Of Seas and Sirens

Dimitri watched as the day’s final moments drained away, much like the amber colored liquid in the bottle he now held to his lips. It seemed somehow fitting that the daylight should disappear with the rum. After all, moonlight was often much kinder to a broken spirit than the warming rays of day, and there was little reason to fear the chill of nightfall when wrapped tightly in the arms of libation. A gentle breeze drifted in off the ocean, flooding over him like a relic of the past, and for a moment, he closed his eyes to dwell in it.  Dimitri could recall the character of the ocean; its volatile temper, and it voice like a chorus of endless waves. He could recall the gentle motion of his vessel, and how it had lulled him to sleep those many nights at sea. Above all, however, he could remember her; the look of unobscured terror in her eyes; and the shrillness of her pleas. He could remember the way her hand felt as it slipped from his grasp, and the moment she crashed into the churning waters below. The cacophonous nature of the memory was always enough to violently return him to the present.

Dimitri raised a trembling hand to wipe the sweat from his brow before rousing himself. He walked along the beach, his feet dragging in the sand either through lack of volition or traumatic sedation. In truth, there was no promise of peace in his journey home. There was only the empty house, which by nature was evocative of the same specter of memory, and the countless creeping mnemonic shadows that dwelled within. She was certain to be taken from him again, just as she was each night before; the sea would once again violate the sanctity of his dreams, leaving him to drown his sorrows in other waters. The mere thought was enough to make him shudder with apprehension.

The moon has risen, and its pale glow danced along the surface of the waters. Ironically, these twilight hours were the only source of solace left for Dimitri. He could recall a time when she stood on the bow of his ship, mystified by the glassy, undulating surface. “Look Dimitri! The waves rise and fall like so many Jewels….like a king’s tapestry, or a queens gown….wouldn’t we wear such royalty well?” She whispered on one such occasion. Dimitri had smiled as he gently caressed her cheek, “Aye Mina,” he said with a slight chuckle, “but what need have I for royalty when I have you?” In that moment, Mina’s face, beaming and draped in moonlight, had been etched forever into his memory. Though much less somber before the intervention of cruel fate, the vestiges of that perfect moment had been enough to shepherd him, albeit barely, through the encroaching darkness.

Dimitri continued his shambling across the sand until he was startled by a glimmer in the distance. He was within a mile of home, and would likely have continued his journey had he anything to look forward to; however, considering the circumstances he allowed himself to succumb to his curiosity. At first he thought it was just an optical illusion fueled by fatigue or indulgence, but the longer he looked at the gleaming anomaly, the more pronounced it seemed to become. “It’s coming closer,” he murmured almost unintelligibly. After watching for what seemed like only minutes, the glowing object was now only a short distances away.

              Dimitri studied the peculiar phenomena as best he could from his position on the shore, but the water’s shimmering surface was unlike anything he had seen in his years as a wayfarer. As he watched, the spot began to move upward, stretching itself into a slender vertical column. The column separated itself from the water and began a slow transfiguration, which culminated in a form that was veritably human. Dimitri was now completely engrossed by the spectacle before him, and for a moment, he wondered if he was facing some sort of phantom. As he peered inquisitively at the luminous figure, it slowly turned to face him, and he found himself greeted with an all too familiar smile, drenched in the light of the moon.

              The revelation caused Dimitri to recoil in utter disbelief.  “Impossible,” he gasped “Mina….can it really be you?” He rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if to arouse himself from some new species of nightmare to no avail. When his eyes opened, the smiling figure remained, her unmistakable features screaming to him as if he stood at the gates of oblivion. She raised a ghostly arm and motioned to Dimitri. It was a summons he was almost too eager to answer. Without thinking he had begun walking towards her only to meet with the harsh reminder that she was standing in the midst of the sea. As if sensing his reticence, the apparition motioned again, calling out in a familiar voice “Dimitri…Come to me.” As she spoke, a large columnar swath of the ocean took on the same spectral glow. It appeared to Dimitri that she was making a path for him. He was aware of the insanity of the notion, but given the current circumstances sanity didn’t seem to be a very valid method of evaluating anything.

              Gathering his resolve, the bewitched Dimitri took a step onto radiant surface. To his amazement, the churning water seemed to solidify beneath his feet. A feeling of unease crept over him as he walked across the surface of the water, but as he drew closer to the apparition he became more and more convinced that she was Mina. When at last Dimitri met her face to face, her gaze alone was enough shatter the entirety of his perception. His past and future seemed to meld together in an instant, and all at once he felt as though he was alive in that one singular moment when they stood together on the bow of his ship. Dimitri greeted the apparition with a loving embrace, as tears streamed freely down his cheeks.  The apparition responded in kind, the warmth of her embrace inspiring what could only be called elation in the love-sick sailor.

“Look Dimitri! The waves rise and fall like so many Jewels….wouldn’t we wear such royalty well?” whispered the apparition. The voice had become obscured, but the growing intensity of her embrace imbued such ecstasy that Dimitri scarcely noticed. He was only aware, and faintly so, of the burning sensation developing within his chest, which he hastily dismissed as a consequence of overwhelming passion. “What need have I for Royalty?” thought Dimitri as the water filled his lungs. “All I’ll ever need is you, Mina, my love.” Never had he worn a more brilliant smile than that which he wore on the ocean floor.