Swept Away (ch5)

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														 Chapter 5. Sign

She has to leave.

She was supposed to leave.

But when the next morning comes, Mahiru finds she can't bear to desert the cove without seeing that girl one more time.

She needs to know that she survived the incident. Not knowing will make Mahiru believe she might've died after all, which could very well also be the case, too.

But she decides to wait, just a few more days, just in case that girl somehow managed to live and can make her way back out to the shore.

If Mahiru can just see her one last time, and know that she's all right, then she can move on and vanish from her life forever.

So she swims the waters of and around the cove for several days, always nearing the rocks in the evenings when the girl would tend to come fish.

But each day that passes without any sign of her only makes Mahiru's heart sink deeper and deeper toward the bottom of the sea.

"Please…" she murmurs to the ripples on the water. "Please let her be all right."

But the ocean's only answer is the quiet rush of water.

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When Claudine comes to, the first thing she feels is pain - a dull, throbbing heat on her left side.

She doesn't open her eyes yet - rather, she can't remember how to. The next thing she knows, there's a heavy pressure all around her, pushing her down into the darkness. She can't move. She can't breathe. She can't do anything but sink…

And then, a voice. One she's never heard before.

It's timid, scared, desperate. It begs her not to die.

Claudine wants to know who that voice belongs to.

So she pushes through, until air suddenly pushes its way inside her body and reminds her lungs of how to work. She coughs, expelling mouthful after mouthful of sea water, her body frozen on the outside and on fire on the inside, the pain still shooting through her.

She hears the swishing of sand and the whimpers of a nervous voice. She needs to know who her savior was.

So with all of the strength left in her body, she turns herself over to glimpse them.

The disturbed sand leads a path into the water. Claudine can see a figure there, one that appears to be a person trying to swim away.

It's all Claudine can do to beg them not to go.

But her voice only works so much, and for so long. Before she knows it, she's forced into another bout of coughing, and her energy leaves her.

But just before her eyes fall shut, she sees that figure slowly turn and come back to her. Now, she can tell it's a girl.

Claudine is so relieved. She wants to thank her. But she can't find the words to make her voice work anymore. And she isn't sure if it's because of the pain and the cold-

-or if it's because of pure disbelief.

The girl in the sand before her is dressed in a decorated turquoise bikini - as if it isn't the middle of autumn in a rainstorm on a beach at nightfall. Her skin is as white as the sand, and her long black hair is slick and shining with water. Claudine knows she would've gotten lost in the lovely teal color of her eyes-

-if not for the lovely teal color of her tail.

She must be hallucinating from the pain. She must be dreaming.

Beneath layers of blue skirts and frills, a long shimmering tail rests behind the girl in the sand.

Claudine has so many questions, so much she wants to say to her. But her strength has left her entirely now, and her eyelids fall shut as her head rolls back into the sand.

But at the very least, she hears that voice one more time.

"I'll save you. I promise."

. . .

All of that, if it had even truly happened at all, had been three days ago.

Now, Claudine pushes herself up in her own apartment's bed as dawn breaks. She flinches at the soreness in her side, freezing for a moment to catch her breath.

She's had three days to replay that scene in her mind and in her dreams, but still can't even be certain if that girl had been real or not.

The two girls who had found her on the beach that night had told her they'd heard splashing and someone screaming for help. They had assumed it had been Claudine, that she'd somehow managed to drag herself out of the water before collapsing.

But she knows for a fact she hadn't. She knows for a fact she should be dead right now.

That girl - dare she believe it - that mermaid, had saved her life. Just as she'd promised.

Ever since the first day she'd arrived in this town, Claudine had longed to believe the whispers about magic. But to have actually come into contact with such a mysterious girl like that…

And she knows that night hadn't been the first time she'd met that girl. Claudine had seen her before; she's sure of it. That beautiful, shimmering blue of her scales was unmistakably the same flashes of color she'd glimpsed so many times just beneath the surface of the water.

That mermaid had been watching her for a while now, or at the very least must have been aware of Claudine's presence, enough to dive in to save her from certain death.

And Claudine can only assume such an act was dangerous enough to put the mermaid herself at risk. Surely, to be discovered by humans and exposed on their beaches could mean death for her.

Claudine prays no one else had spotted her. All three mornings thus far, she's woken with a sickening fear that she might hear news about some mythical girl who had been speared or captured in the cove. Thankfully, though, no such news ever arises.

Claudine has to wonder if the girl had left for good, swam off as quickly and as far away as possible. That would probably be for the best. She knows that.

But even so, Claudine wishes with all her heart that she might see her again.

She has spent the past three days resting up at home. The girls who'd found her had taken her to the hospital the night of the incident, and Claudine had spent the night there and been treated for mild hypothermia and a concussion. But somehow she hadn't broken or fractured any bones, though her left side still stings enough to make her believe she had.

She hasn't gone to work in the past three days, but she believes she's well enough to get out of her apartment today. So she's very cautious in getting herself up and out of bed to prepare herself some breakfast.

As much as it makes her head ache to move around so much, it also feels better to not be sedentary.

It takes her some time to eat and get dressed, but eventually Claudine ventures outside. The morning is cool and cloudy again, and the air smells like rain, though none has begun falling yet. The streets are mostly empty as per usual, save for a few cars and older folks walking their dogs.

Claudine's eyes fixate immediately on the sea, as if she thinks she might miraculously happen to see that girl with her sparkling blue tail from afar. But of course she doesn't.

She reports into work at the flower shop, where her manager - a sweet old woman - welcomes her back and begins asking her a million questions about that night. Claudine mentions nothing of the girl from the sea; she simply sticks with the story her two human rescuers had told - that Claudine had fallen off the rocks and managed to swim to shore and call out for help.

That version satisfies everyone who asks her about it.

But only Claudine knows the real truth of what she saw.

The day of tending to, selling, and cutting flowers comes and goes, and at 3 o'clock Claudine takes her leave. She doesn't go home to change, as she doesn't plan on fishing today. She simply wants to watch the water.

The air is cool against her skin as she heads toward the beach, and she pulls her shawl more tightly around her shoulders. Her orange dress billows in the wind as her shoes finally make contact with the sand.

As usual, no one is on the entire stretch of the beach except for her. The water is calm and lulling, and the sea birds are squawking overhead as they drift on the breeze.

Claudine passes by the spot where the girl had dragged her to safety. The sand has mostly been smoothed over by the tide by now, but she can still remember the exact place. She keeps her eyes on the water as she heads for the rocks, but the surface remains still and undisturbed.

When she reaches the rocks, Claudine slowly begins traversing her way across them. It's much more difficult in her flats than it typically is done in her fishing boots, but somehow she manages to make it to the edge. Slowly, she sits down at her usual spot and gazes out over the water.

The sea is more gray than blue today, and she scours it as far and as deeply as her eyes can manage, searching for a shimmer of turquoise.

She closes her eyes, and she waits.

As if she really expects some magical girl to pop out of the water and greet her.

As if a mermaid - if she even truly existed at all - would risk showing herself more than she already had.

She was probably long gone by now, and Claudine knows that. But that doesn't stop her from wishing.

She waits for a long time, resorting to song in her vigil, wondering if a muffled voice from beneath the water might sing back at her.

But it never does.

She doesn't glimpse any flashes of blue or hear any playful splashes today.

Before she knows it, the daylight is fading. Claudine heaves a long sigh, and admits defeat at last. She removes her hand from beneath her shawl where she'd been clutching it all the while, and reveals what she's been holding in her palm.

Three loose flowers she'd picked up from pots around the shoppe - one white, one pink, and one yellow.

She leans forward and finds a good spot to press them between the rocks, caking a bit of mud and sand around them to ensure they won't blow or wash away.

When she's satisfied, she staggers to her feet and makes her way back to shore.

And that night, she dreams again of a beautiful girl with a shimmering tail.

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After several days pass by, and Mahiru still hasn't seen or heard the human girl, she finally decides to give up. The knowledge that she had inadvertently caused the girl's death will burden her heart for the rest of her life.

On the third night, Mahiru curls up in the underwater cave in her worn bed of seagrass and sand. She huddles up in the dark waters and sleeps, with images of the drowned girl's face filling her head. She almost feels as though she can hear her sweet, pretty voice singing echoes in the back of her mind.

When she next wakes, the water is still dark, as it typically is just before sundown. Mahiru knows better than to travel the ocean alone at night, so she lingers and dozes in and out of consciousness all night long, until the first rays of dreary morning sunlight begin filtering down through the surface.

She eats an unsatisfying meal of what usually is her favorite sea grass salad, and prepares for the long journey ahead of her, to nowhere in particular. Or maybe she should just follow after her family after all.

Before she leaves the cave, she swims back to the crevice where she'd hidden her treasures. She regrets having nothing to add, as this will be the last time she ever visits this cove. With a sigh, Mahiru turns away and begins swimming out to sea.

It's just a fruitless hope that has her moving toward the surface again, one final thin little thread pulling her. As she lifts her head above the water, she gazes back at the little human town as the orange streetlights begin flickering to life in the early-morning mist.

She scans the beach from one end to the other, disheartened to find it utterly empty. Her eyes travel to the rocks that stretch out into the water, but there is no familiar human girl sitting there. Mahiru's heart aches terribly.

"I'm so sorry…"

She turns away, fully intending to leave this place behind forever.

But as she does so, something catches her eye.

It's very small, almost unnoticeable from this distance, but by some stroke of fate she doesn't miss it - a tiny dot of colors amongst the wet grey and brown rocks.

She's looked at those rocks plenty of times in the past week, and she knows for a fact that had never been there before.

The dull numbness that has been filling her body since the accident is suddenly livened up by a tiny little trill of hope.

She checks the beach and the nearby town once more before changing her course and heading back toward the cove. She ducks below the surface to be safe until she nears the rocks, then slowly lifts her face up again.

And there, tucked carefully between the jutting rocks, sit three flowers.

Mahiru has seen land-flowers before, if only rarely. She knows they are very different from water flowers, and she knows three of them of different colors could never sprout in such a spot overnight.

And it wasn't just any spot. It was her spot.

Mahiru's heart lifts, and a smile passes over her lips for the first time in days.

It's a sign. A gift.

"Oh-!" She brings her hands to her mouth and cries for joy, swishing her tail beneath herself. "She's alive! She's alive-!"

Mahiru dives down into the water, using her gleeful mirth to fuel her before she turns and pops back up again. Cautiously, she swims closer to get a better look at the flowers. Their petals are thin and wet from the drizzle and spray of the sea, but they are the most lovely things she's ever seen.

Well, perhaps there was one thing even more lovely.

Mahiru needs to let her know she'd seen the sign.

She quickly dives back underwater and darts across to the other side of the cove to the cave. She reaches into the spot where she keeps her treasures, and paws through them.

She chooses a piece of clear white sea glass, a tiny yellow pebble, and the smooth pink conch shell. She gathers them into her arms and swims back across the way to the rocks.

She'd almost expected the flowers to be gone, vanished like a figment of her imagination. But they're still there, swaying in the breeze, waiting for her.

Mahiru lifts herself halfway out of the water and leans against the rocks, carefully laying her treasures in place between the crevices. Then, she gently removes the flowers that had been left for her. She cups them in her fingers and cradles them against her lips, breathing in the sweet foreign scent. She knows the salty ocean water will eventually wear them away, but that isn't going to stop her from treasuring them for as long as she lives - even if only in memory eventually.

She reaches up to her hair, to the little bundle of white tulle she'd found somewhere and clipped into place with a barbed shell. Now, she arranges the three flowers into place around it, making sure they're tight and secure.

And as the first cars begin rolling along the streets, Mahiru ducks quietly back beneath the water and swims to her cave with her flowers in her hair, and joy in her heart.

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A/N: So now they both know the other is still out there somewhere, alive and well! But will they ever actually meet again...?