FIRST TIDES
798 Words
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
March 24, 2014.
Clara ran.
Her breath tore through her throat like fire, but still she didn’t stop. The wind slapped against her skin, wild and unrelenting, carrying whispers that weren’t quite words yet pressed against her ears all the same. The moonlit trees stretched endlessly ahead, their shadows writhing like claws, and behind her… something followed. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it crawling closer, teeth in the dark, a shadow with weight.
Her chest burned. Each inhale came in ragged bursts. Branches lashed at her arms, roots snagged her ankles, stones carved into her bare feet, but nothing slowed her. The heaviness at her back pressed closer, so near she could almost feel its breath chilling the nape of her neck.
The forest broke suddenly. Clara stumbled into a clearing, moonlight spilling like silver paint across the ground. Before her loomed a cave, its mouth yawning wide, a black wound carved into the earth. She didn’t think. She just ran inside.
The darkness swallowed her whole.
Inside, the air was damp, almost thick, echoing with the frantic rhythm of her own pulse. Her footsteps softened on stone as she slowed, her eyes adjusting. And then, she saw it.
A pool lay at the heart of the cave. Its surface glowed faintly, throwing ripples of blue light across the walls. At its center, rising gracefully from the water, was a woman. Long silver hair drifted across the pool like threads of silk. Pale skin gleamed softly under the strange light, and beneath her waist, a tail shimmered, curling gently in the water.
A mermaid.
Clara froze, every muscle taut.
The mermaid turned, her gaze locking onto Clara’s. A slow, knowing smile spread across her lips as she lifted one pale hand, beckoning.
“Come,” she whispered, her voice like water against stone. “Come, Clara.”
Clara’s breath stuttered. “Who are you?” she whispered back, her voice trembling in the stillness.
The mermaid tilted her head, silver hair spilling. “You already know. I’ve waited for you.”
Clara shook her head violently. “No… I’m not going in there.” She stumbled back a step, glancing at the cave entrance behind her. “I don’t belong here.”
“Yes, you do.” The mermaid’s smile deepened, her tone persuasive yet calm, almost soothing. “You can’t run forever. This is where you belong.”
Clara’s chest tightened. “No… no, I can’t.”
The mermaid’s eyes darkened, and her voice dropped lower, the sound vibrating like a riddle carried through the walls.
“This is your rightful place. Fear hinders the way to the key that unlocks your future. Come with me… and face your fears.”
Clara’s legs trembled. She wanted to run, but her body betrayed her, feet rooted to the stone floor. Then, from behind her, came the sound—the one she dreaded. Dragging, scraping, the slow steps of something monstrous. The thing that had chased her was here.
She turned. The entrance was no longer empty. The shadows twisted, swelling, shaping themselves into something terrible. It was coming for her.
The mermaid’s hand remained outstretched, her smile calm, almost patient.
“Clara… now.”
Tears stung Clara’s eyes. Her heart hammered as she turned back toward the glowing pool. The shadow closed in, its presence looming at her back. With a scream tearing from her throat, Clara leapt forward.
She hit the water—cold, searing, blinding blue.
Then blackness.
Clara sat bolt upright in her bed. Her scream still clung to the air. Her chest rose and fell in frantic bursts. And her nightgown, her sheets were soaked through, plastered to her skin as though she had been dragged from a storm.
Her gaze dropped, wide-eyed, to the floor.
She froze.
There she was.
The mermaid. Sitting in the shadows of her room. Smiling. That same slow, eerie smile that never touched her eyes.
Clara’s lips parted. A strangled gasp escaped.
Her bedroom door burst open.
She blinked. And in that blink, the mermaid vanished.
“Clara!” her mother cried, rushing to her side. Her father followed, their arms wrapping tightly around her trembling frame.
“What happened?” her mother whispered frantically, brushing back damp strands of hair. “You screamed.”
Clara’s mouth opened, but no sound came. She clung to her parents, yet her eyes stayed fixed on the place where the mermaid had been.
Just moments ago, she had felt it. The water soaking her skin. The weight of the darkness at her back. The mermaid’s smile.
Now her room was dry. Normal. Ordinary.
Except for her heart, still pounding like a drumbeat of warning.
Because something had crossed over.
And it wasn’t done with her yet.
- Writer
