DrippingWithAlchemy
I'll be your alchemical girl
- Local time
- Tomorrow 2:25 AM
- Messages
- 20
Soft footprints in the sand, pressing deep enough to swallow her foot and disappearing as soon as she'd moved away, white sand showing hardly a dent to mark her passing. She moves quickly along the coast, her dress tugged by the wind, hair tangling without a hand to smooth it and tug the snarls free. Her hands, instead, are clutching tightly at her prize. Holding it to her chest as though she feared someone might come and steal it away from her after she had spent her whole day searching for it.
She knew every inch of this beach, having spent much of her life in one of the houses perched precariously atop the nearby cliffs, and so she knew. She knew where her prize would be hidden, or at least the likely places. She'd checked the tidal pools where it might have been weighted down with rocks, and the small caverns carved out by the sea which could only be entered at low tide. She had clambered across sharp rocks and even lost her shoes in an attempt to gain traction on the rocks with her bare feet. But, at last, she had found it.
A man cries out from somewhere behind her and she speeds up, running now and clinging to her find. Her eyes are locked on the coastline, not daring to look back to see him chasing her as she knew he must be. The waves seem to be clawing at the sands to drag them away, and she is breathless as she reaches their cold, wet kiss. Finally met with no other choice, she reluctantly drops her prize on the ground and begins tearing at her clothing. Desperately dragging knots and ties open so that she can peel the cloth from her skin.
The first brush of the wind against her body gets a tremble, half from excitement and half from the cold. She laughs wildly as the last of her clothing hits the wet sand and sea foam licked up by the harsh winds and the tide. It wouldn't be long now, bending to collect her most treasured possession from the sands, she presses it against her face, feeling the coarse fur against her cheek with a sigh.
~~~
He was running, but he would never catch her. Helplessly churning through the sand as he wife disrobed like some feral sea nymph and bent to collect the thing he'd hidden from her all these years. He watched as she peeled open the pelt she'd found at last, screaming her name into the wind and pleading with her not to go. His wife, the selkie, disappeared into the waves without a backwards glance. He spent nearly an hour screaming her name, waist-deep in the sea, cursing the wind until he was hoarse with grief and shouting. Turning to head back, his eyes lifted to their house on the cliff, to where he knew their children waited.
Perhaps he should have taken her further from the sea.
She knew every inch of this beach, having spent much of her life in one of the houses perched precariously atop the nearby cliffs, and so she knew. She knew where her prize would be hidden, or at least the likely places. She'd checked the tidal pools where it might have been weighted down with rocks, and the small caverns carved out by the sea which could only be entered at low tide. She had clambered across sharp rocks and even lost her shoes in an attempt to gain traction on the rocks with her bare feet. But, at last, she had found it.
A man cries out from somewhere behind her and she speeds up, running now and clinging to her find. Her eyes are locked on the coastline, not daring to look back to see him chasing her as she knew he must be. The waves seem to be clawing at the sands to drag them away, and she is breathless as she reaches their cold, wet kiss. Finally met with no other choice, she reluctantly drops her prize on the ground and begins tearing at her clothing. Desperately dragging knots and ties open so that she can peel the cloth from her skin.
The first brush of the wind against her body gets a tremble, half from excitement and half from the cold. She laughs wildly as the last of her clothing hits the wet sand and sea foam licked up by the harsh winds and the tide. It wouldn't be long now, bending to collect her most treasured possession from the sands, she presses it against her face, feeling the coarse fur against her cheek with a sigh.
~~~
He was running, but he would never catch her. Helplessly churning through the sand as he wife disrobed like some feral sea nymph and bent to collect the thing he'd hidden from her all these years. He watched as she peeled open the pelt she'd found at last, screaming her name into the wind and pleading with her not to go. His wife, the selkie, disappeared into the waves without a backwards glance. He spent nearly an hour screaming her name, waist-deep in the sea, cursing the wind until he was hoarse with grief and shouting. Turning to head back, his eyes lifted to their house on the cliff, to where he knew their children waited.
Perhaps he should have taken her further from the sea.