Weekday Entertainments

Grateful Son

Prompt: Mother and Son

The sun glistens against his water splashed skin and golden hair. What a beautiful child, he looks like belongs at sea. Living amongst the mystical creatures that live below and sing their days away peacefully.

What a mischievous child too, who had snuck out of his house only that morning in hopes to find the perfect shell for his mother. It was her birthday of course, a day to celebrate and what better way to surprise her, he had thought. Than taking some time to collect some of her favorite little trinkets. She had never seen the ocean until he was three, she treasured the sight and the very existence of it. The boy did even more so, for he had grown most of his memorable days at the beach, walking along the shore with his golden haired mother. He thought she looked particularly beautiful at sunrise. Sunset was far too harsh on her fair skin. The young boy had spent all morning exploring the small coves and high scaling rocks. He had left before sunrise and felt like an explorer. He couldn't wait to surprise his mother and thought for sure that this would be the perfect birthday. He was finally ten, and he could do things on his own. Or so he thought, nonetheless he wanted to do something nice for his mother. Who had raised him all on her own, his father had passed away at a young age. But his mother never stopped fawning over him and doting on him like every good mother should. And just this once he wanted to return the favor as best he could.

The boy skips along the shore, his prints being washed away by the low tide. As if he had never even been there, and his presence was a mere fragment of his own imagination, the ocean had no record of it. He looks up at the sky, the sun low at the horizon. The glimmering fire reflecting in his dark eyes. What a beautiful day he thought to himself walking further and further from his home. He always said he would find his way home no matter how far he went. And today would be no exception, for he planned to scale every inch of the beach in order to find his hidden treasure. He had already gone further than ever before. If he looked over his shoulder, the shape of his small beach house was no longer visible, but that didn't scare him and he kept walking. Scaling tall rocks and searching in every nook for the perfect item.

At a rock too high, he thought he could handle the challenge, with the water splashing angrily with flames reflecting on its surface. He thought he was jumping into a pit of lava, and the excitement overtook him. Without noticing, the fiery waves had already engulfed him and taken him hostage. No matter how hard he kicked they simply would not let him go. He thought the fire was in love with him.

Yet, from down below, the fire wasn't fire, but serene waves of water rocking him along the ocean, further and further from his small beach home. But he knew that he would make it home somehow, bobbing his head above the water keeping his hopes high. But the current had other plans and came crashing down on his little golden head, sending him spiraling underwater once more. Pushing and shoving him deeper into the underwater kingdom his mother had never told him about. The one he's only ever heard in myths, of beautiful creatures that loved strongly and sang like song birds on a good morning.

He caught the eye of one silver eyed creature, with hair almost translucent, he thought he could see the ocean through her celestial mane. For a second he even thought that she was much more beautiful than his mother and nearly forgot the reason he had left his home in the first place. The creature, with her long graceful fingers, with white ink on her skin in a pattern he had never seen before but had now bore in his mind, she reached out to him and grabbed his face. Drawing him closer to her, the boy reached for her hair and felt the silkiness, wishing to never let go. She pressed her lips against his, her eyes never closed, and neither did his. He saw his world simply vanishing from sight, a new type of vision taking place in his mind. He saw a beautiful world, a kingdom, a palace, a people he had never seen before but wanted so much to meet and befriend. He held onto the creatures hand as she led him to this strange new world and soon enough, the boy had entirely forgotten his golden haired mother who lived on the beach in a small house. He had forgotten that today was her birthday and he had forgotten that he had wanted to find treasure for her. And instead found it for himself.