What the Sea Knows

Dear Cadence,

I wasn’t sure when it had started–the ringing. It was like a buzz at first—like flies, maybe? I’m not sure anymore. They asked me if I had any other strange symptoms. I thought to mention the claw marks on the nightstand, but no one would believe it. Hell, I don’t believe it myself.

There’s a fortnight more here guarding the castle until I may return home.

I do love to see the ocean at night, how the waves reflect the moonlight. Sometimes the waves sound like a song and it helps me sleep just like when you sing to me. How I do miss you darling.

Yours,

Arune

Dear Cadence,

I sat near the shore tonight just to hear the sounds better. From my room they are too distant, too soft. I saw a dolphin out in the sea, as well. I know how badly you had wanted to see one, they’re magnificent creatures.

Legorin and I discussed taking a small boat out to the lighthouse to see them better. If only I had your artistic touch I would draw it for you. The clawmarks that I told you about are gone now. I suppose you were right to tell me not to worry.

Yours,

Arune.

Dearest Cadence,

How I grow weary of the passing days. I feel a heaviness weighing on me, as the sea sent me a message. It was more like a warning, in fact. I’m sure again you would tell me not to worry, but there’s a terror clawing at my chest.

Today I saw more dolphins, many more. As I see them out there by the lighthouse, I can hear the songs of the water grow louder, the lovely waves crashing against weathered stone. How I hate to take in its beauty without you. Even still, I would think the most beautiful thing I have ever seen is you.

Merely another week, my dear.

Yours,

Arune

Cadence,

Something must have bitten me in the night, I have red scratches on my arms and legs. I must have had a fitful sleep, yet I don’t remember. The last few days have been hazy, in fact. Legorin and I had some liquor last night, but I don’t believe it was enough to render me completely unaware. Alas, maybe this job is getting to me.

I miss you so terribly I think I see you in the evenings. At the edge of my bed or right near the shore. I can see you in the water, that lovely nightgown holding your waist. I talk to your shadows when I am feeling lonely.

The days are growing longer now that I anticipate coming home.

Perhaps I will talk again with your silhouette by the sea.

Faithfully yours,

Arune

Dearest Cadence,

I am sending my letters to the sea. I can see you by the lighthouse at night, waiting for me. I will come to you darling. The sea can free me—it can free us.

Yours,

Arune

Cadence,

Your calls to me have been heard. I must tell you my dear that I love you. I fear Neptune himself conspires to take you from me. I will not yield. I will fight for you—for us. The waves will have to drown me to keep me from you.

I am coming my dear.

I am coming back to you. Please wait for me there again, out by the lighthouse.

Yours,

Arune

Cadence,

The dolphins have convened out where I last saw you—their mighty tails have been disturbing the placid waters. I know you wait for me, I just haven’t seen you again. I must swim out to you. If I must break every bone in my body fighting the torrent of water, I shall do so.

I miss you my dear.

Please come to me again, please sing to me again.

Yours,

Arune

Dear Cadence,

How long has it been? I’m afraid I’ve lost track of the time.I’m afraid I’ve lost many things—I just wish for you to return to me. Your shadows fade as the moon wanes. Soon I fear I will have lost you completely.

Come back to me in the waves, in the moonlight, in the treacherous sea. I speak freely my dear, that I miss you so. I feel trapped here—but this cage is none other than my own making. Please darling, come for me. Take me with you.

When the moon waxes again I hope to see you there, your body illuminated by the reflection of the sea.

Please, Cadence.

Faithfully yours,

Arune

Dear Diary,

I’ve found letters under the rocks where Arune was last seen. Some of which were still legible, others eaten by the salt of the sea. I saw my name in one of them, but I couldn’t decipher the other text.

Perhaps he wished to fish with me? I had mentioned it once that I had loved fishing as a boy, but I didn’t take Arune to be the fishing type. He didn’t speak much, only when the liquor had loosened his tongue. He had told me of the beautiful women who lived in his village, how he could not wait to return home to find a woman to marry. Yet, in the letters I found he had been communicating with a woman. Her name is smudged so I can’t make it out now, but I hadn’t any idea he was romantically involved with anyone.

The last words he had spoken to me before his disappearance was that he had wondered how the lighthouse light was so bright. That it was not possible for mere lantern fire to blaze so brightly. I told him I wasn’t sure, but he had taken such an intense interest in that light.

I am currently looking out at the waters lapping over the rocks now. I hope he is not out there, in that terrifying sea. I had always been afraid of the ocean—I had preferred lakes and rivers. There’s something too large—too deep about the ocean. I didn’t want to imagine what creatures would have swallowed Arune out there should he have slipped under the waves.

I do hope some of his letters made it to the woman.

Perhaps I will dump some of my liquor into the sea for him. The other men think he will return, but I do not. I do not think men come back from where Arune had gone.

Legorin