Growing up with the sea in hot February, the Australian Ocean had been the love of Cyril's life. His surfing career was at its peak at twenty, winning him the trophy of his life in March, but March also got him a huge heartache. He got ghosted by hi...
Cyril grabbed his surfboard, torch, wore a vest over his boxers and ran outside his house with his phone, still in his slippers. It was dark and cloudy outside, covering all the stars. He ran towards the beach, and held his phone against his years, he could not reach Skyler's phone anymore. There was a storm cloud over the ocean, oil lamps were glowing on the beach houses nearby, with a flickering flame. It was pitch black, dark except for a little bonfire near the shore, surrounded by a group of boys who seemed too high to be bothered by the melodramatic weather.
Cyril reached the shore and removed his slippers and kept his phone aside when one of those guys approached him.
"Hey cutie, nice outfit," He realised he was a girl now, it was dangerous to be out that late at night. He grabbed his surfboard tighter, "Fancy having a drink with us?" One of them asked. "Nah, mate, I'm sorta busy so fuck off," "Aw come on, babe. Don't be such a bummer. What are you doing with a surfboard?" "What do you do with a surfboard? I'm here to cruise of course. Now, if you can kindly excuse me-" He tried escaping the other way but he came before him, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Listen, mate, I'm not interested. Fuck off already, will you?" He grabbed his hand, "Hey now, no need to act so hard to get. Why else would you come to the beach so late at night?" "Hey now," Cyril tried pulling his arm back, "No need to be so desperate. I'm here for anyone buy your skanky ass, motherfucker, do you even bath?"
"Bitch," He dragged him down on the sand and the others laughed. Cyril grabbed his surfboard and slammed it on his head, running away, "UGH! THAT WHORE! GET HER!"
Cyril ran barefoot on the beach sand, with a group of boys running after him, much faster than him. The gap between them was slowly narrowing, his heart was beating. If they were to catch him, it was the end. The beach had been evacuated due to the weather, he could feel his feet slow down. What would save him? He looked at the ocean beside him. This.
He ran into the water and swam his way through it, they followed. It seemed like an eternal chase, until he feels their arms around his neck, "ARGH!" The clouds over him them turn into a giant disc, revolving over them until the storm broke, the water turned violent, and the waves splashed one of them against the rock, splattering his brains out. Gravity seemed to pull them in to the ocean, "HURRY! GET OUT OF HERE!" They left Cyril and started swimming towards the shore, but where was the shore? The waves seemed to be claiming over them, the water claiming their lungs.
Cyril struggled to keep his head over the surface, and finally, was pulled down in a sudden jolt of the ocean which was churning itself. The rain fell in a circular motion, just as the wind carried it. Cyril went down. In his life, Cyril had witnessed only the good of the ocean, oysters for dinner, peals and precious shells, kicked the waves under him on his surfboard, fishing on Sundays and overall escape to serenity, an outlet to sadness and heartbreak, a picturesque friend. But now, it seemed like a backstabbing ally, nothing was beautiful about it anymore. Saltwater was hovering in his stomach, saltwater outside him was kicking him back and forth, water pressure was stronger than steel, but once he could drink no more, he puked it out.
It wasn't puke that left his mouth though, as unbelievable as it may sound, it was a giant whale that left his body through his mouth. A whale so magnanimous in size, he looked like a corn seed before it. It was glowing like a jellyfish, and its tiny eyes looked at him. He looked at it. His eyes were both green, the whale's eyes both blue. It started swimming upwards and he grabbed it by its fins. They jumped out of the water, the storm was at its peak. The whale fell back in and Cyril landed on the dorsal ridges. He stood on his feet, staring back at a huge wave, about a hundred metres high if not more. He couldn't see the shore, where were they? There was fear but it was equally thrilling, riding a hundred-metre high wave, that too on a giant, blue whale.
They rode it together, the whale and him. And he stood on it just as he would stand on a surfboard, directing it with his legs. It seemed to know what he meant for it toon exact turns as his feet, the rain was falling, the whale was twisting it's body with the water according to Cyril's feel, flipping its body midair, Cyril jumped with it, spirally landing back into the ocean.
"HAH!" He splashed his hands on the wave and wherever his fingers touched, the water glowed. It was happening again, the glitter maze, the spiralling waves, it was all like a walking dream, but the water felt too real to be a dream. He grabbed her ridges as it went down and held his breath, through the water, it swam swiftly, and finally began shrinking, yet glowing. It rose up and like a poison dark, went straight back into his mouth, moving across his skin until it stetted back as that huge whale tattoo on his back, one of the eyes turned back to blue and he swam up. He was at the shore. It was early morning, the storm had calmed.
He swam to the reef and finally reached the rocky rift. Skyler and Edgar were laying down on the rocks, exhausted. He reached the rocks and pushed himself up, "Guys," They looked at him, "Cyril! You never came!" Edgar exclaimed, "You left us to die, I see how it is. We got lucky that some fishermen saw us and took us in, but I tell you, mate, it was a treacherous night! I never thought we'd make it!" Skyler looked at him, and the first thing he noticed were those heterochromatic eyes,
"I presume something interesting happened again?" Skyler asked. "How did you know?" Cyril was too excited to conceal his engagements of the previous night. "Your eyes, one of them is blue again," Cyril turned back and looked at his reflection into the water, "You're quite right! When did this happen? I cannot tell," Skyler looked at the tattoo on his back, it had moved again, now the whale's head was looking over at his shoulder than his neck and the tail bone was slightly more curved. Cyril turned back at them,
"What happened?" Skyler asked. Cyril inhaled, should he really do this? Skyler was eagerly waiting for an answer, but this magic, it felt like it belonged to him, "Nothing. Nothing at all," And he wanted to keep it to himself. His little secret.
-To be continued
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