The Woman by the Rock Pools- Short Story
March 05, 2014
The Woman by the Rock Pools
Every night he would see her. Crimson wavy
hair that resembled silk ribbons, cascaded down to her waist and her peachy
skin appeared as soft as a chick's feather. He did not know why she was there,
nor did he ever approach her. He just watched as she sat on the rock pools by
the tides. In all his years, he had never seen such beauty. He had never
married or found love with any woman he had seen. But now, something was different,
this rock pool woman had become everything to him. He didn't even know her name
but seeing her by the tide each night was his favourite part of the day.
He was a fairly well off
gentleman, who lived on the Scottish coast in a picturesque house made out of
white stone that in the sunlight, beamed so brightly it could be spotted from
the nearby islands. Chosen, for the fact he loved the sea and to fish with his
fellow men. He was one of the finest fishermen the village had ever seen. He
regularly brought fish he had caught on a market day to sell to the villagers. He
was well known in his village and loved for his elevating mood and spirit.
Everyone who met him was overwhelmed by his jolly soul and ability to babble away
for hours in a conversation on just about anything. Most nights he would go to
the village hall to take part in community gatherings. Taking part in these
activities kept him occupied as he lived alone. Recently however he hadn't been
turning up quite as frequently. Not since he'd seen her. For some unknown
reason when he saw her, he was mesmerised and couldn't take his eyes off of
her.
It was a blustery Tuesday night when
he next saw her- sitting once again by the tide. Her hair was blowing
uncontrollably in the breeze, but she did not seem to care. She must have been
freezing, for he was wearing three layers of warm clothing and she was
completely naked.
"What was she doing?" He wondered.
He decided tonight would be the night he would speak to her. Enough was enough,
he had to meet her. He scrambled steadily over the sharp rocks that lead down
from the hill onto the beach. He paused for a moment, catching his breath and
preparing himself.
"E-e-excuse
me m'am. You-You must be freezing down here," he stuttered. He slowly took
his red coat off from around his shoulders and put it in his arms. The lady
slowly looked around, her red hair straggling across her face. She lifted one
hand to gently tuck it behind her ear, although it almost straight away blew
back down.
"Hello
there." She spoke in a tone so soft, for a moment he questioned if she
were an angel. Her blue eyes were the colour of the ocean in front of her. She
smiled-her lips as red as the most beautiful rose bud. " I am rather chilly, I suppose."
She nodded in the direction of his coat. He hesitated and then realised what
she meant and he walked closer and handed it to her. She looked confused as to
how to put it on.
"Oh it
goes like this. First arm.." He said as he helped her into his warm
jacket. She shut her eyes unhurriedly and then soon opened them again. "
What's your name m'am? If that's not too rude a question to ask".
" Of
course it isn't" She giggled with a luminous charm. "
Chrisselle".
"Hello,
Chrisselle, I'm Adrian. It's awfully horrible weather, would you like to come in
for some tea?" He plucked up the courage to say, but then stared at the
ground, afraid he'd asked too much.
"
What's tea?!" Chrisselle looked puzzled. Adrian did a sideward smile, unsure if she
genuinely did not know. He held out both his hands ,which were about twice the
size of Chrisselle's delicate ones, and helped her up. She tightly gripped at
the coat he had lent her to keep the chill away. They both climbed over the
jagged rocks and up the sand banks until
they reached his white dwelling.
Two hours went by and the pair had told
many stories to each other, talking almost as if they had known each other all
their life. Adrian had found out some old clothes, a green cardigan and some
old cream coloured trousers, that had once belonged to his deceased mother and
allowed Chrisselle to wear them. The clock was ticking, it was getting rather
late. Did she not have anywhere to be? Nevertheless it didn't matter. Adrian
loved the beauty's company. However at the stroke of midnight, Adrian had
walked back into the living room with two more cups of tea, to find her gone.
In the short space of two weeks, the pair
had spent every daylight hour together and shortly became engaged. Every night
she would disappear without a word. But Adrian did not care. He loved
Chrisselle to much to ask, and the thought of asking only made him fear losing
her. On the evening before their wedding
the men from the village thought it would be a brilliant idea to go hunting, as
a celebration of his betrothal. In the village it was popular to hunt seals.
Seals were big around these areas and had good skins and fur to make coats and
boots out of. Although a horrific idea, Adrian went along with it. He'd never
really been much of a hunter but picked
it up very easily. The men sat on their wooden boats, fishing and hunting for
four hours. They laughed, drank and sang merry folk songs until their throats
were sore. They had reminisced about their own weddings and Adrian had admitted
his undying love for Chrisselle and how he had never been truly happy until
he'd met her.
At the end of the night the men reeled
their nets in and brought them to the shore. They were horrified at what they
found next. Amongst the few seals and fish they had managed to catch, lay
something they couldn't believe. They undid the net and looked in horror at the
dead, bloody thing lying before them. It had one mangled seal tail with velvety
wet fur. But the further up the body it got the less fur and the more peachy
skin there was. Its face and head, once beautiful, was now a red dripping mess,
with ripped crimson hair separated in wet strands. They all stood in silence.
Adrian returned from tying the boats up, merrily he waddled up to his friends,
at first smiling until seeing their faces. He looked down at the ground. It was
her. His beauty. His wife to be- Chrisselle. She was half seal and half woman
and she was dead. Adrian fell to knees, cutting them badly on the sharp pebbles
as he went. He lay his soaking wet face across her bloody body, as his tears
absorbed into her skin.
As the years went past people of the
village barely saw Adrian again. Tales and rumours were told of the old man who
lived in the white stone house overlooking the shore. And how he fell in love
with a Selkie, a woman that can shed her seal skin and become a human and for
the rest of his days he mourned her death. He never met anyone else and never got
married. He lived the rest of his days by himself. He could never forgive
himself for killing the one person he had ever loved. The only thing that had
given him a reason to be happy.
Written by Laura Sexton
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