Haniver Island

A gift of generations to the Deep

"Thank you, Mrs. Barber, I'll take it from here." Richard beamed at her. Though dark, I had learned to recognize the signature of his smile. His whole body relaxed. Giving. Open. Trusting.  He was easy with those, disarming. Ms. Barber didn't correspond. It must have taken him by surprise.

I wish I could have seen him smile. It would have been a better memory. But I've never been blessed with lasting, happy memories of this place. He was looking right at her when without warning, a woman I had known all of my life stabbed him in the throat and pushed him with unaccountable strength onto the shore.

I screamed as Richard gurgled blood that soon mixed with the froth of the beach. I tried to run towards that dreadful vision, praying it might have been just that. My legs stumbled. Unseen hands grabbed me, pulling towards the depths. Shells like curved talons embedded in my skin; some rooted deeply while others slashed.

"It's been a whole cycle since the last Haniver tested her power upon these shores. A cycle since your mother died, leaving the old woman without a heritor. I saw in it an open door, a way to defeat you. I couldn't shape you, Jane. You were not as easy to persuade as your mother. You didn't drink from that fount of madness, as she did. But you were so eager to leave, just a little push would do."

Her voice, deep and cruel, was the only thing keeping me from collapsing. Through agony and rising hatred, I wanted to understand. Who... What are you, Ms. Barber? Who am I supposed to be?

"There only so much the acolytes of the deep can do. I must confess I declared myself triumphant without much knowledge. I was young, just like you are now. It wasn't easy for me to keep my gift hidden, to operate behind the curtains, a faceless horror disguised as logic." The woman laughed and I knew she had visited my conversations with grandfather. "I thought vanishing you would be enough. No. The depths demanded vanquishing. All of us suffered your absence, child. This island declined, and so did I, because your leaving didn't satisfy the hunger. The only reason I have lived enough to see over your demise is because half a sacrifice forgave my offenses. But half a soul is not enough; and I will see this through."

My eyes stung, reddened by salt. Amidst the confusion she looked transformed. Terrible. Beautiful. Eternal, embodying something that I had only sense in my nightmares and vehemently denied during my waking hours. A witch, perhaps a goddess; a servant of the deep. I knew then I'd suffer, not because of what I was, but because of what I'd done. I had forgotten. I had chosen just a few words, pointed towards a few acts I deemed important enough to frown upon, and never really listened. The woman at the shore confirmed it as she dangled the opal mounted in a chain. It danced between her fingers. My only source for salvation now firmly within her grasp.

I felt waves lapping over, closing the world upon me in a turmoil of water and ash. Struggling to keep head and arms above the water I frantically waived, holding to whatever oxygen was left within my lungs. I fought, until my chest felt as if igniting from the inside. Such a curious sensation; unbearable heat while surrounded by water.

The unseen claimed me, tearing through my flesh with bony protrusions, serrated teeth and poisonous bite. It felt as if my body had not been my own but a case for a fleshy treasure an eager sea uncovered. Deep stabs ran between my ribs as those dreadful fingers carved new patterns in my flesh. When I finally gave up, unclenching my fists and gulping water down, hoping to see the end... I simply kept going.

I saw it lucidly, beneath the waves. I met the souls of those who gave their lives to quench the hunger of an unforgiving sea. Those I betrayed for lack of belief: Ram, who traded my well-being for his soul. My mother before him; cursed to die for not being willing to kill the ones she loved the most, and embrace the dark without hope for return. Grandfather, who rather pushed me afar pretending to be unloving. And I, a perfect sacrifice to a tumultuous goddess of ever blue. Female, chosen from cradle to watery grave for a transformative sacrifice.

Ms. Barber, thoughtful servant of the horrors below, saved me from fighting chances. I had no one to stand for. No one to leave behind. Ram, grandfather and Richard, all gone. The amulet that could have helped me escape, the opal my brother once placed around my neck, now rested upon her breast. The roar of waters rendered me deaf to all, except the mockery of her goodbyes.

"You must be hungry dear. The smell of blood is calling out to you. I bet Richard will taste heavenly. He was a sweet guy after all...Feed, and become our gift of generations to the deep, until someone else comes to take your place."