Nobody's Musings

Forgotten at Sea

She went deeper, swimming as fast as she could, dragged part by force and part by will. The current mercilessly swept around her, threatening to lead her astray, and her vision became increasingly blurred. As if a dark cloak had descended, comfortably wrapping itself around her. There was simply no time to waste. She had to find what she needed to and escape as quickly as possible. There was no way Mika was going to make it out of here without her. Or maybe it was the opposite.

It was nearing her, mercilessly bearing its white, jagged teeth. Kafu thought it looked like sharks, but worse. It moved at a very ominous pace, as though waiting for the right moment to strike. Kafu glided swiftly under, putting herself at a safe distance from it, and Mika was still nowhere in sight. 

"I can't believe this. This isn't happening, not under my watch." thought Kafu has she moved steadily against the currents, past the empty, endless stretch of what once used to be a vibrant place she called home. Many of her neighbours and friends have been mercilessly captured and whoever remained fled, for fear of the monster. Monster it was. It came from nowhere and wrecked her home. Completely without trace. 

A thin streak of red coloured the otherwise midnight blue of the ocean. Kafu heard a familiar echo at the deeper end, calling out to her. It was too familiar to ignore and Kafu sped across the depths of the sea, spurring herself to move faster. 

"Please let it be Mika" Kafu wished, moving closer to the limp, floating body in front of her. Mika breathed slowly and an open gash of wound continued to paint the water a crimson red. Her fin throbbed and Kafu, not knowing what to do, nuzzled up closer to her calf. 

History was repeating itself. Again, Mika was not the target. Just like Kafu once before, she got caught in the crossfire of a twisted fate that seemed to smile only upon that net and the owners of it. Mika's bleeding looked too severe to nurse and the monster was inching closer. 

"Go, mother. Save yourself please." said Mika, as the fatigue and hopelessness in her voice revealed her efforts to shield her pain from her mother. 

"No mother can neglect her child Mika. Without you, I become an empty body, like this body of water surrounding us. I will have no home, nowhere to find solace. You make me who I am, and a mother who leaves her child can never find closure." Kafu tilted her body which brushed against Mika's wound. Mika squirmed, and blood continued to spill. 

"Mother, please. Look at me, I'm never going to survive." Mika's small smile pained Kafu. Her daughter was slowly slipping away and there was nothing she could do except seethe at the giant monster that had rode past, grabbing more fishes and turtles along with it. It had an odd whirring sound to it, propelled by two silver rods that looked eerily like a shark's fin. 

The teeth went past, a smirk on its face. That kind of satisfaction that made Kafu want to tear its insides, to rip the murderer who ended Mika's mere three months of life with her mother. 

"Just leave me here and go, please. Mother, I think neglect is less painful than forgetting, for I think you would always feel a part of me with you, telling you to move on. You won't live a life where I never existed. That's powerful, don't you think?" 

The waters in the sea of red lapped lazily around Kafu as Mika's eyes fluttered close. Her body sank deeper into the ocean. Kafu's fin hit the side of the white teeth, which had stopped moving. 

Kafu's breath constricted. She lept up, craning her body to catch a glimpse of the monster and inhale. 

Distant screams drowned out her tears and the ocean's silence. Flashes of white light from those voices blinded her temporarily as she fell back limp, and she was paralysed once more. 

The fishermen above slapped himself on his shoulder. He had made the catch of the day for the company and he smiled greedily at what his net reeled in, separating the fishes from the dead others, throwing them back into the sea, where they rightfully belonged.