed shut. Fear coursed through my veins, blood bubbling. My lips quivered violently, but the red ball's spikes continued their ravage assault on my eyes. The heat burned the back of my pupils, shriveling the nerves despite the solid hands over top to protect them.

"L," someone yelled from afar. My ears perked up and I went to lift myself up but my knees gave out, wobbling out of control until I landed on my hands and knees with a soft thud. Without my hands pressed to my eyes, the red spikes shot out at me again. I clenched my eyes tight but the red reached through my closed lids in blurred, hazy red clouds. I gripped the sand below me and went to lift again but my arms started the same mutiny as my legs. "L," they repeated, this time closer than the first. I looked up, eyes open again. Through the black void came a bright red signature; a tall one in the vague shape of a man. This one didn't bellow out with bright spikes, instead keeping the general form of a man. They ran forward toward me, just as I registered what I was seeing, but they were still far away. Unable to move, I watched them as they neared. Bright, burgundy – almost blindingly powerful. This had to of been what Margette meant when she said she tried getting my sight back. A small remembrance of her possession.

"I'm here," I went to shout back but my voice betrayed me, only coming out as a soft mutter. It didn't matter who called my name; I just wanted to be found. The idea of loneliness scared me more than death at this point. Clearing my throat, I tried again. "I-I, I'm here!" I forced out and sunk back onto my side to rest my arms. As soon as my hip hit the sand the arm holding my body up gave out into a limp piece of rubber. Rustling leaves from somewhere in front of me – two sets of feet headed through the thick sandy beach. By the time they reached me, the vibrations made from their feet were nothing more than gentle crackles of particles.