Elatha, happily, ran down the narrow sandy path towards the sparkling blue of the Pacific Ocean. The sky was finally free of the looming stormy grey clouds, and the morning sun was fiercely beating down upon his inflamed bruised skin: a patchwork of angry blacks and sorrowful blues.
Sprinting through the swaying tan colored dune grass, he passed beyond the dunes and gazed upon the thrashing waves of Saint Catalina's Twin Harbors.
He looked out across the vast shimmering ocean, wishing that he could board a ferry and escape this prison and go to live with his aunt who resides on the mainland.
However, his fear kept him landlocked: The ocean wasn't his friend!
And even if he could one day find his bravery and get aboard the ferry and leave this desert island, his uncle would forbid it!
He was his sole provider. However, his uncle only tolerated him all because he brought in survivors death benefits from his deceased parents that his uncle spent on spirits and earthly pleasures.
Elatha went only as far as where the breakers touched the shore, unwilling to go any further. The foamy waves continued to toss human trash and driftwood logs onto the shore.
The ocean was still stirred from the storm that blew across the island, just only a few hours ago.
He then heard the faint whimpering sound over the melancholy 'shaaa' of the rhythmic waves. He turns his tired chocolate brown eyes in the general direction of the wailing and watched as a juvenile black fur harbor seal was nuzzling a white fur harbor seal pup that was trapped under a storm-tossed log.
The black seal was doing everything possible to awaken the sleeping white seal pup, while fighting off the gathering black feathered craven crows that patiently waited for dehydration to silence them both forever.
The brave black seal snapped at the impatient crows who came far too close with its sharp dog-like jowls. It would thrash its black furry tail, flaring out its leathery hind-flippers behind it.
The whimpering then turned into deep guttural growls and nasal hissing as the crows flew back, perching upon the log that pins the white seal under.
With the hungry crows all salivating; their beady black eyes glaring down upon the sleeping seal. They were greedily cawing to decide who would go first to see just how far gone the pinniped truly was.
Elatha, who could not stand the sight of death, runs across the strand to chase them off before their black beaks could spill crimson blood all over his beloved beach.
Even before reaching the black feathered fiend's, they all immediately took to the air, flying to the protection of the dune. Even the once protective black seal caterpillar's back, fleeing from the advancing human, driven by instinct.
Elatha, glancing down at the sleeping white seal, then noticed that something was seriously wrong with it. Even with him hovering over it, the little seal paid him no mind. When he slowly reached down to touch its matted white fur, he finally saw red blood foaming in its mouth.
'It was already dead.'
"You poor thing." he softly whispered, feeling bad for the little pup.
The juvenile black seal crooned, singing a sorrowful song as it was unable to escape back to the safety of the ocean. Its energy spent.
Elatha glanced over at the mourning seal, looking at its misty blue eyes. Unlike a traditional harbor seal, this one seemed to be crying! Which was impossible, as seals do not have tear ducts.
*Seeelaaa* the poor seal cried again.
"You need to go home, little one." the young man commented as the crows were returning back to the crime scene.
He watched as the seal struggled, doomed to share in the same bloody fate as its pinniped friend. He would occasionally glance at the gathering crows and then back at the black seal as he sighed, knowing that the idea in his head was a really bad one!
"Little one, I want to help you return back to the sea. So," as he reached down to pick up the poor seal "please do not bite me."
He lifted the seal up into his arms as the frightened beast swiftly chomped down upon his arm, digging its yellow-white teeth into his soft flesh. The young boy cried out in pain as he could feel his hot blood flowing and staining the sand below.
The black seal, still biting down, glanced up at Elatha as the poor boy did his best to endure the pain; forgiving her for her 'instincts.'
She, however, did not understand him.
Her previous opinion about humans was that they were soulless monsters that took pleasure in hunting and enslaving the spirits of the sea. And yet, this kind and gentle human was risking his own health and happiness for her own survival.
She released his bleeding arm, careening her head, noticing the ocean as he gently placed her back upon the damp sand, urging her to hurry back into the waves where she belongs.
'For a human boy,' the little seal thought 'he is incredibly kind.'
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Elatha And The Selkie's Skin
FantasyThis story contains gender-transformation and mermaid transformation themes Elatha, a young human boy, has already lost so much of his happiness. With the death of his parents and being kept prisoner here on Saint Catalina Island by his abusive uncl...
