The Selkies' Curse: Part I

 

I was swimming in the sea when I felt something touch my leg. I noticed that it was a seal and immediately swam back to the shore. I joined my friends Steph and Drake and told them what happened; Drake said it was probably a seal prince and I told him to kiss it and find out. We walked back to my house and had a long chat before the both of them left.

That night, the calmness of the sea didn’t help me sleep as it did the times before. I was awoken by nightmares of seals of all things. I saw a seal crawl into my bedroom and transform into a man.

I hate Drake…

I went downstairs and put the TV on; a fantasy movie was running. However, even the movie brought up the same topic: a young woman kissed a seal and it turned into a man before her eyes. I switched the TV off and went back to bed. Not long after, I was woken up by the same nightmare. I decided to research the topic.

An hour passed. I found myself deep in a rabbit hole of selkie lore; some considered them to be monsters, while others thought they were cursed. Curiosity gnawed at the back of my mind. I needed to know whether there was any truth to it. I put on a swimsuit and a robe before walking out the door. The beach was bathed in the moon’s soft silver glow. As I approached the waves, I noticed a seal near a row of rocks. I watched as it shed its skin and transformed into a man. He saw me and hid behind a rock.

“I mean you no harm,” I said.

I approached him slowly and handed over my robe for him to cover himself. As he reached out to grab it, I saw that his hands were webbed.

“You’re a selkie, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

“How is this even possible?”

“It’s a curse. The Original Curse, to be precise. It dates back to the banishing of Adam and Eve.”

I was speechless.

“It happened when a group of angels questioned God’s decision. They were banished as well; cursed to wander the seas as selkies and come to land every seven years to shed their skin. I’m a descendent of those fallen angels.”

To be continued...