For the Love of the Sea

A pale figure stood atop the cliffside, a ghost against the gray sky and dark sea. As the wind blew, it threatened to make that image a reality as her thin frame fought against its strength. Thin mist hung in the air, and it appeared as if she and it were one and the same.

“I am to be alone, then?” The words were heavy and deep as if made of the crashing waves below. Dark eyes, ones that had grown tired from dreamless nights, looked to the horizon. It seemed as if she could not see the rich darkness of it that lay in the distance before her. “It is selfish, is it not? We had just begun, you and I. Yet you have left me.”

She turned to face the target of her ire, her face one of rage and despair. A small ocean welled within her eyes, threatening to drown her within it. “You leave me. Not for a woman. Nor for money. But for the sea.” Each word carried the fury of a ship sailing upon a turbulent sea. With each one, she stepped forward towards an unknown destination as if they were waves carrying her towards her doom.

“Was my love not enough? What did she provide that I did not?” Her knuckles grew as white as the foam atop the waves below her. Each step felt as though she were fighting against the greatest of storms. Even as the wind blew from behind her, it felt as though she was fighting against its force as she continuously moved forward.

“When the sea would call upon you, you would run to her like a child to his mother.” Her dark hair whipped furiously as she continued forward. Behind her waves crashed furiously, as if threatening to take her back with them. They rose over the cliff, their darkness a thick contrast to the pale figure walking away from them. She felt as they crashed down, the cold water splashing against the back of her neck.

“Perhaps the sea had always had been your true lover and I was instead your mistress. But the sea cannot, and will not, love you as I can. Or as I have.” The wind screamed about her, as if her fury made it wish to drown her voice. The waves crashed behind her as if the beating of a heart, one that could truly love a person. It was as if they were taunting her and her misery. Wishing to remind her of what it was that she had lost “But the sea cannot bear your children. And the sea cannot lay beside you at night.” Her voice grew hoarse as she struggled to be heard over the wind that screamed all around her. “Always, that was me. I was to be the mother of your children. I was your wife. You chose the sea and left me. And so I must ask you…”

“What am I to do without you?”

Her body fell as if an anchor, crashing to the ground beneath her. Grasping the ground she felt as though she were going to sink into the earth at any moment. The wind’s howl came to a stop as the waves slowed behind her until they were a gentle rushing sound behind her. Reaching forwards, she laid her fingers upon icy stone. Sliding her hand along it, she felt it wet with mist and seawater.

Engraved in the stone was a singular name. One that she could no longer whisper sweet nothings to as the nights began. Someone that could no longer be the father to her children. And a name that she will never rush to call for as he returns from a long journey on the sea. Never again could she hear tales of distant lands and of braving powerful storms.

A name that had once been her husband, a brave sailor who longed for adventure before settling down. A name that at one time had only brought her joy to hear. A name that now only brought despair and agony as she looked upon it. A name that had been stolen by the sea and can never be spoken without its memories flooding her as though she were caught within a rising tide.

“Had you decided I was important enough to stay,” She whispered, her eyes focused on the ground beneath her, “Perhaps then we could have been happy together.” The wind gently blew as she shivered against it, the wet stone chilling her fingers to the bone. “You chose the sea. You were selfish. You selfish man.”

Her hands slid down until they once more rested on the ground. Her body heaved as her throat tightened. “You selfish… selfish…” Dark wails began to rise from deep within her as if they were a raging storm upon the horizon. The wind began to quicken once more, its scream taking her cries with it. The waves again crashed behind her, throwing seawater upon her as if they were tears from the ocean herself. It was as though the ocean were mourning as she was.

“Perhaps, the sea truly was your lover. As I was.” she choked out. Her throat felt as though she had been drinking the seawater that had been crashing upon her. Slowly, she rose to her feet once more and began to slowly return to the cliff side’s edge. The waves continued to crash before her and the wind howled as though it was telling her to turn back. Or encouraging her to move forwards.

She stared at the waves that crashed mere feet from her, her eyes bloodshot and swollen. “Perhaps it is for the best that you have taken him.” She muttered, defeat in her voice. The waves grew stronger as if in agreement. “We had both loved him, he had merely loved you more.”

In the waves, she saw fragmented pieces of herself. It was as if she were a ship that had been destroyed by the sea. A small chuckle scratched its way out of her mouth. “I see.” she said, walking further forwards.