Falling Slowly

word count: 826


She broke through the surface of the water as a graceful ballerina leaps through the air. Her toes were the first to feel the chill, followed by her delicate ankles. Milky white calves plunged through the icy water as she was pulled further into the dark unknown. She was aware of little else but the feeling of cool, thick water against her legs, her torso, her face- her silvery blond hair now a shade darker from the wet demon stealing her warmth. She was fully submerged now and her dress billowed up beside her body creating an image of floating through air. Only she was sinking through water.

She fought hard to remember how she came to this place. Where was she before the sea? How did she get in this dress? Answers escaped her and questions multiplied like a cancerous growth inside her brain. Her arms and legs were quickly growing numb and her soul was growing tired of fighting. She thrashed in the water as best she could but soon, the questions in her mind lost their voices, and she relaxed her flailing limbs.

At first, she had not fought to hold her breath- her instincts had taken over, keeping her from taking that fateful breath that would make her one with the ocean. She slipped slowly into the crisp, dark water and looked up toward the surface one last time. Lights. Orange, blurred lights were visible to her now, but they were slowly growing smaller as she sank deeper. A soft light illuminated the crown of her blond head, but as she sank, the circumference of light grew smaller. They were bright, glowing orbs like several small suns and made her body crave the warmth they provided. The lights were strung together and created a beautiful mimicry of the stars she knew existed somewhere, but she had grown so strangely comfortable, she could not remember her life outside of the water. Below the string of lights was a large black mass sitting atop the water. A boat.

Thoughts and memories flooded back to her now. A yacht, a party, a crowd, someone bumped her, she fell. The blue formal gown she wore was a gift to be worn at her engagement party on her father's yacht. That thought flickered for only a moment before she let if flow freely from her mind and into the ocean that embraced her now. Now that her questions had been answered, she accepted the oncoming peace with a smile. She smiled at the eerie thought of her final resting place being at the bottom of the sea in her beautiful, new dress. Hope was fading fast, so she accepted her fate and prepared to give her body over to the massive sea. It was cold and quiet, but she was not afraid, and was almost comforted by the same thing that was slowly stealing her life. Slowly and thoughtfully, she released the little air left in her small body.

Something touched her wrist. A Warmth, full of life, brushed the length of her arm. The Warmth stopped at her finger tips and suddenly grasped her hand with a firm determination. Up she floated. It was an uncomfortable disruption of her peaceful floating downward. Now she was afraid because there was panic in the hand that held her now and she knew instinctively it was her fiance. Somewhere deep in her quiet mind, she begged for him to let her go- she longed for the peaceful, dark silence of the ocean and reached for it as she was pulled in the opposite direction. The sea had pulled her into its soft, placid bosom and now she was being uprooted. She had been so content until the hand snatched her from her fate. Her sapphire dress now felt heavy and instead of billowing around her it clung heavily to her legs as she was dragged upward. She fought to shake the tangles of dress from her legs, but the hand still yanked her toward the surface.

She broke through the surface of the water and her body's instincts took over once again, making her cough. Had she been given a choice, she would have chosen to remain silent- her lungs filled with the ocean. It was all so calm and easy, but in this moment there was pain- coughing out brine and convulsively shivering. Eyes stung with salt water as her body was thrown onto the deck of the boat. It hurt, and something in the pain made her realize her mistake. She did not want the ocean. It was a lie. The calm, peaceful quiet was merely a seduction. The lovely ocean wanted her and she had almost fallen for the trick. Only now that she was being given air did she realize how much she missed it. Strong arms were shaking her shoulders, reminding her that she was alive.

"Jane, can you hear me?"