Whimsical Tales of Woe

Pelican Bay

Part Six: Pelican Bay

SERIOUS WARNING: Family violence and mentions of suicide in this one.  (Adult themes)

This material may be uncomfortable and upsetting for readers. It is never my intention to distress anyone and there is a happy ending to this story, but that is not always the case so PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS and RESPECTFUL if you chose to read. The background is rather dark, but I have tried to keep it mostly implied.

Prompt: Merman soothes a distressed woman

§

"Never go down to Pelican Bay,

The fish there are cunning and whisk you away,

They lure you with song and promise sweet pleasures,

Then drag you down deep to show you lost treasures,

They pry on the lonely, the lost and confused,

Then feast on your flesh, your very soul they abuse,

So stay away from Pelican bay,

For it is life you will lose; In a most disturbed way."

The sparse fishing town of Karp was isolated and haggard. If a town could be characterised in one word Karp would be 'crippled', very close to becoming forsaken. But when times were hard, Karp was a place where locals hunkered down and rode out the storm. It felt different this year; there were less faces in the small fishing town's cracked streets, less boats out along the dangerously slanted pier and life seemed dull through the eyes of a young woman.

She sang her mother's song softly while her father haggled with the fish monger. There were less and less of them too around the town's small market; many had moved on, taking whatever passage they could to better prospects, but many had also returned to the mainland after the storms had passed. That had been three months ago, and food in Karp was becoming scarce and prices were rising.

"Sillphie!" Her father snapped harshly, his frustration and anger always close to the surface these days. "Shut up with you girl." He glared at her with cold eyes. "Go make yourself useful and gather some greens."

She inclined her head and moved past the stench and yelling of the dwindling fish markets, down to the cobbled road. It was late afternoon and the sun's warmth could not be felt behind the rocky cliffs that encased Karp. There were few places out here that were inhabitable, and it seemed Sillphie's childhood home was slowly destined to become another Pelican bay. Abandoned and lifeless.

Still humming the song swimming around in her thoughts, Sillphie made her way cautiously towards the pier. Just because there were fewer people, it did not mean she was safer wandering around unescorted; a young unmarried lady in her cleanest cotton dress. Sillphie knew that only the desperate remained in Karp, and those who had nowhere else to go. This dying town was no place for her.

Yet Father was both those things... and she was stranded with him. Sillphie pondered this with equal measure bitterness and melancholy as she approached the old pier. Part of her wished she had run away with Darrin two summers ago before the storms had worsened. Father had beaten her blue when she mentioned the witty, though handsy, sailor had offered to bring her to the mainland and marry her. It was the mention of a dowry that had brought out her father's rage and she had never mentioned it again. Darrin hadn't bothered to say farewell. Yet another who had left without explanation. With a sigh, Sillphie pushed such thoughts from her head and concentrated on the pier.