The Ocean Spirit

I grew up by the sea and spent most of my weekends with my parents at the beach. We would always watch the sun sink into the fiery horizon, and I would take in the scent and the tenderness of the sea breeze as I watched the giant waves swallow the shore and crash into the nearby rocks. It was a tranquility that no amount of words could ever describe.

I continued my family’s tradition even after my parents were gone, visiting the beach whenever I was free on weekend evenings. Five years had passed since they were taken from me in a car crash, but their memory still lived on both in me and at this beach. I often worked on paintings by the beach as well; it was the only way I knew to express the feelings locked deep within me every time I was there.

My husband Ben would sometimes join me, but he was often impatient and would sometimes break my concentration. We were seated on a rock while I painted one day when his impatience began to test my limits. I needed hours to focus on my work, so I never pushed him to join me whenever I decided to paint, but he would join me anyway saying he wished to spend time with me and then proceed to complain that I spent too much time on painting. That evening, he kept looking at his watch and even began to hum.

“Could you be quiet?”

“What’s wrong? I’m only humming.”

“Yes, but it’s distracting me. I need to stay focused.”

“But you paint the same thing all the time. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”

That was the last straw. I packed up my stuff and walked away. Ben tried to talk to me on the ride home, but I told him to shut up and said nothing further. He could never understand how dear the beach was to me, and how blissful it would leave me after every visit.

Ben and I had an argument when we got home and I said I felt like pushing him off that rock earlier. He called me crazy and stormed out of the living room. We didn’t speak for the rest of the night. The next day, I got a call from my Aunt Agnes while I was at work. Ben had told her about our fight and she wanted to know if I was alright.

“Everything’s fine. Ben’s just exaggerating things.”

“Are you sure? If your anger issues are returning, you should see a doctor again, Helena.”

“Don’t worry about it, Aunt Agnes. I haven’t had any issues like that in two years.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Ben’s words from the day before stuck to me like glue, and the issues I had before were beginning to rise to the surface once more. I decided to go straight to the beach that evening after work; I didn’t have my usual tools, but I did have a sketchbook. I decided to sit by the rocks and sketch a fond old memory—it was of the last time I had visited the beach with my mother and father—the last time we spent time there as a family.

It was not long before I found myself drowning in emotions I had not felt in a while. My eyes began to well with tears, and those tears soon began to stream down my cheeks and onto my sketchbook. I moved my hand to wipe my tears when, suddenly, my sketchbook slipped from my hand. I reached out to grab it but found myself slipping off the rock and being engulfed by the incoming currents. The waves swirled and encircled me, dragging me deeper into the abyss as I struggled to break free from its tight grasp, but the maelstrom was too strong.

Looking up at the fading lights above me, I wondered if that was the end for me; a torrent of memories rushed through my mind in those moments as I felt the air I was so desperately holding on to leave my body. The next thing I remembered was waking up above the surface of the water. My body felt light, as if I were weightless.

Am I dead?

“No, you’re not. You’re very much alive,” a voice inside my head spoke to me.

“Wh-who are you?”

“I’m the Ocean Spirit Lyrhita. I saved you.”

I was about to ask why, but the spirit answered before I could say a word.

“Your love for the ocean and the dedication you’ve shown over so many years were reasons enough.”

I found myself being carried on what I could only describe as arms of water, as if being cradled by a mother. The Ocean Spirit Lyrhita brought me back to shore as the last specks of lights on the horizon disappeared.

“Goodbye for now, Helena.” With those words Lyrhita receded back into the ocean.

“Goodbye…” It was an experience I would hold dear for the rest of my life—and one that would strengthen my bond with the ocean even more.