Split the Sea

. 0 .

. 0 . Dark and Stormy Night

The sea was a raging beast, so black that the line between the sky and the water was invisible. Tonight they were one, the lightning reaching down to the white-capped waves and greeting it with tremendous force. I could feel the untamed energy that coursed through the water. It brushed against my feet, the small grains of sand catching between my toes and sizzling with the pent up rage.

"I laugh in the face of death." Katie, one of my best friends, quoted a movie we'd just finished. "Lightning can't hurt me, neither can water. I am invincible."

I laughed. "Don't go in any further."

She took another step forwards. It was now brushing against her ankles, the clear water showing the small grains of sand that were sucked out with each beating wave. "Are you afraid? Of this?" She sprayed some water at me.

"I'm afraid of my mom finding us waist-deep in the water." I retorted. "You should be too, because you know your parents would kill you if they found you out here."

Katie looked back to the house. It was small against the empty beach. We lived secluded from the bustling city, our only guests the tourists that wandered from the public beaches into our private territory. The lights were still off and my moms bedroom faced the other side, so she would never see us. Unless she wandered into the kitchen for a drink.

"No one will find us out here. That's why I love your house so much." Katie took another step in. "Come on, the lightning is still far out there. The storm isn't close enough to actually hurt us."

I knew she was right. We had learned about it in science class. The energy conducting through the water wouldn't reach us. Not with the storm that far out.

"Fine, go out further." I rolled my eyes. Katie always managed to sway my opinions.

She ran into an oncoming wave, slamming into it with her stomach. It pushed her down and she laughed, completely soaked. She pulled herself further in and allowed the water to wash through her hair. I ran towards her, the water splashing from beneath my feet. The feeling of salt water running over my legs were something I lived for. It pushed past my introverted side, bringing out a wild part of myself.

"Watch out." I dove beneath the shallow water, my body hitting the ground and making my open my mouth, welcoming in waves of salt. I choked, spitting it out as Katie laughed. "No further?"

She stared at my, her black hair dripping. "Just a little? Where we can at least float without hitting the bottom?"

"Waist deep." I consented.

"Beat you there." She stood up and started to run, falling as another large wave crashed into her. I closed my eyes and let it push me over. The ocean had always been a friend of mine. We played together and were never rough, but tonight, as my head hit the ground, I realized that it was now a feral creature. It had a power that I had never associated with it.

Katie was waist deep, trying to keep herself from getting drawn out by the undertow. As another large wave rose up behind her,. I caught a flicker of movement. Something was inside the wave, something that flickered in the darkness, a fin slicing through.

"Katie!" I screamed. She turned and dropped as the wave curled over, slamming on top of her. It cleared away, rushing towards me as foam. I looked anxiously for her hair. It appeared again but she was struggling.

"Something has me!" She screamed, kicking violently to get free. I swam over to her, grabbing her wrist. Something strong was pulling on her, taking her deeper and deeper into the water.

An icy touch brushed against my ankle. I kicked out, hitting something hard and fleshy.

I dove beneath the water, a swirling chaos of black stilt, and attacked the thing holding onto Katie's foot. It was scaly and long, like some sort of snake or eel. It relented beneath my blows and Katie started to swim. I grabbed onto her and we stood and ran, the waves threatening to knock us over.

I felt something touch me one last time, searing pain brushing up my leg, before we hit the beach. Katie collapsed next to me, panting and crying. She was clutching her leg and blood ran from beneath her fingers.

"Let me see." I pushed away her fingers, grimacing as the wound appeared. It was deep and I could see something that looked like bone. The skin was flaring from the salt and ragged pieces of skin hung down her feet. I slipped my arms beneath her body and picked her up. Mom would scream, I would be grounded, and Katie's parents would probably never let her see me again.

As I neared the house, screaming at the top of my lungs, I looked back and realized that I had made my first contact with unrealism on that dark and stormy night.