Foam
She saw her family again. She watched them swim around her as she concentrated on her hands and the potential they withheld. She could feel the familiar sinking in the pit of her stomach, a distinct throb on her upper abdomen as she tried to own the water, master the sound of the waves, identify and regulate the water’s pressure against her body and thrust her hands outwards, her ears roaring with awareness. The waters pushed back and a mild distance away began to foam. She heard the ripples smashing its way towards the direction opposite to the one she sent them to. She was too late to grasp her surroundings and the sea caught her unaware. A huge ball of force slammed into her face and she somersaulted backwards, losing feeling of her body, her muscles too shocked to react. Immediately, she started sinking and no amount of swishing could allow her to defy the fear that swelled up in her like a raisin in water.
Pandora started swimming towards her. “Do it!” she yelled, and even though she was an arm’s distance away, the gap gradually widening she offered no help.
She looked towards the pit she was being dragged into. This time, she conceded. She worshiped the sea. She acknowledged the power of the Gods and submitted to any chastisement they deemed just and threw her hands, palm-first, towards the pit that grew bigger with each passing fathom. Pandora finally looked ready to swim faster and help her, but she didn’t let her. As Pandora closed the distance between them, she reached up and seized her hand. As they began to sink together, she felt the pit beckoning her to lose control, her skin tingled as she felt its threatening depth assuring certain death. Her free hand still aimed at the gaping pit, she closed her eyes and felt the bubbles snuggling her body, the soft ripples swaying past her like silk, as Seril once said. She felt a gentle push in the region just opposite her naval, which progressed to spread evenly throughout her back and as she opened her eyes, she saw Pandora and she shooting back towards the way they swam from, an exhilarating force lifting them higher and higher until it stopped abruptly as they neared Jo and Seril, who had their terrified arms around each other, bubbles floating around them like erupting from a submarine volcano. They gave a cry of relief and started swimming towards the other two whose hands were still clutching each other’s.
“You did it!” Pandora exclaimed and kissed her. “I believed in you.”
“Thank you for trusting me,” she said, and pressed her forehead against Pandora’s. “Shall we rise to our glory?”
Pandora giggled, a beautiful sound, better than any other siren’s calls. “Sure,” she said.
They started swimming upwards. When Jo and Seril saw them, they stopped and cheered loudly, bubbles surrounding them as their voices traveled towards the two sirens in love.
She was proud of herself. She’s mastered the currents. She was finally ready to lure her prey into the depths. She could finally rise to the surface and sing the truth. And, she was ready to spend her eternity with the love of her life, a promise she was looking forward to keep.
But that happiness did not last long. Pandora’s hand seemed to slip away from hers when moments ago it’d been clasping her own. Too late she heard the splash of a weave dropping into the water. She heard the muffled jangling of chains as they dove into the waters, a harpoon fastened on the end that was released. Straight into Pandora’s heart it drove, the heart which she’d not long ago opened to her.
“No!” she screamed, frantically pushing away the bubbles that surrounded them. She tried to free Pandora but her chest had been speared to the point of no recovery. She sobbed as she shuffled the chains in her hand, knowing it was hopeless, foam covering her arms, her cheeks, spreading into the water surrounding them. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Pandora’s lifeless face and she didn’t have to. She watched as Pandora’s body began to dissolve, turning into mist, slipping out of her reach, forever.
And like before, she felt herself sinking, not into the depths and towards the pit which would’ve ended her form as swiftly as Pandora’s, but towards the surface, away from Jo and Seril, out of reach of Pandora’s foaming body. A school of angelfish swan by, generating a wall between her and her family, her eyes stinging with water that didn’t belong to the ocean.
As she was wrenched away, impossibly she heard the faint voice of Pandora’s siren call. Not a song, not a beckoning, just a single word: her name.
Copyright © 2021 by @sapphic-sails
