The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Only Way 
by Elaine Pascale 

She stood on the cold sand and spoke to her sea sisters. “I made a deal with the sea witch. I told her I would do anything to be with him, to be on land.” She stifled a sob and continued, “She gave me legs and took my tail. Now, it feels like I’m walking on knives with every step I take.”

“You were duped,” her sisters sneered synchronously.

“It was the only way,” she wailed.

Her sisters took pity on her. “We’ll help you. We’ll end your pain. In the meantime, cover those abominations.”

She struggled to drape herself in the clothing and boots she had gotten from the witch by trading pearls. The pearls had been in her family for generations, harvested during their migrations. The pearls glistened and shone and were the antithesis of the bartered clothing. The dress and boots were black, the color of death and she was grieving her own death now. She hadn’t realized all that she would need to forfeit for this love. She hadn’t realized how happy she had been in the sea.

She examined her new state as she dressed. Her legs looked thin and brittle. She was surprised to see small tufts of hair breaking through the skin. Veins were visible around her ankles and her toenails were dark and sharp. She couldn’t see him like this. Worse, she couldn’t live like this.

She spent a day lying on her back on the sand; the slightest movement of her legs and feet was excruciating. That evening, her sisters appeared in the surf. They had crafted a dagger from their sharp sea hair. They told her that his death would revert her to her aquatic form and free her from her pain. “Drench those vile appendages with his blood and your tail will return.”

It took days for her to reach him, the tiniest of steps making her feel as if she were being pierced from her ankles to her pelvis.

During that time, she convinced herself that she could kill him. Her pain was so great that it surpassed any feelings she had for him. When she finally saw him, she felt her resolve dwindling.

Her sisters’ voices swam in her head, making her feel dizzy. They sang of retribution, they crooned about freedom from bodily and mental anguish, they chanted the evils of man.

She slid off her boots in the hopes of silencing her approach. Her awkwardness amplified her agonizing steps and he tossed in his sleep, kicking the sheet off.

His legs. His legs were gone. In their place was a tail, heavy with scales.

He saw her and gasped loudly. It was clear he was struggling to breathe. “I made a deal with the sea witch. I told her I would do anything to be with you, to live in the sea.” He gasped again. “She told me it was the only way.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. “Why aren’t you in the sea where you need to be to survive?”

He nodded toward his wrists which were buried under the pillow beneath his head. When she moved the pillow, she saw that his hands were tied to the bed with thick ropes.

“She left me here, for her own amusement.”

“You’re going to desiccate here.”

His eyes filled with tears. She recognized his suffering and fear. “Kill me. It’s the only way.”

She lifted the knife and he squeezed his eyes shut. She knew there was another way. She sawed at the ropes that bound him until he was free.

As much as it pained her to use her legs, she lifted him from the bed and carried him in her arms to the ocean. Each step was like a bear trap slamming closed on her shins and thighs. Each stride was like being flayed alive.

He was still gasping, still breathing when she reached the water. She rolled him into the shallows.

He was still for a moment and then she could see the life flowing back into him. He splashed and thrashed and got his bearings. He blew water happily into the air and smiled widely. He was pain-free in the ocean.

She held back her tears as she watched him swim away. Eventually, she turned her back to the sea.

It was the only way.

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Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

More from Elaine Pascale:

The Kitchen Witches

The women of Cape Cod have a story that is dying to be told. If only they could live long enough to tell it.

When Fiona Walker is contracted to write about a party attended by her social circle, her friends begin dying. She captures the competition and misery of the women around her through three different stories.

In Wishes, Melanie Voss discovers a Time Between Time where nothing that happens counts. Initially, Time Between Time is a welcome escape from a life spent watching the clock while doing chores for her family. But something sinister is in the Time Between Time and it is headed straight for Melanie.

Death and Taxes tells the story of Nashville DeCota, the Cape Capo. Nash swears that she is not the Island Impaler, nor the Tooth Snatcher, but she has just as many skeletons in her closet. When her husband, Derrick, is kidnapped, she has to come clean about her crimes if she ever wants to see him again.

Fiona tells her own story in Hazing, where she finds that the real source of evil behind the deaths of her friends is worse than she could have ever imagined.

Available on Amazon!