Clashing Waves

 

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Introduction

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One

In all of 18 years growing in a beautiful house brimming with things to waste time doing, I spent most of my life at the ocean. Ever since I was a young girl, people in town were always madly insisting that they had seen strange things in the waters, but my dad always told me that it was alcohol talking. Mom, on the other hand, would just smile and take me down to the waterfront by our home to search for something we never found. It seemed like a lost cause as I aged and my imagination dwindled, but I still sat by the waves so often that it made me wonder if I really did believe somehow.

The ocean was my home.  

"Boston University? Oh my God, why didn't you tell me?" Looking up from the crashing waves rolling closer and closer to my toes, I gave an apologetic smile to my friend before she continued. "Here you are, going off to Boston, leaving me here to clean up after all the oafs coming to the library and also doing nothing with their lives."

Laughing softly, I shook my head before looking to my younger sibling laying beside me, sprawled out in the sand. It was almost like looking into the past, a shapely body spotted with freckles from spending so much time in the sun and a mane of curly brown hair that was unmanageable. I couldn't help but smile at the similarities before she opened her pretty brown eyes and I remembered that we differed. Mine were green and my skin was pale to take after our mother, whereas Cadence was bronze and very tall to resemble our father. She was only two years younger than me, but I was always jealous of her height and coloring even though people tended to feed me more compliments.

"Uh, Earth to Flo? Did you hear a word I said or were you too busy thinking about mermaids again? And why are you always staring at me? Geez." With that, she pushed herself up, the back of her flannel dusted with a layer of sand.

Squinting up at her, I gave a small grimace before the look melted back into a smile. "Of course I was listening, why would I be thinking about mermaids? That's just silly." Technically, I was thinking of the strange creatures people had describe my entire life which could possibly not be a mermaid. "Also, I wasn't staring, I was admiring. You get prettier all the time, especially when you're tan and in a bikini, damn!"

She stared for a moment before we both erupted into laughter and she pushed my arm, squealing, "Ew, you're so weird! You sound like mom, which is even weirder." After we both settled back down, staring quietly at the sea, Cadence sighed. "I wish you and mom weren't the only two that thought that."

Glancing over to her with a furrowed brow, I wondered how she wasn't able to comprehend her own beauty, though it was true that no one really did at 16. "Hey," I said, immediately grabbing her attention before putting an arm around her back and squeezing her into my side, "we aren't the only one's, okay? There's dad, too!"

Going from looking hopeful to rolling her eyes in a second, my sister pulled herself out of my grip and stood while rubbing away clinging sand. "You're the worst, Flo." She insisted with a smile, grabbing her backpack and getting ready to leave.

"Hey, where are you going? I thought maybe we could get some donuts or-"

"Nah." She rejected, already turning and walking in the direction of our house.

"Are you sure? What about Chinese? I could pay and-"

Turning back around, she insisted, "Florence!" Before laughing and heading off again. "I've gotta study for finals! You just stay and keep staring creepily at the beach! Catch you later!"

I watched her go before facing the water, catching sight of my own backpack out of the corner of my eye and remembering that we came down to the Fort to study together. Sighing, I pulled my messy hair out of the bun I had thrown it in, allowing the curls to swarm around my head in the wind. Glancing around to make sue my sister really left, I then peeled off my top and shorts to expose my plain, pink bikini and stood to examine the waves.

My feet had been soaking long enough to get used to the temperature, yet as I proudly strode into the water I barely felt anything except comfortable. Once the water was a bit above my navel, I sunk down into the water, allowing only my head to protrude. Smiling, I tilted backwards until I was floating on my back and soaking my hair as I stared at the clouds. The sky was the perfect color blue and the clouds looked fluffy enough to make me crave cotton candy, which proved right away that it was the perfect day for a swim.

Dad and Cadence thought it was crazy that I worried more about spending time at the ocean than preparing for College and finals, but life was so much more than just tests and the future to me. Swimming was one of the only times I had a chance to relax from the polished life our father had pressed on us from a young age, and, now that I was officially an adult, I had decided that I was going to spend as much time doing what I favored instead. It had only been a little over a month, but I already felt so much better.

At some point, my eyes must have closed, and when I opened my eyes, I had drifted off a ways from my stuff and decided it was time to find my way back and start over again. Going out a little deeper, not afraid of warnings such as jellyfish and other "terrors", I leaped into the water and began to swim back.

That would have been well and good if I hadn't struck my head against what felt like someone else in the water, even though I didn't remember seeing a soul when I had assessed my location just a minute before. 

Accidentally sucking in some water on impact, I bobbed to the surface chocking half to death while trying to tread water as I had swam out to where my toes couldn't reach the sand. It took a second to get to where I could breath properly again, and took a second to blink the water from my eyes, revealing the someone that I had bumped heads with. 

Hair shining almost silver in the slowly sinking sun barely looked wet as it tumbled over pale and sharp collarbones which were accompanied by these protruding features all throughout the face and, I assumed, the rest of her. She had eyes the color of the ocean we were swimming in and a smile just as dazzling with the pinkest lips round as any I had ever seen. Her eyes were sunken in just slightly and it almost looked like wrinkles should've started to pull at her eyes, though she wasn't quite there yet. Her giggle sounded like bells, and I was left starstruck by the entire premise of her. 

Blinking rapidly again, thinking that I just swallowed too much seawater and was hallucinating, it became apparent to me that I wasn't making it up at all. Thick eyebrows furrowing, I looked around us to see that there really wasn't anyone else around but us. "Uh, hi, I'm..." I tried, but she just stared back, not speaking as I tripped over the words I was trying to say. "I didn't see anyone before, I'm sorry that I ran into you. Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, I'm fine!" The stranger insisted, her voice ringing just as musically as her peculiar laugh. "I hope I didn't injure you, I wasn't aware that anyone else was about." Immediately, I raised an eyebrow at her wording, hoping that she wasn't one of those people that were super pretentious because it would be a shame. 

"No, I'm alright." I responded softly, sounding a little uncertain of myself. I wasn't great seeing as I just swallowed a mouthful of salt-water and my head was throbbing since the moment of impact, but I wasn't dying either so I figured I couldn't complain. "I didn't see anyone else around here either. You just kinda came outta nowhere."

She was quiet for a long moment before bursting out laughing, throwing her head back and throwing a hand over her mouth to cover her blindingly white teeth. I didn't find anything particularly funny and I almost wanted to think that she was making fun of me, though I couldn't help but also laugh softly with the sounds of pure happiness enveloping me. "Yes!" She exclaimed suddenly, "Out of nowhere, indeed!" 

My small voice slowly came to a stop and I knew in my mind that I should've felt uncomfortable, yet for some reason I couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I just stared silently with a smile tugging at the corners of my lips while waiting for her to stop. "Right." I stated, and with that she stopped so suddenly that I jumped a bit, not expecting anything like that. In fact, I was so shocked that my sudden instinct to go home began to outweigh my will to stick around with her. "Um, it was nice running into you," I started, accidentally making a pun and hoped that she wouldn't laugh, and became more than relieved when she didn't. "but I really need to be getting home. My sister will need to eat soon and-"

"No, wait!" She pleaded and any thought of going home was immediately wiped from my brain. I knew that I really wanted to go home, get some food, put off studying until the last minute, but I just couldn't find it in me to go. "What's your name, little one?"

Before I could speak, she held up her hand to stop me, my mouth was already starting to open to tell her, though I immediately shut my mouth and knit my eyebrows together on my forehead. I couldn't fathom how strange and weird it was to be asked a question before being stopped for what seemed like no reason at all. Her blank eyes seemed to be staring through me and I suddenly felt all of the discomfort I had been holding off throughout the conversation all at once. Looking around, I saw there was no one behind me and that she had to be intently watching me, but I didn't want to admit that to myself. 

With that hand she had just been holding in front of herself, seeming as if she had been thinking very hard about something and not blinking, the woman pushed a strand of her strangely dry hair away from her face and went back to being bubbly. I was so taken aback by this that my mouth began to hung open again. causing her to tilt her head at me. "Is something the matter?"

"Uh, yeah, a little bit." I spoke slowly, my words dragging out a bit as I slowly started to back away from her, wishing that I had gone home when my sister had. I was suddenly at war with myself, part of my brain insisting that I swim away before the creep did something awful, yet the other took in her smile and sultry features, wanting nothing more than to stay there with her. "Like I said, I really should go, I have to study for finals and do some other things, so I really should get on home."

"Aw, really? Must you?" The stranger inquired, a small pout tugging at her lip as her face grew slowly sadder to the point where only a small sliver of my conscience was telling me to go. "You're just so very inciting both visually and in conversation, I don't have very many acquaintances here yet and I was hoping that you would kindly give me a chance."

There was something about her voice, even through the odd way of speaking, that made me want to trust her. The woman was strange and didn't even seem like a real person, but there was something so compelling that made me want to stay. Some voice down inside of me was trying to remind myself that I had just tried to get away from her and the eerily way she had stared at me, but I couldn't get myself to turn away. "My name is Florence."

"Florence!" She half shouted, her laugh ringing so beautifully in my ears as a grin peeled on her face. "Why, I've never heard such a lovely name in my entire life! How fitting!" 

I could feel myself start to smile and become a bit flustered, cheeks slowly warming as I took in the extent of the compliment. Of course, I was complimented just as often as anyone else, though never from someone as dazzling as she was. "Oh, you don't have to say that, I'm not really-"

"Surely, you don't think that!" The nameless lady countered, lifting up a hand again, yet this time used it to slide her soft- and strangely not pruned-  fingers down my cheek, cupping my chin with it after the motion that sent chills down my spine. "What an enchanting creature you are..."

I knew somewhere in my mind that I should'v been grossed out and immediately should've left and reported the strange lady that was on the verge of sexually harassing me, though there was something about being there and treading water, hearing the sounds of the waves whisper as they crashed around intermingling with her voice, and those eyes reading into me with such a confident demeanor that made me stay. It was almost as if I couldn't hear her words or really assess the situation for myself, I was just drawn in and stuck there, my senses slowly leaving me as my thoughts solely focused on her face and the sound of her musical voice.

"You would do so nicely..." She commented, her beautiful face growing closer and closer to mine. "So shapely and youthful, wouldn't you be the perfect candidate..." I didn't know what she was speaking of, or what I was so perfect for, but I wanted it. I craved whatever she wanted me for with the entirety of my being just to be with her in any way that I could. Now her plump lips were by my ear, and her words had dropped to a whisper, "Would you like to stay young and fair with me, my child?"

Her fingers gripped my chin so tightly that it was starting to ache, yet I could hardly focus on that with the sparks that were going off in my head and the lust that I had to give myself to her. I was so overwhelmed by this that I could only nod, shaking my head up and down so quickly that I wasn't sure if it was her or my movements that were making me dizzy. As she pulled away, a grin curled her mouth widely, wickedly, and yet I only still could think of her glorious eyes and how I ached for her.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, and I was filled with joy by the thought of making her so elated. She let go of my chin, and I was filled with a dread and a sense of loss to not have her touching me. It felt as if a piece of me was missing and it was making me almost angry to have her be separate of me. "Patience, child." She cooed, pulling her other arm from the water and sliding the back of her hands down my cheeks and then neck. Her hands were pulled back before they got too close to my chest, and it filled me with a hunger stronger than before. Continuing, she promised, "You'll have what you desire." 

Waiting just a moment as she stared deeply into my eyes, she then held up one arm and exposed her wrist, bending her hand back and curling  her fingers into her palm. With her other hand, she smoothed a finger over her wrist, my eyes following her every movement as she did so. In what seemed like a millisecond, she brought her finger up and used her nail to slice open her wrist allowing blood to spill from the cut and begin trickling down her white skin. Staring at this blood, something in me instinctively compelled me toward it, craving it in the strongest sense of the word.

With the cut free hand, she curled her fingers into my hair, watching me with the most pleased look on her face as she pulled my head closer to her blood-soaked wound. My lips began to part and I could feel my mouth begin to water, knowing nothing else in the world than wanting to drink the red liquid oozing from her wrist. Seeing this, the woman laughed in the way that sounded like church bells before she stopped the moment before I met her cut, changing to the most memorizing thing I had heard in my entire existence- her singing voice.

Every note was electrifying and soft at the same time, sweet and strong, a sound like no one had ever heard in their entire life. When she sang, it was as if time had stopped and all I could think of was her voice and the only sense I was sound. It clouded my mind and filled my body with her song, leaving me breathless and relaxed in the same instant. I could almost feel myself sinking into the water as I had no intention of keeping myself afloat anymore, but I wasn't worried about it in the slightest. All I cared about was her voice. It was impossible, perfect, astounding, breathtaking, and I never wanted it to stop. 

As she sang, she forced my lulling head forward, my lips encircling the cut to allow the warm blood to gush into my mouth. I allowed myself to be fed, the liquid tasting like the notes that floated into my ears and I felt like I was being filled by her entity. As soon as I tasted the first few drops, I knew that I needed more, I had to have more of her inside me, and I began to suck as I attempted to swallow all that I could. 

The blood flow started to slow, and I was becoming hungrier and hungrier for it as the stream turned to a slow trickle. I knew that I wanted- needed- more, yet her grip on my head immediately pulled my head from her and my open mouth sucked in a mouthful of seawater instead. I chocked on the liquid, trying to breathe, yet discovering that I was under the surface as I splashed around helplessly. My throat began to burn as well as my entire body, my lungs feeling as if they were about to burst as my entire body ached. Kicking my feet, I struggled to the surface, yet something had me by the arm and I was unable to move.

The woman's face was still before me, a wicked smile on her face as I realized it was her bony hand curled around my bicep. In an instant, her bony fingers twisted around my other arm as well, holding me there underneath the water. I couldn't tell if it was just the dark saltwater deceiving me, though her beautiful face had morphed into something grotesquely skeletal, cheekbones and chin sharp and ready to burst through her silvery skin. Her eyes sunk back into her head, the former blue transformed into the blackest night while her lips were a deadly purple and thin. Also, I realized I couldn't see her legs at all, her topless and bony torso tapering off after her stomach. 

At the same time, I couldn't move at all, the only thing that still seemed to be functioning were my eyes though they still were deceiving me. My wide stare just took in the figure that seemed to only be skin wrapped tightly around bone as it floated in front of me, a grin growing to show wicked teeth, sharp and mangled in her formerly perfect mouth. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't force anything from my scorching throat and even if I managed to, no one would hear me. 

Somehow the stranger still managed to speak, her words sounded dark, twisted, no where as beautiful as they had before. Drawing her horrifying face close to mine, she instructed, "Florence of land and now the sea, head my words as you must do what I say if you wish to avoid being enslaved and held as captive under the surface until the day I wish you dead! Day by day, you will come to these waters and wait for victims to bring to me. You will do to them as I have done unto you, and you may stop only when I instruct so if you wish to have your life! Bring them to my kingdom by sunset and I will reward you once I am satisfied. Now, begone!" 

With that last word, she let go of me, though my body felt like it had undergone rigor mortis and was stuck there, slowly sinking like a rock to the ocean floor. After I couldn't move at all, a feeling of lava began to pump through my chest and throughout my entire body, filling my body with a sharp pain that seemed unending. Her smile was engraved in my mind as I head her voice still, slowly growing farther and farther away. "I'll be waiting, my child."

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Two

I opened my eyes to see millions of stars sprinkled against a black sky and to cold wind hitting my skin as I lay half naked on the shore. I coughed as my throat burned when I sucked in a lungful of cold air, though the rest of my body didn't burn as it did what felt like just moments before. I sat up, patting my face and body to reveal that I was unharmed and in my bikini with a head of completely dry hair- which was saying a lot with thick, curly hair. I looked around frantically to find that I was sitting next to my clothes and bag, both seemingly untouched, and I was alone. 

Pulling my phone from my backpack, I saw that it was already 8:30. "Shit!" I swore, Shoving my phone back into my bag as I hoped up to pull on my clothes. As I grabbed my shirt and yanked it over my head, I was hit with thoughts of the terrible woman that had dragged me under the water and of the body  contorting pain that I had been through. Turning to stare out at the ocean, it looked as calm and nonthreatening as it had ever been. "Was it a dream?" I wondered as the waves crashed just a few feet away from my toes, almost beckoning me back into the water. 

As I tried to quickly get into my pants, I noticed that my legs were a bit unstable compared to normal. I buttoned my pants and tried to think of a perfectly reasonable answer for it, yet I couldn't bring myself to think of one. Attempting to stand on one leg and shake the other out, I almost feel over in the first second of trying to hold my balance, the lone leg barely able to hold my weight. keeping on both feet, I stared down at my legs, wondering why they weren't cooperating.

Shrugging, I came up with a reason logically as my sister always told me to do, deciding she would tell me, "Don't worry about it, Flo, you probably just slept on them weird." and left it at that. Knowing I had to get home and try to rush to complete homework and eat, I pulled on my backpack and grabbed my sandals, wondering how I allowed myself to sleep for that long. 

Though, as I began to walk home, I noticed that it was getting hard to do so and it felt as if at any moment my legs would give out on me. Suddenly, I was more than thankful that our house was just up the street from the beach and all I had to do was make it past the sand and the parking lot. 

Somehow making it to our side door, I pulled the key out of my bag and unlocked the door, hearing the familiar click before making my way inside. The way our house was set up, there were three apartments stacked on top of each other to allow for us to each have a different floor. Our father constantly slaved over his work, so he decided it was best for him to have the first floor as he was normally home late and didn't want to disturb Cadence and I going up and down the steps. When mom still lived with us, my sister and I lived with her on the second floor, though now that she's gone it's just Cadence and I. The third floor is supposed to be my floor, but I normally just end up crashing in one of the guest rooms in my sister's place.

Today, though, I made the journey up the second flight of steps and glanced over at my sisters door, knowing I would get a lecture from coming home so late. My legs felt as though they were about to give out, yet I still made the trip up the last set of stairs to my own front door, shoving the key in the lock and throwing the door open to my empty place. Flipping a light on, I immediately closed the front door and locked it before heading straight to the bathroom. 

Pulling my phone and charger from my bag, I plugged it in and turned on a playlist, leaving it on the sink as I stripped off my clothes and bent over to fill up the tub. As I turned the water on warm and stuck the plug in the drain, I glance out the small window, catching a glimpse of the moon shining down on the waves. That was the reason that I had wanted the third floor to begin with- the view- but after that dream or whatever it was, the ocean almost seemed a bit menacing to me and as did the tune flowing from my phone. 

Trying to ignore that, I stepped into the water, my skin feeling strange as it made contact with the clear liquid. I furrowed my eyebrows, a little hesitant to sink into the water, yet I did anyway, the tingling sensation engulfing my entire bottom half as it soaked. Leaning over to turn off the faucet, I did my best to think nothing of it and just enjoy the warmth after being exposed to the harsh night. 

My cold bones slowly began to warm and my eyes closed as my head lulled back against the edge of the tub, returning me to a calm state of mind. I knew at this point it had to be at least nine, but at the same time I was aware that I wasn't truly going to study for any finals or do written assignments anyway so the hour didn't bother me that much. I knew that my sister would throw a fit if she was aware of that, but I would pass just fine without it. 

A few months back, I had received my acceptance letter to Boston University, and ever since my level of productivity had dropped. It had always been rather low compared to everyone else, but I didn't find any point in studying or doing anything of that sort if I knew I was just going to pass swimmingly anyway. My father scolded me for not choosing a better major, and I was sure my sister would be upset with me as well being why I didn't tell her I got in at all. Though, when I called my mother as soon as I found out, she praised me for doing what I knew in my heart I wanted to major in- Marine Biology. 

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