Child of the Sea

ONE

Laid out across the rocks, where the sea met the land, a creature writhed within a net.

Astrid Delaney had only come to investigate at the persistence of the dog beside her. He had yelped and whined and bellowed for the better part of the morning, and was quietly panting beside her now that his efforts to get her attention had paid off.

The two of them stood at the lip of the rocky cliff, overlooking the scene with quiet curiosity. This wasn't the first time Astrid had seen an animal tangled in a fishing net, hooked, or otherwise caught in a fisherman's garbage. This was, however, the biggest animal she'd seen caught, but from her point of view, hard to identify. The sound it made was unlike anything Astrid had heard before; shrill, cutting through the air like a knife. It brought chills to her skin.

She watched the tide ebb over the mess of nets, hoping each time they drew back the animal would be set free. With every wave that crashed over it, the animal began to struggle less and less, slowly accepting its fate.

She squatted down next to the black dog, considering the situation.

On one hand, she had to be at work within the next half hour, and as it so happens, she was already running late. On the other hand, going to work knowing she had left an animal to suffer was going to weigh on her conscience. To leave it would be heinous, morally irresponsible, and against everything her parents had instilled in her. Damn hippies.

She ran to get a pair of wire cutters and a lifejacket.

Astrid Delaney hated the ocean for honest reasons. But she had to put her personal quarrels aside for the moment.

She began her descent down the cliff, her back to the water with her eyes down on her feet. She could hear the waves roaring behind her, feel the spray of the sea on her neck, and she cursed herself for being the soft hearted, animal lover she was.

One slip and she may as well join the animal in its demise.

She cleared her throat to clear her head, and continued until she could see the mass of nets just below her. The tide had gone down just enough to allow her a place to stand, but a slip of the foot or twist of the ankle and into the water she'd go.

She turned to see what animal was at her mercy, but what she saw froze her where she stood.

A pair of gray eyes gazed at her through the loops in the netting. What had been thrashing within the net was not an animal, but instead a young man.

She balked for a moment, her mouth gaping wordlessly before finally blurting, "Holy shit!" She shook her head, "Are- are you okay?"

The young man didn't answer. As if it wasn't already apparent, he was definitely not okay.

Astrid pulled out her wire cutters and began cutting chunks of the netting away. The slimy cord wrapped around him like spaghetti on a fork and disappeared below the waves, and judging by how tightly it was pulled, she assumed it was hung on the rocks below.

"How long have you been like this?" She cut an opening for his head and neck, and began trying to free one of his arms. "You a tourist, or something?" She wanted him to say something, anything, to indicate that he wasn't going to kill over any minute, but his eyes just watched her hands as she worked to loosen the ropes.

He's in shock, she thought, any idiot would be.

A violent wave crashed over them and slammed her sideways against the cliff. She clung to the algae-covered rocks with all the strength she had in her fingers, thankful she'd thought to put on a lifejacket and say her prayers the night before. When it subsided she could feel the fresh scrapes along her arm and knees, hissing as the salt burned them.