Mistress of the Sea

CHAPTER 1 - THE MYSTERY GIRL

I shivered at the shore asking myself why I am braving the early evening draft in the first place and it all lead to that mysterious girl.

Every night at precisely 6pm she would come from the clump of trees at the far end of the beach carrying a bottle of whiskey. Head bowed, she would walk the shoreline where the waves would lightly clash with her feet but not strong enough to completely leave her drenched. Then she would sit at the same rock she had been sitting on every night, face turned towards the horizon, seemingly lost in thoughts.

You would say she is just another drunkard capping the night with some heavy booze but that is not the case. At precisely 7pm she would open the bottle, tip a portion to the sea three times at almost equal intervals and then at precisely 8 pm she would leave.

Everyone who lives in the area knew about the mysterious girl but nobody dared to approach her. Her evening ritual was simply accepted like sunset or sunrise, a regular part of their daily life. Every one learned to clear out "her portion" of the beach before she comes in. Nobody knew who she was or where she came from. Everyone calls her as "the mistress" courtesy of our resident writer, Old Mason, who wrote a poem inspired by her but he never got past the first line- "the mistress of the sea who plies his master with whiskey".

I am new in the neighborhood and the first time I saw her the first thing that came to my mind was "that's a waste of whiskey". But seeing her pour that whiskey night after night my instinct started twitching just like before our camp was infiltrated by suicide bombers one fateful night in Afghanistan. It is telling me to engage with her and to protect her but the rationale side of me is telling me to run and take cover. Which is why I am seated at the shadows despite the cold so that I can make sure she is safe from a distance. The trees at the edge of my property granted me enough cover to scout the area without being seen and at the same time allows me to be near enough so I could run to her in time in case of danger. I have never seen her face clearly because of the dark but even at a distance I would be able to recognize her. I know she has short hair and a petite body frame but more than that she has this weariness in her movements that makes my heart constrict. She is an enigma, an enigma that I want to figure out but I cannot allow it. I will just content myself with protecting her from a distance.

Tonight I settled in one of my patio chairs I brought, beer at hand and waiting for the mistress. I watched the sunlight disappear and the stars fill the sky.

She did not come.

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Hi everyone! Thank you for reading my work!  I am new to writing a novel and I was hoping you can give me some feedback so I can improve my skill and some encouragement so that I don't lose my guts to continue :-) Please feel free to post your comments and reaction. You may also send me a private message if you want to give me an idea on how I can improve. I don't know how to promote my story in wattpad so I would really appreciate it if you can share with me some information on how to do just that. Again, thank  you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of my story.