The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Man Upon the Sand
by Linda Lee Rice

I found him washed up on this very beach during the full moon, barely alive and sprawled out on the sand. I took him back to my small cottage, washed him off and cared for him until he regained consciousness. He seemed to not know where he was, how he got here or even his name. I decided to call him Marino, which is Latin for “of the sea.”

He was a handsome man, the color of the brown sand with piercing blue eyes of the ocean. He stood about six foot five, well-muscled, but with curiously webbed fingers and toes. His voice was like the waves and the sea, hypnotic and enticing.

Before long, we shared a bed, this lover and me. Long sultry nights and sun kissed days passed leisurely. Privacy we had because there was no one on this side of the island but me. But when the full moon rose and the tides were at its peak, my beloved left my side.

I watched him as he slipped into the ocean and with a flip of his tail, he was gone. But now I carry his child, I wait for the next full moon as I feel the child moving too soon. I wonder and I’m afraid, what do I have inside of me?

Fiction © Copyright Linda Lee Rice.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More about Linda Lee Rice:

Linda Lee Rice aka Ruzicka has poetry published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Descending Darkness, Writing Village, Spine, and Page, Muses Gallery, Bloodbond, Lycan Valley Press Publishers, Alban Lake, Highland Park Poetry, Rosette Maleficarum, The Siren’s Call, Edify Fiction and the June Cotner anthology, “House Blessings” and “Garden Blessings

She has short stories published in The Grit, and Reminisce, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family, FrostFire Worlds. Plus, a personal essay at Mamalode. She also has various articles and blogs published online as a freelance writer.