Celeste

20.

The mirror reflected the coat first, buttons proudly shining like stars in the darkest of skies. The small, neat concise stitching of the hem. The four arrows signaling the rank of captian.

I was frustrated. "Father, you care more for that coat than you do me. Don't go!"

He turned, displeased. "This coat is every thing I have ever worked for. Every floor I've mopped, every knot I've tied. Without it, we would be on the other side of the town, hungry and homeless. I have to go." He said, tention leaking into his words.

I fisted my hands into tight balls.
"It's stupid. It means you're leaving me so soon after mother died. Why don't you stay?"

He gives a deep breath. "Celeste. I see your mother everywhere. At least at sea I have a hope of finding her. I love her. And I'm not giving up."

With that, he walked out, shutting the door harder than necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes stung at the sudden memory. My throat dried sharply, bitterly.
"No..." I whispered, looking over the coat for damage. I held it out, and as the startled jellyfish bobbed away in suprise I saw that one arm was cut clean away. The coat was covered in blood.

I knew it was blood because it darkened the fabric even more so, in a clash of brown and black

What did this mean? 

A shiver traveled slowly up my spine, not caused by the cold current working its way into my jacket.
I shuddered.

Did this mean he was dead? There's too much blood...

"Hey, cel! This is great, isn't it?" Mitch chatters die as he catches sight of my face.
"Celeste? What's..."

I've told him my story, so he knows what I'm holding. "Oh, erm. Let's go home." He says.

I let him lead me to the dolphins who awaken with concerned squeaks. I'm holding the coat like it's the secret to life itself. My head is running through every senario. A corpse is front and centre of most.

My rational side is telling me he's not hurt, he's strong and is ok...
The other side is awful, a nightmare in slow motion.

A slashing sword weilded by a reckless pirate. A single cut, and blood flows like water, draining him.

He falls into the sea at the crash of a powerful wave, a sharks meal.

He's wounded badly. Infection...

I don't notice I'm home untill I'm steered into the bed, clutching the coat like it's a teddy bear.
Mitch curls up beside me, an arm over my waist.

He's talking like I'm a little kid, slow and sweet. It's soothing...

But I can't sleep. All the images my mind creates is too much. So I lie awake, picturing my father's demise.

I stayed that way for two whole weeks, mind running over and over. I didn't cry, only sat, wondering what had happened to my father so that his coat became covered with blood, torn and caught on corral, at the bottom of the ocean.

At the end of the second week a thought occured. When I was little I used to throw a message in a bottle into the sea. It was usually a greeting, to see how far it could bob along the sea before it was found.

I could send a message! A message in a bottle! With paper... And ink.

Both would dissolve under here. Perhaps... A message on a rag? Painted on and stuffed into a bottle? No. The message would smear. What would I even say? I am alive? What if a stranger got to it first....

I could carve into a rock. Oohhh....

Benny had visited and managed to sew the coat so that it had no great tear. It was still bloody, but at least it wouldn't leak onto my skin.

I ran my finger over his name before leaving my house.

Mitch rushed up to my side, embracing me into a hug. "I'm so glad you are ok. Sapphire had to stop me going in." He breathed.

Sapphire hovered, worried. "How you doing, Celeste? I bought you food whilst you were spaced out, did you like it? Anything you need?" She fretted.

I steeled my nerves.
"I want to send a message to my father. Above land."

Silence.
Mitch is the first to break it.
"Above land? That's forbidden."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, we would be hunted, second it's impossible to do, third, you've got three weeks untill you see him again." Sapphire butt in crossly.

I frown. "Hunted?"

She scoffed. "If you saw a sea dragon, you would want it on display so everyone could see it, wouldn't you? Same goes for us."

"But how can I explain where I've been when I see him?"

"I say I found you on a spit of land calling for help." Mitch says.

I'm still confused. "But what about my clothes I wore when I went missing?"

"We left it on a pirate ship, so that it looks like they got to you first and threw you over, where you swam away." Sapphire says.

"Look, cel. If your father knew about all of this, he would think your mother's alive." Mitch explains.

"And what if she is?" I shoot back, angry.

"She would have gone back to you, Celeste. Four years and she didn't return." He says gently.

Shock hits me again like a bullet.
She didn't return...

"You mean... She didn't want to come back at all? Not even to see her daughter?" I ask, hollow.

"That's not what I said, cel..."

I cant help it. I've lost both parents in one swoop.
"She didn't... She's dead, isn't she. I've been so stupid...".

"Don't say that... Maybe she's trapped-"

"She's gone!" I shout over him.

They both stare at me in shock. Sapphire whispers something in Mitch's ear. He looks worried.
"Look, cel..."

"She's gone..." I whisper, the truth finally hitting me.

Mitch hugs me again, and I accept it. Sapphire joins in too, beaded jewelry pressing into my back.
Now I can move on.