7 Days of Carmilla

Day 3 (Ocean)

Ocean

“Come on, Carm! The water feels really good!” Laura ran into the ocean spray, giggling when the water hit her skin.

“No thanks, Cutie. I hate water.” Laura stopped and looked at her,

“Um...didn’t you dive like, a thousand feet below sea level to get that sword we beat your mom with?” Carmilla looked down,

“That was different. Your life was in danger. Now that it’s not, I think I’ll stay where it’s dry.”

“I guess you really are a giant black cat, huh?” Laura smirked at her and Carmilla couldn’t hold back her own grin.

“We all have our kryptonite, Cupcake. Look, I’ll hang out here, in the shade. You can go get wet. Just watch out for the current. And rocks.” Laura smiled at her, then came running in for a kiss.

“Don’t worry. My dad insisted I take swim lessons. For five years.” Carmilla nodded, then leaned down to kiss her again. Laura’s lips were warm against hers, and her breath came out in a short gasp as she pulled away.”

“We can go eat dinner after this, okay?” Carmilla smiled at her again,

“Whatever you say, Creampuff.”

Carmilla ducked under the beach umbrella that Laura had set up and pulled a book out of her bag. The book was just for show though. She was really busy watching Laura. Laura really was a good swimmer. The beach was deserted (mostly because it was private property, previously owned by Carmilla’s mother) so there wasn’t anything except a few jagged rocks blocking the view of the ocean.

Carmilla watched as Laura swam around, catching waves and bodysurfing. With her vampiric hearing, she could hear Laura’s squeals and giggles over the sound of the waves. And she could hear the small thud. She watched it happen, Laura caught a wave, but her angle was off. Her body twisted and her head cracked against a rock. When the wave brought her down, she didn’t come back up.

“LAURA!” Carmilla screamed, without even thinking, she ran to where she had seen Laura go under. The water here got deep, fast. She dived under and saw Laura, who didn’t look conscious. Carmilla swam furiously, and grabbed the smaller girl, pulling her above water. When Laura’s head broke the surface, she coughed up some water and her eyes fluttered open,

“Carm...?”

“I’ve got you Laura, you’re going to be fine.” Carmilla carried Laura onto shore and lay down, cradling her. She knew something was wrong though, Laura was pale, her eyes unfocused. Her gaze found Carmilla and she gave a small smile,

“You got wet... thank you.” Her eyes closed slowly. Carmilla felt a deep sinking fear in her chest.

“Laura! Laura! Hey, c’mon, wake up! Wake up!” She knew it was hopeless. Laura’s chest had stopped moving with breath. Her heart had stopped beating with life. Laura was gone. After all they’d been through, Laura was gone because of an accident. Carmilla sat there, holding Laura’s body. She didn’t care how long she stayed there. Days, weeks, years? Every second without Laura felt like an eternity in hell.

        Vampires don’t cry. Screw that. Carmilla buried her face in Laura’s hair and sobbed.