The Light of the Sea | #PlanetOrPlastic

The Light of the Sea

When golden flakes dusted the ocean, it meant the creatures dwelling beneath were dying. It meant the protectors of the sea, the Muhit, were dying, too. This Lira told her friends as she rowed them to an abandoned island. They laughed hysterically. "You're mad, Lir," chortled Clarissa.

The wind moaned. A glimmering shadow moved in the depths. Fear ate its way into her stomach. The oars felt heavy, despite the calm waves. Curious, Lira pushed her oars until the ends emerged from the water.

Her heart clattered to her stomach.

Plastic. All clumped together, forming large, thick hands were grasping their paddles from going any further.

Phillip fished out a bottle of whiskey, poured it into five plastic cups. He held one out to Lira.

Lira scowled. "No, thanks. I'd rather not drink from something that's poisoning the ocean."

"Your loss," he said and downed her cup in one swig. Finished, he tossed the plastic cup into the sea.

The others followed suit.

The boat listed, splashing water onto the deck, as Lira lurched forward to catch the plastic. Her fingers grasped nothing, for the tide had already carried them away. 

"Why did you do that?" she demanded. Fury raced through her blood. Her nails bit into the wooden oars, not caring when she heard tiny cracks at the pressure.

"What do you expect, Lir?" Reyna laid back nonchalantly. "There's no more space for rubbish."

Flakes of gold-light swayed in the black water and the dark sky pulsed with anger.   

***

The campfire guttered as a squall tore through, shooting ice and salt.

The wind hailed harsher. Trepidation trickled into Lira's heart. The waves slammed against land. The sea swelled high, and in the firelight Lira glimpsed herself, her heart aglimmer golden, on the smooth, obsidian wall, before everything came crashing down.

Then, just like that, it ended. Lira coughed the burning water from her lungs. Her gaze searched her friends. She let out a choked sob.

Reyna had been swallowed by the sea.

***

The ocean had stolen their sources of food and tents, shattered their boat. Long days were spent with their stomachs bloated and throats scuffed from drinking salt. Plastic shards were always slashed across their flesh whenever boredom overtook her friends' sanity.

It was night time when a miracle presented itself. 

The blood-tinged foam accumulated. A Muhit rose from the depths of the ocean. In her frail, trembling hands was a bowl of soup. "Come, eat." The words were sweet, lulling them in like the scent of the soup, though hatred crackled in her eyes.

But Lira saw the soup for what it truly was, despite the tempting smell: A slop of factory waste, spilt oil and shredded plastic served in a dying coral. A taste of the ocean's death. Whilst her friends scrambled forward, greedily shoving handfuls into their mouths, Lira stayed.

The Muhit smiled knowingly at her, "Light of the sea... Save us," before the creature dissolved into water and her friends to smoke.