Selkie

I walked along the beach, staying close to Milo. We walked at the very edge of the water, letting small waves drag at our feet. My sister was asleep on someone's chair, she was under the soothing effects of vodka and we had to leave her somewhere we wouldn't lose her, and our shoes. We stopped before getting too far away from her and her chair. I inched toward the waves, letting them pull at my feet. It was slightly amazing. You never think about how much the water changes the sand, but I could feel the water pulling the sand right out from under my feet. By the time I could see the ground again it had all changed. So is the way of the world. I thought to myself. Tonight is a good night to reach enlightenment. Actually it was one of those nights, the once-in-a-lifetime-adventure ones. The kind that makes you see how boring your life usually is.

"It's nice, having the whole beach to ourselves." It was true, the beach was pretty much deserted, it had to have been at least 12. I looked to my right, seeing that Milo was right there, standing next to me on the sand.

"You get the whole beach to yourself every night." I told him, just in case he forgot he lived here.

"It's still nice," he said, his dark blue eyes glued to the watery horizon.

"Yeah…" I said, because it was still amazing. There were clean skies above us and on all sides, except in front of us. On the same horizon his eyes were glued on, a storm brewed. You could only just make out the dark clouds in the almost equally black sky. Every so often lightning would dance in the distance. The waves had been strong, I had heard them beating against the shore before we had even made it to the board walk. Milo had wanted me to see the ocean so badly, and after I heard the waves, I needed to see the ocean.

"Sometimes I think you're a selkie, trying to get me to go with you to your underwater metropolis…" I trailed off into thought, already starting the story in my head.

"Hmm, selkie? The seal people," he surprised me with his knowledge once again. "Well I already got you to touch my pelt," he said and looked at my torso, which was indeed covered by his jacket. "And I got you to the ocean. After all it is called a 'metropolis' how bad could it be?" I stared at him for a few seconds. When he grinned and winked at me I knew he was joking. If my brain hadn't had the automatic emergency rationality mode I probably would have believed him, he hadn't even paused to think before telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. That's definitely going in the story. I thought to myself.

I still sprinted back to the chair that was holding my sister and dropped the jacket over her. And sprinted back to him. He laughed at me.

"I wasn't cold," I told him honestly. It was a waste of his jacket. That, and if he was a selkie, I probably wouldn't have been able to take it off. And suddenly he was staring at the waves again, a serious look on his face.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah," more lightning was partying above the sea. This time it was bright blue, absolutely electric. I inched farther into the ocean.

"Be careful," he warned me. "The current can get strong."

"I'll be fine." I didn't like it when people doted on me. Even if it was just to warm of the power of the ocean. I dug my toes into the sand when the water went back down. Then it came back up and washed the sand out from in-between my toes. Then back out, I stood without moving. Back in, but his time the wave made it all the way up to my knee before it broke, and tugged at me. I fell flat on my butt. The undercurrent pulling me a few feet out. I got really scared for a second, like that one second when you know the egg is going to fall and everything slows down as you try to catch it but you know you can't.

But Milo had scooped me up, the egg had been caught by someone else and I didn't have to worry about it. He was surprisingly warm, or maybe being soaked in water had made me cold. I shivered and clung to him.

"You ok?" He asked, instead of the expected 'I told you so'.

"Fine," I said into his shoulder.

"I bet you're glad I have that jacket now." Ok I deserved that, but I just nodded.