Daughter of the Tide

Something in the Water

 "There's nothing more beautiful

than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, 

no matter how many times it's sent away."

~~~

I almost drowned when I was four years old. I'd been playing with my friend Ryan on the docks out by the boats. I was chasing him up and down my father's dock and he ran all the way to the end. He made a quick turn and dashed back towards the shore, his giggling ringing through the air like a joyful song. When I went to make that same turn, I slipped and fell in. From what I've been told, Ryan screamed for help right away. All I remember is the sudden chill of the water seeping into my clothes; into my skin. I went to scream and breathed in what felt like a gallon of salt water. It burned my lungs and threatened to choke out the rest of the life in me. I remembered that somber feeling of sinking deeper and deeper as the ocean wrestled to steal those four measly years I'd lived. My father had wasted no time diving in after me, swimming downward until his hand wrapped around my wrist. He pulled me up even quicker and handed me to Joseph Alabaster, Old Joe for those who were closer to him. He was the one that immediately began CPR, and I was soon coughing up that poisonous water onto the dock as my father pulled himself from the ocean's clutches. I didn't play on the docks after that.

It happened again when I was twelve. I'd been invited to a birthday party where the children were swinging off of a rope and into the water. I still didn't know how to swim, but it didn't look too hard. They would climb the tree and stand on a sturdy branch before gripping the rope and jumping off. It was flinging them a few feet from shore and they'd drop, submerging into the murky waters and rising again. I watched Ryan do it multiple times and that's when I decided to climb the tree for myself. The rope was already wet from the salt water as I grabbed ahold of it and took a deep breath. From above, the water looked tantalizing. I didn't hesitate another second and swung from the branch. I let go and splashed into the water. I tried to move upward, but I wasn't strong enough to defeat this mass of water surrounding me. I sank. Shouting was muffled from below, but I knew they were panicking. I held my breath this time, the memory of the burning water flashing in my mind. But even my lungs were too weak and I had to let go. They managed to pull me up and I coughed up the water on my own. That was the last time anyone invited Nerina Monroe to a birthday party.

"So, what do you want for your birthday?" I blinked and looked up from my task of sorting out worms for my father's fish, bait, and tackle shop. Ryan was sitting on the floor across from me, drinking a soda and watching me as I organized them.

"How many times have you asked me that now?" I asked him, pulling a long worm from the pail and placing it with the others of its length.

"If you didn't avoid answering every time I asked, I wouldn't have to keep bugging you," he told me. I rolled my eyes at him and removed another worm from the pail, flinging it at him. He screamed and ducked, letting the poor thing hit the floor.

"Pick him up," I ordered, gesturing to Ryan, who sighed and did as I said. He gently tossed it back into the pail and I chuckled.

"I'm serious, Rina. It's your big one-eight, I have to get you something special," he continued.

"I still a month and a half to think about it," I replied. He groaned and set down his soda, shifting to lay on his back. "Your big one-eight comes first anyway. What do you want?" He propped himself up on an elbow and looked at me.

"I want to spend the entire day with my best friend at Polly's Ice Cream Shoppe, eating so much ice cream that I'll feel sick afterward, and then I want to take this friend out on my father's boat," he answered. I opened my mouth to object and he shook his head. "I guess you can come too." I raised a worm, threatening to throw it, and he covered his face.