Cursed Dream

I woke up with sweat pouring off my face into a glistening pool on my pillow. I glanced over at the clock on my bed-side table. The illuminated numbers on the screen had just turned over to midnight. Then I remembered suddenly. I quickly shoved my blanket aside and hopped out of my bed. I ran over to the sliding balcony doors. I left them open hoping the cool ocean air would soothe my slumber. The wind made the white frilly curtains dance around my figure. That’s when I saw it out in the distance.

I have grown to accept this dream. I'm not even sure if it is a dream. It comes and goes just like the waves crashing against the shore. It feels so surreal each time it occurs. I swear I can taste the bitter salt on my lips when I awake the next morning. This dream got exceedingly worse after my father passed on. It's been close ten years now. I think to my myself, "Will this ever end?"

My mother always told me it’s my father's way of communicating with me. I refuse to believe it. Why would he continue to terrorize me with the same horrific dream all these years?

I fall back into my bed. I lay there with wide eyes and my mind racing a mile a minute. The moonlight shown bright through my window nearly blinding me. My eyes closed shortly after. I could feel my heartbeat slow back down to its normal pace.

"Henrietta, what is wrong with you?!" I scream in my mind. It seemed to echo off the walls of my room. I never had a night-light in my room because the moon always supplied enough natural light. Mom and I were lucky enough to get a house on a secluded beach. Our original home, where I grew up, became a place of sorrow after father died in a ship- wreck. He sailed across the sea laboring as a sailor. If he could live on the ocean, he would. I learned a great deal about what he did. He loved it deeply with a passion. If my father wasn’t on the sea, he wasn't happy. I constantly found him seated on the deck of our family home watching other ships at the dock or setting out on a journey. Reminiscing back about him makes my heart strings snap like strings on an old guitar. After I think I finally repaired them, they snap once more. What's the use in fixing something that will never be the same again?

After laying for what seemed like an eternity, I forced my head to the side to see the clock screen read, 3:30 a.m. I heaved a long sigh. Another night gone by like that. The waves crashed more violently against the rocks now. The sound is music to my ears. Every day I travel down to the water to find seashells. Sometimes I come upon lost items from sunken ships destroyed by the great Kraken, like in father's stories he used to tell me. I laugh at the thought. His story telling attitude had all the children nearby eager to hear of his ventures when he returned. Oh yes, he loved his family, but in my mind, he loved the sea a bit more. I turned over on my side. The weight of the dream has lifted from me for now. To make sure, I rose again to walk to the sliding doors.

"It's gone. This is surely a dream." I whisper. The night was peaceful after that.

"Henrietta! The morning is wasting away, child!" Mother called from below. I awake as the sun is rising over the horizon. I trek carefully down the wooden spiral staircase.

"Good morning." I yawn.

"You'll miss it! Get going!" She insisted while waving her dough covered spatula through the air. I grabbed an apple out of the glass bowl on the island. With a crunch, I began my hike to the beach. The warm, sea salt air hit my cheeks like a caress. It gave life to my pale face in the mornings. I smiled and stretched my arms out. I truly felt free out here vastly like my father. It bothered me in a way.

I reached the water. It radiated in the rising sun. A camera could never capture its astounding beauty. My nightgown whirled in the wind. The hem now soaked. I didn't realize I had walked in a little. The trance the view had on me is unfathomable.

I felt the current pull me farther out, but did I fight it? No. The ever so mighty sea called me. Literally.

"Henrietta..." I heard my name.

"Father?" I replied. The water came up to my thigh now. The freezing depths made me shiver. My legs remained paralyzed from the frigid water. It pulled and pulled….

"Henrietta!" A deafening scream broke out from the shore. I tore free from my hypnotic state then turned around towards a figure with raised hands. It is my mother.

"Henrietta! What are you doing?!"

My mind drew a blank. The water came up to my neck now. A fear I never experienced before shot up through me like a torpedo being fired. I tried to call out, but the water made its way into my mouth. I gurgled through my words. The force of the liquid bore down on me. At this point I became petrified. Never in my life did the sea want me this bad. All the effort I tried to keep buoyant drifted away. This was it. This is my fate. This isn’t a dream like before. It's honest and actual. I heard my mother's screams once more before I immersed farther down into the mysterious unknown. The light of day dwindled until it was a speck on the surface. The air deserted my lungs leaving me stranded in my place floating helplessly amid the dark depths. My eyes shut for the last time. My mind went back to that cursed dream. My white gown swirling in the wind as I stood on my balcony gazing at the moon. My long hair tossing with the winds will. Beneath that orb of night, a ship. A ghostly ship sailed on the horizon between the water and sky. That cursed ship that housed my father before it went down that fateful day. The ship that haunts me night after night. This is the last I will ever see it again. I am finally at peace. Mother, I am sorry. The sea has me in its grasp. Do not mourn for me. Death do not evade me now. My mind became dark just like my surroundings. I am now one with the sea for it is my bottomless grave.

"Henrietta?"

I felt a gentle shake.

"Henrietta? Wake up..."

I rolled my head to the direction of the indistinct voice.

"Henrietta, why are you screaming, child?"

I open my eyes. I strained to see who it was beside me.

"Mother? Where am I?"

"Silly girl, you are here in your room." Mother let out a chuckle. Her hair cascaded all around her with every shift she made. I inhale then exhale. I glance at my window. It wasn't like the sliding doors in my dream, but a simple window. I shrugged it off.

"That was the strangest dream I've ever had!" I exclaimed.

"Care to tell me about it? Sounds like it was unpleasant. You kicked the sheets clean off your bed and scared us have to death with your muffled screams!" Mother hugged me close.

"I'll tell you all about it, but I'm exhausted for some reason."

"Alright, I made your favorite. It is down in the kitchen. Help yourself."

We waded together down to the kitchen. My siblings made it there first. Kelp wrapped eel sat on the table with various sea urchins and clams.

"Henrietta, what a dream you must've had!" My eldest sister, Selena, swam towards me from the opposite room. I was always jealous of her pearl blue fins versus my deep burgundy scales. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders. Her chocolate brown hair tickled my bare skin.

"You have to tell us all the details and I won't take no for an answer." Selena poked my nose playfully.

"Do you ever?" I replied. She ruffled my dark blonde hair.

"Good morning, girls." Father greeted as he waded into the kitchen. My eyes immediately widened at the thought of my dream and what had happened to him in it.

"Father, I know you'll especially be interested in my dream! You were there!”

"Oh really? Well, I'm intrigued already. Do tell us!" He took his place at the recycled wooden table we found inside a recent sunken ship. Mother took her place as well.

"Go on! We know you are dying to tell it!" She declared cheerfully.

"I was human." I started.

My youngest sibling, Gnash, looked at me with a horrifying stare. I continued.

"I was in a room much like my own. I saw a ship in the distance. Father, a ship that you've been on! I saw it in the dead of night, but you passed on quite some time before.” I pause.

Father and mother looked at me with intense stares, but I paid no mind.

"Henrietta..." He said sternly.

"The ship had a ghostly glow! Oh yes, I had legs! Can you believe it?! Me with legs!" I became significantly excited to describe everything that I didn't realize I was rambling out of order.

"Child...." Mother tried to get my attention.

"I was on a beach, before I knew it, walking into the sea! Mother I swear that was you. Yes, it was you! You screamed for me as I struggled to breathe as I drowned!" I continued. Selena became uncomfortable.

"Please, Henrietta...calm down. You're scaring Gnash." She begged.

I did not listen. "Oh yes! Then I...." I raised my hands, waving them around as I spoke.

"That's enough!" Father's voice thundered. The entire room went silent. Even the bystanders outside stopped their chit chat. The rest of my words caught in my throat causing me to choke. The expressions were evident on my parent's faces. The look of complete and utter horror. They looked at each other simultaneously as if they were exchanging words telepathically. Something was not right here. Selena held tiny Gnash in her arms shushing his cries whilst all the yelling.

"Oh Gnash, come here!" Mother cooed him gently, gliding over to Selena.

"That'll be enough for now, Henrietta Faye. Do not speak of this dream again. That's exactly what it was. A dream. Do you understand, child?" I never seen Father so serious. His eyes pierced through mine.

I wanted to quarrel with him, but I held back my fit of protest.

"Yes, I understand." I wrapped my hands behind my back while looking at the floor. With a swish of his tail, he left the room and out the front entrance fervid as ever. Mother came over with Gnash still in her arms.

"What did I say? Why did he get so upset with me?" I held back tears.

"I can't explain, dear. He has been on edge the past week with his work. I would take heed and not repeat this dream again, okay?" She smiled. Not a genuine one, but a fake smile.

"Of course, Mother. I promise.” I reply. She turned and floated up to her room with Gnash.

I still could not get over the way father acted towards my dream. I surely will not bring it up again for I know I will be punished. My mind kept reiterating the dream over and over as if it were an actual event, but now a distant memory. I could not stop thinking about it. This dream was mine and mine alone to decipher. This cursed dream will be the death of me.