The Love Of The Gods:

• Rhiannon McPherson, Grade 11, Mary Mackillop Catholic College
• Short Story
• 2022

1st in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Beautiful and languid in its motions the shimmering lake stretches across the horizon like a field of crystals gleaming in the evening sun. Exertion beads against the nape of my neck, and the taut red skin of my freckled shoulders suggest that the unyielding strength of the summer heat is growing in his strength.
Desperate to find a recluse from his scorching gaze, I shift my mind towards the blue ahead. It’s a Herculean feat, dragging my body down away from the light and into the profundities of the sea. The icy water rushes against my ears and as suddenly as the water shocked my systems, I am submerged in the icy stillness of another world. Straining to see in the murky surroundings, I watch the seaweed sway to the cadence of the wave.
A diminutive school of fish slices through the water in a choreographed dance past me, leaving a trail of optimistic bubbles in its wake, the water slides along their scales, in a loving caress, like the feeling of a mother's hands in a child's hair after a gruelling nightmare. Compelled, I give chase.
Darkness engulfs me as I surge deeper, wrapping around me like finely woven silk. Peaceful and light, a smile takes shape from the bubbles and the soft face of Amphitrite the sea god greets me. Cradling the gentle beat of my heart, at home in the shadows of a parallel world. Enigmas of a hidden world lay tucked into the pleats of shells and starfish, my mind embracing them as an old friend.
Slowly my hand draws in the soft sand at the bottom of the lake, and as my lungs turn sour, my grip tightens. Not ready to return to the sun-kissed empire above. Desperately I cling to the sand, heaving pleading glances at the deity, her face pinches in a delicate grimace whilst my lungs drag me upwards. I claw and thrash, desperate for a few more moments in the arms of the sea goddess.
She whispers promises in my ear, trying to calm a wounded animal. She tells me I may visit again. My mind reels, a gut-wrenching sob forming against my lips as I grapple with the unspoken words that I can visit but never stay. Defeated my body stills, letting the goddesses' translucent touch push me skywards, back to Apollo.
Coughs wrack my heaving frame and my hair falls in leaking twines across my complexion. The sun is warm against my back as he takes me in his arms and brings his adoration for me to light. As he whispers sweet nothings into my ear his hand burns my fragile skin.
That night as I lay awake cast in moonlight, I dream of the goddess and her gentle touch. The moon sighs and kisses my cheek promising that she understands for she adores the sea goddess as well, but can only reach her in the sway of the promising tide.