Diamond
With the sun disappearing over the horizon, the smell of salt and misty spray of the waves became easy on the senses, but harder on the mind. This morning, I woke up next to an angel with golden streaks in her hair and legs that stretched out to the equator. Next thing I know, the sun is almost gone, just like its brightest season.
Her bare feet sunk in the wet sand as we approached the shore, our fingers laced with the other’s. She looked at me with eyes that matched the water, and I remembered the first time she told me her deepest secret, just 12 days before. A month after we met at the same shoreline. Between the rocks and a rosy sky, we were drawn together through the summer heat. I had never seen something more beautiful before, nor after.
The legends say they’re cold-hearted, bloodthirsty, hungry creatures of the deep. They lure you with the faint touch of their hand or the brush of their hair, and you’re never to be seen again. I’d say, what else can you expect from those stuck in a vast body of water, alone and afraid? When the leaves fall, when grass is stiff with ice, they’re searching for nothing in the sea. But even so, as it would make sense, it isn’t true. I knew when I met her, none of it was true. From her three months on land, I received three months in heaven.
She squeezed my hand before dropping it flat, her eyes set on the water. I pictured this moment from only my perspective. Hiding my sadness, keeping inside my regret and ache, as she happily accepts her home again. I realized my planned out goodbyes would be useless as I witnessed a tear escape her eye, her lashes sparkling in whatever light was left at the far bottom of the sky. She turned her attention away from the waves, and onto me, where I lost my composure entirely.
“I can’t leave.” She spoke, softly. She had an accent like no other, knowing more languages than I can count on one hand. Just one of the things she opened me up to, that I had no idea existed. I placed my hand on her shoulder, the other on the curve of her waist.
“You have to.” I answered, with my forehead resting against hers. She closed her eyes and let more tears fall. They shimmered like diamonds as the light took hold of them. I tried to remember everything we had, everything that happened this summer, with what I thought was just a fling.
How could I not think it was only a fling, at times? During the times I would bring her to a party but we’d hide out in a closet behind a wall of jackets and mops. One of the very first times I took her out to a summer party, she did the same. We had only been seeing each other for a couple weeks, when she shoved me against the wall of the closet, the closeness of the lightbulb ahead completely blinding me until it began to flicker.
With my slurred drunken words, I asked her, “Are you doing that?” while laughing up a storm. She, however, always kept complete composure no matter how much she consumed. She would flash a smile, and mutter in her admirable accent, “Possibly.” As she planted a few more kisses on my lips, before the light blew out entirely.
“Where are you from?” I asked, stumbling. She laughed at me.
“Why?”
“Your…your accent. Are you Scottish? Russian? Indian? It sounds so weird…” She just chuckled again, before placing her arms on my chest and her lips at my ear.
“I’m nothing you’ve ever dreamed of.” She whispered.
I remember her smiles, her laughs, her shattering screams when I’d pick her up in the air, her soft breathing when she slept beside me. Starting today, I’ll remember her tears.
She opened her wet eyes and glanced back at the ocean. Then to me. Then to the ocean. Then back to me.
“Through everything I’ve seen,” She began. “The coastline of the Atlantic, ships bigger than the clouds, and romantic beaches such as this, you are still the best thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on, Dakota.”
“And you are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen as well, love.” She smiled to herself as she turned to face the horizon. The sun was almost gone entirely. The sky was no longer pink. There were only a few strays of light that reached out to us.
“It’s time.” She muttered without looking at me. I walked over to her and picked her up into my arms for the last time. I spun her around and memorized her bellowing laugh, until finally stopping to face the waters again, our smiles disappearing. The sun was gone. A couple rays of light shone over the horizon, but the sun was no longer there. I looked down at her legs as they slowly faded into glimmering scales. The golden streaks in her hair died out. Her lips were suddenly dry and chapped, her skin grew pale.
“You never gave me a name.” She whimpered. I could tell she was in pain. She needed the water. I needed her to stay. My mind raced. I tried to find something that would make her happy. I promised her a name. When we first met, bent down on the wet sand, me running from my friends to catch a volleyball, her running from something she refused to tell me until weeks later, I had promised to grant her a name.
“Diamond.” I let slip out. I thought about her eyes on that first day, and her tears in tonight’s sunset. “How about Diamond?”
“I love it.” She said, smiling.
I gave her a long kiss goodbye as I reminded her she had to go. She agreed with me this time. She planted one last, soft kiss on my lips before saying goodbye to me, then splashing off into the waves. My arms felt heavy once they were left empty. My head felt drained. I stared at the water trying to find her, until she popped up about 20 feet back into the water. Her hair glistened, and her skin was tanned. In that short time, she became healthy again. I smiled as I returned her wave to me. Even as she turned back and swam away, I was happy that she was okay. We had a short summer romance, but anything we didn’t experience in these months, only gives us more to live through next year.
-xLLSx-