Always The Same Blue Sky...

By Grant Wilde ©

I stared into the warm Mediterranean Sea off the bridge of the ferry. The texture created by the gentle breeze, combined with the wake from the ferry gave the impression that the sea was sheathed in silk. The precious fabric was a deep shade of turquoise complimented by the light of the sun, which reflected off it like a thousand stars. I got lost in the abyss, desperately trying to reach one of these elusive glimmers of light. I couldn’t bear it any longer, I had to attain one. For a second I was overcome by my humors so I impatiently but deftly dived into its refreshingly icy depths. The water felt amazing against my skin as it washed away the heat; I seemed to fall forever. It was in those euphoric clear blue depths that I caught a glimpse of her. Her blonde hair fought wildly with the water that surrounded it, as if held against its will. She smiled at me and gently waved one hand in the direction of my eyes. As she did so her hair transformed into a wild shade of black, tinted turquoise by the refraction of the distant sun through the water. It was at that moment I blacked out.

***

I awoke sharply, upright, and panting heavily. “Must have just been a bad dream” I muttered under my breath. “The last few days have been pretty stressful.” I collapsed back down and spent a minute taking in my new beach-side apartment. It was only my second morning there so it still felt alien. It then registered that the light coming through the large windows was pretty bright… “Shit!” I leaped out of bed and rooted frantically through the open suitcase on the floor. ‘Damn it! 9:21 already? College starts in 9 minutes... the alarm must have been muffled.’ I grabbed my toothbrush and headed to the bathroom scratching my head, I didn’t need to turn on the light as it was already bright enough; I wasn’t used to this as it had been winter when I left England. I looked barely human, but unfortunately didn’t have much time to do anything about it. As I brushed my teeth it dawned on me that I had very little recollection of the last few days, remembering only odd bits and pieces. ‘Must be the lack of sleep’ I pondered. ‘Only found out I‘d be heading here the day before I left after all, things have been a bit of a rollercoaster. I’ll soon adjust though; I’m used to moving around.’ I threw on the first t-shirt and pair of jeans I could find. I grabbed a crumpled up map (along with various other miscellaneous items,) and threw them in my bag, then legged it in the desperate hope I wouldn’t be more than 10 minutes late.

It took me an extra 5 minutes to find classroom 1D, as the instructions on the map were nowhere near as straightforward as they made themselves out to be. I ended up being around 20 minutes late; and the teacher was not impressed. I apologised/introduced myself awkwardly while I felt the coldness of 40-odd pairs of eyes attempting to glare into my soul. She cut my explanation short and agitatedly told me to take a seat. I turned around to face my new classmates, their expressions ranging from boredom to disinterest. It was at that moment I saw her, the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life. She literally took my breath away; I stood there fixated on her. She wasn't tanned (not to say she was pale,) but her hair gave the impression she had spent her life bathing in the sun as it appeared to contain every shade of blonde imaginable. Although a rare perfection, it was not her flowing hair that first caught my attention, for her eyes are by far her most striking feature; a piercing shade of green. I felt she had access to my very essence; there was nothing I could keep from her. Although I felt exposed, I did not feel intimidated as her warm smile amongst all the dirty looks and sniggering comforted me...

'Bollocks!' I came crashing back down to reality as I realised I'd been standing gormlessly there for a lot longer than could be considered socially appropriate. I felt pretty stupid as I sheepishly took my place in the last remaining seat, which was guess where? Right next to her of course! Perfect...

I spent the rest of the day trying to avoid eye contact with her.

''OK, good job class, I expect to see you promptly tomorrow," the teacher said glaring at me once again.

''Hi, I'm Kira, it's a pleasure to meet you!" She turned to face me, her hair gently falling behind one ear; her full attention focused on me.

Now this, I was not expecting, and was made evident by my unorthodox response. ''Ryan!'' I squealed... I gave a second for my throat to open up. ''I mean, my name's Ryan and it's very nice to meet you." I clumsily grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously as she beamed at me.

“Are you new?" she asked, ''I haven't seen you around here before, but then again, I’ve only been on this particular island a couple of terms myself."

I felt my embarrassment subsiding. ''No you're right, just arrived here the other night in fact, that’s why I’m still a tad zoned-out. I was lucky to find an international school in a place like this on such short notice really..."

''I guessed you weren't from around here, you're from England aren’t you?"

I was shocked. ''How did you know that? ''

"Your accent," she said chuckling a little at my expression.

‘Great, glad things are picking up' I thought sarcastically; trying to stop myself grinning. I tried to work out where she was from so that I could provide her with a half-decent response, but I was baffled. Even though I had lived in various places of every continent, I had never encountered an accent like hers before, not that it didn’t compliment her perfectly. I had no choice but to succumb. “I’m sorry, but I can’t work out where you’re from. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an accent like yours before?”

“It’s a secret,” she replied flirtatiously with a wink. My chest pounded.

“Would you like me to show you around... well the places I’ve discovered so far anyway?”

“Yeah, that’d be awesome if you’re sure you don’t mind?”

She smiled excitedly. “I’d love to.” With that she grabbed my clammy hand and dragged me out the classroom.

***

I was starting to wonder where the hell she was taking me after following her through random side-roads and dark alleys for what must have been at least half an hour. She would stop occasionally when she was confronted by more than one path, her gaze flicking between them before confidently strolling down the one that seemed to lead closest to where we had originally departed from. It was this, coupled with the signpost we had past four times previously, that had lead me to believe we had been going around in circles. I just left her to it though as I didn’t mind where we were, I just enjoyed being with her.

“So here we are then...” Kira said turning suddenly at the end of an alley. Our faces were now only inches apart, she was beaming at me. I felt her soft, soothing breath caress my face. I was too on edge to breathe myself.

“The town centre!”

As she said this, she leaned to one side, still examining my expression. I felt the light she had been guarding hit my face. I was greeted with a bustling, charming, pretty town centre. She giggled, and I realised she had expected my stunned reaction.

“I love it here; everyone’s so friendly… would you like to see some of my favourite stores?”

“Yeah sure” I said smiling at her enthusiasm.

“Great because I have impeccable taste,” she said with a wink as she turned around.

The side-street came out roughly half-way up the steep hill on which the town was situated. I winced as we were bathed in warm sunlight which was intensified by the large number of glass shops in the town. It created a magpie-like effect which you couldn’t help but be seduced by. The parts of the building which weren’t constructed of glass had a very traditional, ceramic-like quality to them.

Kira had changed pace quite drastically from the one I had become accustomed to which was actually pretty relaxing. We casually meandered with Kira stopping and explaining why she liked one quirky shop after the next. We only went in about two stores but even that seemed excessive as Kira had given me a detailed overview of their contents and history priorly. Some of which seemed far too dramatic or unrealistic to actually be believable, such as the story behind her favourite store which sold beautiful glassware. Apparently the shop-keeper’s husband had gone out to sea during a ferocious storm one night and never returned. Every day the widow patiently went down to the shore awaiting her husbands return, but had little luck. Until exactly 3 months after his disappearance, an exquisite, golden, glass starfish washed up by her feet. She took this as a message from her husband and as inspiration to learn the craft. She opened a humble store hoping that he would one day hear tale of it and return to her… Turns out she was doing pretty damn well out of it as there were quite a few people gathered outside, which is unsurprising really as the shop itself stood out a mile over its competitors. Even though the sun was beginning to set, the shop still sparkled wildly. The front display filled to the brink with coloured glass which seemed intent on conquering the full spectrum; it really was mesmerizing.

“This is my favourite piece” Kira said breaking the spell cast by pointing at a beautiful glass dolphin jumping out of a green-coloured sea. She was leaning in, fixated on it. Her face didn’t show it, but I’m sure I saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. She turned to face me, smiling warmly. “Do you like milkshakes?”

We exited the retro milkshake bar on the top of the hill and sat on a bench just outside, which gave us a spectacular view of the setting sun over the animated sea. Kira seemed quietly thrilled with her rocky-road milkshake which looked like it was bigger than her head. She dived in pretty much as soon as we had sat down and drank the whole thing in around 30 seconds, which was pretty emasculating as I started to compete with her, but quickly ended up backing out due to brain freeze.

“Here, I saved you a bit” she said handing me the drink. “It’s really good isn’t it? I try and come here most days if I can, it seems to make the school day pass quicker… I could sit here all day and watch the sea.” She paused for a minute. “A lot of people find watching the sea mundane… but that’s only because they’re not watching properly.” She blinked as a breeze caught her hair. It whistled slightly as it travelled through the discordant buildings and past us. Her eyes followed it and lingered in the direction it left. Without turning back to face me she said in a half-whispered tone, “I should go.” She lent over, kissed me on the cheek and left. Her hair swayed as she walked into the distance, indicating she was in a hurry.

***

I’d been moved around my whole life, barely spending more than a few months in one school. People usually react to this fact with pity… not necessarily expressing it vocally, but it’s there, in their eyes. This has always made little sense to me though, I know no different, it’s all I’ve ever known… it’s my life. School has always been a place of purpose to me. I’m naturally inquisitive and have a strong desire to widen my pool of knowledge; school has served as the facility at which to achieve this. For the first time I can remember, a school has become more then a place of learning for me, and for once, I am eager to stay here. Then again, it’s hard to not be charmed by this place. The school is situated on the end of a peninsula, and no matter where you are, you can hear the constant lapping of gentle waves on the beach not far below. The teachers and pupils work much the same way as in any other school I’ve been to, yet it is all sheathed in a comforting, docile atmosphere. I’d been attending for a few weeks now so had built up some acquaintances I hung out with between lessons, but never Kira…

I finished training with the martial-arts club and I decided to look for her. We trained near the entrance of the school, so I would have seen her leave. Besides, she’d usually stop and watch for a few minutes, subtly cheering me on. I checked the obvious places but to no avail. I leant against the wall of our classroom and looked out to the setting sun through the full-length windows. A silhouetted-seagull flew past and perched on the roof just above me, I decided to see if I could join him. It was evident the school had a flat roof so it would make sense that you’d be able to go up there, and sure enough, a few corridors later, I found a staircase. There was a key already in the lock and the door was ajar. I cautiously nudged it open when I saw her there. Kira was stood 10 meters or so in front of me, leaning against the rail which followed the perimeter of the building. She had her head resting in her arms, staring out to sea. Her hair was faintly glowing like embers in the light of the setting sun, kept alight by the gentle breeze.

“K…”

I didn’t even finish the first letter as the seagull I’d tracked loudly flew away. She jolted her head to the right to watch it, tears flying off her face as she did so; her eyes void, yet distantly desperate. God knows I wanted it to be, but I knew it wasn’t my place; I was not to be involved in this sonnet, so I left.

Later that day I received a call telling me I would be moved again within the week.

***

I spotted her instantly, leaning against a lamp post, shielded by the shade of a nearby tree. She was wearing a pale, virtually see-through dress, with a bright lime-green bikini on underneath. She was oblivious to the world, focused solely on her phone. She sheepishly looked up in my direction as I approached her.

“Oh hey!” she said excitedly as she leaped towards and hugged me; “I’m so happy you’re here, I’ve been looking forward to this for a while!”

I could have sworn I saw her smirk for a second as her head past mine...

We found a secluded spot under a tree, I laid out the blanket and food we’d bought in town the day before. We sat talking about life, about everything and nothing. I decided not to tell her I wasn’t going to be around for much longer. I know it’s incredibly selfish but I was genuinely happy, an emotion I wasn’t used to and wanted to cling onto just a little longer. Lucky for me then she was definitely a rambler and I loved listening to her. Every word oozed character and significance but at the same time was unprovocative and comforting.

I wasn’t really thinking about much, I was just basking in the moment but I  suppose if I had been, I would have thought about how I could make these days last forever.

“Lets go swimming!” Kira said removing her dress.

I casually looked away, not wanting her to see my flushed face.

“Stop daydreaming, let’s go!” she said as she gestured towards the ocean.

I nodded obediently and mockingly, I walked stiltedly fast, she did the same and overtook me… it quickly turned into a race. The white sand softened our bounding until the cool water stole the built-up heat, I think I just beat her to the waterfront. Panting, but grinning triumphantly, I turned to face her. I didn’t get very far though… CRASH! I found myself submerged under the shallow water. Kira had taken advantage of the instability of the shifting sand that my feet relied on. I looked up sheepishly towards the blazing sun, which was silhouetted by Kira guffawing wildly; she hadn’t chosen her opponent wisely. With my face unchanged, using the sea to hide the execution, I dislodged her ankle. We traded expressions, I chuckled as she frantically wobbled, trying desperately not to fall… she failed. She fell right on top of me. There was a thin sheath of water between us, but I could feel her body pressed against mine. Kira blushed and looked away… I’d never seen Kira look embarrassed before, I’d never even considered it a possibility. Right, I’d had enough, this wasn’t her. With a wink, I playfully pushed her off me. We looked at each other and laughed.

Now that our bodies had forcefully been adjusted to their new surroundings we decided to swim along the coast. We followed the cliffs, stopping in little coves to see if there were any brightly-coloured fish we hadn’t previously encountered. I had been to many places in the Mediterranean as a kid, but none had anywhere near as broad a scale of aquatic life as here, it was truly stunning. We found a hidden cave in one of the coves.

“This way” Kira said, a serious tone to her voice, as she swam towards it.

It wasn’t long but it led to a small, isolated pool that held lighter, turquoise water. My guess is that the area was saturated with salt as we could lie fully supported by the comforting, rocking arms of the sea.

“This is bliss.” Kira gently manoeuvred herself closer to me so that we were lying side by side. “I wish we could stay here for ever” she uttered feyly.

I watched her contemplating the clouds.

“Self-contained balls of water in the sky, amazing isn’t it?” Kira pondered. “When I was growing up, I was told that clouds are formed by fish that have escaped the sea. I remember thinking, ‘this doesn’t make sense to me, why would a fish want to escape the sea?’ Apparently if they swim as fast as they can diagonally towards the seabed, then career sharply upwards (trapping water and air as they do so), when they leap out the sea, they just carry on travelling in the same direction; if they’re fast enough that is... Apparently whales inhabit the largest clouds; although I don’t believe that bit.”

“Oh and you believe the rest”

“I want to!”

“What are storms then?” I asked playfully. She looked over and bit her bottom lip, feigning worry.

We had no choice but to swim back as the sun had began to set. The sea was glowing a beautiful, deep orange colour, as the sun bestowed a last burst of energy upon it; in the longing hope that it would be enough to survive its cold Luna mistress.

Kira reached the shore before me and crouching down, she pushed her fists into the wet sand and used them to hoist herself up. She walked towards where we’d sat, the almost-set sun gleaming off her dripping body. She looked over her shoulder at me as I half-heartedly clambered out of the salty expanse.

Kira was sitting on the mat, with her legs folded to one side, when I finally caught up and joined her. Water dripped from her face as she smiled at the sun. “Here take this,” I said holding out a towel. She turned towards me, her face barely inches away. “You know what? I’ve been thinking... When we’re young, we’re taught not to trust our own judgment and to second guess everything we do; but I’ve began to learn that we really can rely a lot more on our instincts than we’re led to believe... unfortunately I’m not always able to exercise that privilege.” Kira leant forward and kissed me.

I instantly lost myself, I felt so alive, superhuman… yet totally void at the same time. I opened my eyes to see the characteristic green of her irises seep into the rest of her eyes. I knew she was draining me, I could feel my soul leaving, yet I couldn’t move… hell, I didn’t want to move. I blacked out.

***

The blackness was ended by the noise of water in two different forms: the first was the rough lapping of the life-giving ocean, and the second was an exhausted, yet still desperate sobbing. The latter was what awakened me, it resonated deep within me, her pain was now my pain… no, it always had been… even before our fated encounter.

I slowly opened my eyes to see a scene very different to the one I had left behind. Bathed in the sad, pale light of the large full moon, which watched us eagerly not far above the horizon; Kira was sat hugging her knees.

“Kira?” I attempted hoarsely.

Instantly the crying stopped, now only the waves remained. She darted her head in my direction, and gazed intensely into my eyes. Her now conventional, dulled eyes stood out even more than normal from her tear-stained, dishevelled visage… or maybe it’s just because I’d seen what they were capable of. Either way, her gaze consumed me completely. They didn’t stay fully-exposed for long as they began to fill with tears. Kira looked out to sea as she tried to gulp down her sobbing.

“Thank you… thank you so much,” and with her voice barely a whisper; “I am now ready to accept my fate.” Kira closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to compose herself.

When Kira opened her eyes; as was her intent, her speech became clear and purposeful.

“I was not born of the earth like you, I am the product of the sea… the gods… I am immortal.” The moon flickered in her eyes as she moved her gaze further out to sea. “I was left to guard a mass far greater than the soil humans inhabit, and to protect and nourish a far broader range of creatures. Even with this burden, it became impossible to ignore your selfish race.” Kira’s eyes narrowed. “From constant pollution, to farming entire species to death; you brought only destruction to the thing I hold dearest to me.”

With that she clutched her hands to her chest. I focused my attention on the now sedate waves, the reflection of the moon upon them trying to stay as one, but constantly being distorted by the spitting rain.

“I was approached by a lost soul and offered the chance to become human, to walk amongst you. In return, I had no problem seducing and sacrificing one of you to the shadowed apparition every luna cycle.”

I felt Kira realign her gaze my direction.

“It turns out I didn’t have the strength to fulfil my oath this time… I love you Ryan.” Undoubtable sincerity in her voice.

I numbly turned to meet her gaze.

“I just wish I’d realised it sooner. Now my only wish is that one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”

“K…” I mouthed soundlessly…

Kira put her finger over my lips, her hair slung wildly to her right by the sudden gush of unending wind. The waves became fierce, trying to claw her in; the rain heavier, wearing the whole scene down. She smiled warmly, tears filling her eyes as her legs began to float skywards, gently lifting the rest of her body. Without moving her finger, she leant forward and kissed me on the cheek. I felt her warm, salty tears run down the side of my face, expressing what I was unable to. She was hurled suddenly backwards, towards the sea; I could see the fear in her eyes as her face left mine.

Silhouetted in front of the full moon, hair and dress fighting wildly against their fate, Kira burst into the water that was her everything. She was now indistinguishable from the rain, the sea, the water that would sustain me and my children, she would follow me always.

...In Another World:

As the green spread through her eyes and into her soul, tears trickled down her rigid face. She didn’t move a muscle as Ryan’s lips left hers and he fell to the ground lifeless. The sun had set.

Kira went numb as she felt the familiar power of another soul enter her body, a shiver ran down her spine, only this time it felt different… completely uncomfortable. Ryan was definitely not just another victim, a tick in the box. Kira’s expression remained vacant, her soundless tears unstopping as she stood up and walked towards the sea to release his soul; the payment that would fulfil her oath. The gentle waves intensified as she grew closer, longing for its payment. It built into a raging storm, the strong gust pushed her forward.

Kira completely froze. This had never happened before… her body wouldn’t let her complete the ritual which had become routine to her. She clung onto this numbness as she needed composure to carry out the only thing that now felt right to her. Ryan’s soul didn’t deserve to be bound to the sea-spirit she had made the bond with for all eternity. The least she could do for him now was to give him his freedom.

With her eyes still saturated green, her hair and clothes fighting wildly against the icy sea wind, Kira used every ounce of strength she had to get back to Ryan’s paling corpse; which was amplified by the feint moonlight. Kira knelt down, cupped Ryan’s already cold face with one hand, and watched her tears falling onto his un-reactive visage. After a few seconds when she could no longer bare it, she darted her head towards the moon which had just began to peek over the horizon, and screamed. The chilling scream grew and grew until her body couldn’t take it anymore. Her tears became like streams trying desperately to escape, but it was too late... an explosion of water replaced the location where the most beautiful girl once knelt, a girl who radiated with the heavenly warmth of a goddess.